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Artificial Intelligence – AI and Learning Without Scars

Artificial Intelligence – AI and Learning Without Scars

At Learning Without Scars, we are usually ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. Our curriculum designer, Caroline Slee-Poulos, likes to joke that we were on Zoom before it was “cool.” When it comes to AI, the situation is the same. Ron Slee is giving an update this week on all things LWS with, “Artificial Intelligence – AI and Learning Without Scars.”

In our July 1st, 2024, Newsletter Ross Atkinson told us about how we have been using AI and where it will take us with this wonderful advancement in technology. As with most technological changes they create Paradigm Shifts. Methods and Policies and Systems must change. Sara Hanks eloquently covers Continuous Improvement for us through her blogs and podcasts. If you have read her blogs or listened to her podcasts, well, you don’t know what you are missing. 

www.learningwithoutscars.com

I wanted to talk to you with this blog about how at Learning Without Scars (LWS) our goal is to provide the industries we serve with a platform of information. That is what we attempt to provide under our Resources tab. There you will find our blogs, podcasts, newsletter, reading lists and today I am pleased to share with you a new option – Film Clips. More on that shortly.

At our core, our purpose with the company is that we are a School. We offer more than seventy academic credits at Technical Schools, Community Colleges and Public and Private Universities worldwide. We are the only IACET accredited business in our industry. We are enormously proud to have this status for our students, Centers of Excellence, Industry Associations, and Original Equipment Manufacturers.

One of the most important aspects of our school is our Job Function Skills Assessments (CSA’s). We have created very comprehensive multiple-choice assessments to measure the skills and knowledge of the employees doing the work for dealers, distributors, associations, and manufacturers.

One more thing, before I get into AI. In the last couple of weeks, a new font has been created to help people with Dyslexia to be able to read written documents and books like a more traditional person. This to me is a HUGE development. As time permits, we will address this font for our learning material.

Artificial Intelligence – AI.

It is becoming the latest craze, almost a fad. Believe me when I tell you it is not a fad. It is here to stay and will continue to evolve in ways that we can only imagine.

ChatGPT is very new. It was created by an artificial intelligence company in 2022. Perhaps as old as two years. We are now at ChatGPT 4o. OpenAI was a research company started as a non-for-profit in 2015 and changed to for-profit in 2019. There is still a free version as well as a premium version that you purchase.

At LWS we use AI in a variety of ways. We convert word documents to audio tracks; we use it to translate from one language to another. That works for one-hundred and thirty different languages. We use it to create subtitles that allows us to be in compliance with the American with Disabilities (ADA) compliant. We use it to provide transcriptions of our podcast and create social media pieces. We use it to create avatars, what we call “HUMANARS.” ( a word we have coined)

Ross Atkinson, who directs us in all aspects of technology, keeps us out on the leading edge of technology for the education world. He is truly an indispensable part of our present and future. 

Our use of Humanars is expanding.

We create film clips for social media. Ross created an entry point on our website this past weekend. We primarily intended humanars for our classes. Caroline Slee-Poulos, my incredibly talented daughter, coordinates everything we do from a learning perspective, our accreditation, our learning management software, our reporting and commercial interfaces. She has an extremely critical function to perform for us. Without her I don’t think I would have been able to transition our learning products from me being the “Sage of the Stage” teacher in front of a class to all products completely on the internet.

Our classes are undergoing a complete redo. We have had the two foundations of teaching in place since the beginning: Lectures and Homework. We have followed traditional education parameters for every hour of lectures the class has two hours of homework. In fact, we exceed that and always have. Check out our reading List on the website.

Each adult education and workforce development class consist of about twenty segments, they average about fifteen minutes each. Each segment is presented by humanars. Our humanars are male and female of varying ages and from various regions of the world as represented by the Olympic Rings. We have a pretest, to measure skills and knowledge at the outset of the class and a final assessment. Each class also includes surveys to obtain student evaluations of the classes as well as suggestions for improvement. as well as a few surveys. Each segment ends with a quiz. At the conclusion of our classes the student will have a very comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. We call all our classes Subject Specific Classes.

Now I would like to introduce you to a new member of our team. Joudeb Chakrboty, Co-founder of Virtualess IT is now driving all our social media. He is evaluating everything we do on the social media front, and we welcome him to LWS. He has asked me to provide him with five blogs a week and two film clips a week. (Note: As if I needed more work.)

So, at LWS we are becoming more and more influenced by AI. 

And don’t forget CoPilot, from Microsoft or Claude, created by Anthropic. Or there is Gemini from Google or Meta AI from Facebook. The space is getting crowded.

The world keeps changing. Adapt and adjust or be left behind.

The Time is Now.

Did you enjoy this blog? Read more great blog posts here.
For our course lists, please click here.

Data Automation and AI Analytics

Data Automation and AI Analytics

Today, we are proud to introduce a new guest writer. C. Stephen Clegg is a Managing Director at Winsby Inc. where he oversees the analytics division, Zintoro. He’s developed an AI model that shows exactly what your company’s strength and weaknesses are, based on your past three years of invoice data. The model is trained to predict where your revenues, customer retention, and purchase frequency are headed if nothing changes in your approach. It also provides the ROI on Winsby’s marketing programs, according to your customers’ purchases. In his debut blog for Learning Without Scars, he writes about data automation and AI analytics.

Data Automation and AI Analytics

Today, data automation and AI analytics is available for equipment dealers to easily service their
customers by identifying what defines the best customer service to drive profitable growth. The
days of opinions, intuition and guessing to make business decisions are in the past.
These automated and AI driven systems are affordable to almost every dealer of any size to
compile metrics into simple actionable real time reports and forecast the future. This approach
allows management and employees at every level to focus on what the customer needs and
expects while anticipating what resources will be required in the future. The ROI on these
programs is paid for many times over with reduced operating, sales, and marketing costs.
The equipment industry is extremely cyclical and seasonal. Most equipment dealers do not have
the tools, key metric reports and forecasting programs to take action and make intelligent
decisions in a timely manner. They often rely on subjective metrics that are not linked to
measurable operating and financial results. The lack of usable data causes management to be
reactive and always scrambling to solve the latest unanticipated problem.
Successful equipment dealers use AI automated systems and reports to monitor and solve their
major customer service and customer engagement issues which include: employee engagement
with customers, internal operating performance metrics, customer retention and engagement,
and identifying and closing sales opportunities.
If you do not have accurate operating and financial information, you will be unable to allocate
your time and resources effectively to the activities that will keep your dealership profitable and
support your future growth.
Programs such as Zintoro.com Artificial Intelligence (AI) Analytics shows you what you can
expect in your business over the next 12 months. It forecasts the number of transactions, the
number of active customers, and the expected revenues with an accuracy that exceeds 95%. It
also provides specific recommendations on how to improve your growth. This data can be
analyzed by department and by location, as well as overall.
The platform identifies customers that are at risk of being lost and tracks key metrics on a rolling
12-month basis, shows and tracks the key metrics that drive your company’s growth and
identifies leads for your sales reps.
By understanding your potential for growth and your current market position, the program
identifies the areas where you are falling short and where you excel, producing insights, backed
by data, into how to grow effectively and efficiently. The program is also able to identify what
tools are working and which customers are at risk of leaving, and it shows the markets and
industries you need to target to grow your business profitably.

The reports clearly identify sales reps, departments and customers that require attention, so you
have an easy-to-follow road map for growth using the key metrics and forecasts.

Some of the core key metrics reports used by successful equipment dealers include:
o Forecast and actual results for revenue, transactions, and active customers by
customer, department, branch and overall
o Sales retention leads for your sales reps to contact—customers in danger of being
lost
o Comparative rankings for branches and sales representatives
o Market Industry Analysis with the greatest opportunities
o ROI on sales and marketing programs

The following is an example of a Revenue ROI report for marketing programs, such as calling
prospects and customers and sending information to them, distributing emails, and conducting
customer satisfaction surveys, removing the guesswork from whether your marketing and sales
programs are working.

The equipment industry is a difficult business to operate. Zintoro.com, an AI analytics program,
allows you to plan and focus on building your business versus always struggling to react to
customer demands.

Did you enjoy this blog? Read more great blog posts here.
For our course lists, please click here.