b2b.store AI workshop gives Ramsden International “clear direction”

Two-way conversational tool launched to provide tailored WhatsApp data analysis to users

We trade in the ideas business. So when Ramsden International asked us to host an AI workshop focusing on wholesale uses of new technology, we couldn’t wait to get started.

The exporter’s senior team had identified the need to become more familiar with AI and tasked us with educating a cross-departmental group to help them discover ways to improve productivity and deliver higher ROI within the business.

The group was made up of some of the brightest prospects within Ramsden’s business, with a wide spectrum of digital knowledge and opinions about AI usage represented in order to take a real read of what it would take to introduce new methods into traditional operations.

Hosted by b2b.store CEO Rob Mannion, the workshop demonstrated the most useful AI technology being used by businesses now, followed by small group sessions with each department to understand specific processes. Armed with this knowledge, the b2b.store team helped to come up with examples of how AI could help refine current methods, save time or provide value.

The B2B AI workshop shone a light on several wholesale-specific uses and landed on some others that were specific to Ramsden. Among the ideas discussed were setting up reports on local economic conditions to understand more about the territories Ramsden are selling into, detecting the churn of customers before they lapsed, and automating document translation.

But don’t take our word for how good it was, here’s what the Ramsden team said post-event:

“There’s little question AI usage is becoming increasingly common in the workplace, so we felt it was important to get to grips with how it could be used at Ramsden International.

“Understanding where to start is an important first step so we didn’t want to dive in without a clear direction, so we invited b2b.store in to share their knowledge and provide some pointers for us to follow.

“There was a real buzz about AI in the office as the session progressed as the teams spoke about what they’d learned and tested out some of the technology they’d been shown – it was an enlightening day.”
Jez Threadgold, Managing Director

“Because of the nature of the job, it’s always been quite manual and is a case of ‘this is the way it’s always been’, so it’s never felt like AI is something we needed to explore – it’s just something you saw on social media for funny videos and pictures, or used as a search tool.

“With the practical demonstration of what it can do, such as to help with tasks in Excel, it could do what I can in 10 or 15 minutes with a click of a button. There are so many manual tasks in customer service, it sounds like this could take a lot of that away from us and be a huge time saver, so we can spend time doing things that are more important.”
Saffron Thomsen and Alex McRae, Customer Service

“Previously I’d been using ChatGPT for things like a quick, more efficient Google search or improving an email, and while I knew it could be used for creating voice agents, I didn’t know it could be so quick and easy – then Rob showed me one we’d had the idea for only a day earlier. I would have thought it would take weeks or months of coding to achieve some of the AI solutions we were shown.”
Maisie Parker, International Business Graduate

“I’m not particularly scared of AI, but there are people who are, so getting a better understanding of what it can do and how it can help is good. You do hear things about how it’s going to take over in the media, so you aware of that. But the main worry is putting confidential information in and not being sure whether it’s going or if it’s safe or not, so that education is important.”
Olivia Saunders, International Business Executive

If you or your business would like to host an AI workshop tailored to you, get in touch with us by emailing hello@b2b.store