"Whoever decided to name it artificial intelligence is a bad person." This is how forcefully consultant Genís Roca began his intervention before an auditorium at Cosmocaixa filled for the XXIII Comertia Retail Conference. And it is that the name artificial intelligence has led to debates about what intelligence is, and about whether something non-human can be intelligent: "The name has misled us when, in reality, we have looked at it inside out, and it looks very much like a software."
Thus, stripping away grandiloquent layers from AI and relativizing its complexity, Roca has invited the fabric of Catalan family businesses to delve into the world of the misnamed AI by approaching it as what it is: a software change. It may —or may not— represent a paradigm shift, but that will come later. First, Roca has invited the entrepreneurs gathered by Comertia to remove layers of complexity and see what some call the AI revolution as a software change that, like any other change, will have its implications on the company's operations.
"We all enter a moment in which we will have to gradually replace all our software, as we understand it, as it becomes possible, and as the market offers good solutions, since we are still in an exploratory phase," added the consultant and president of Accent Obert, in a meeting that revolved around AI and played with its name and that of the event —he presented it as the RetAIl Conference, which could be read as the challenge of AI for the sector—.
In fact, Roca went further: with the irruption of AI, "many have gone into emergency mode and a sprint dynamic, when what is needed is a marathon." And it is that, according to the consultant —and archaeologist by training—, the change process that starts now will last at least between five and ten years, during which companies must adapt to the new opportunities offered by this technology. Faced with the murmur it aroused among the public, Roca gave his recipe for the next steps: contact current software providers, study their options and those offered by the market, see which ones fit in terms of possibilities and budget, and calendarize. And then, of course, execute —and in this case, execute is to adapt—. Roca made one more recommendation: "Don't rush, reflect carefully on where to start, and review the plan every six months."
He also shared this in a round table he moderated, with the former president of Cercle d'Economia Jaume Guardiola and the founder and CEO of Grup Bon Preu, Joan Font. In a dialogue full of complicity that was conveyed to the attendees in the form of applause and even some laughter, they addressed the implications of AI as a useful and necessary ally, which must be studied with criteria and with "seny", according to Font: "Companies can go bankrupt many times, and now we have a new opportunity to go bankrupt with AI if we don't do things well."
Precisely to do it well, Bon Preu has created an AI office to study its potential in the company, which can range from the automation of repetitive tasks to the analysis of behavior and consumption through tickets, to launch personalized recommendations or promotions. The possibilities of AI affect both the physical and online channels, which already represents 6% of the group's revenue, although it continues to generate losses. Despite not being profitable, this online channel generates an unforeseen impact, Font highlighted: "Customers who buy from us through both channels are the best customers, with the highest average ticket." Thus, Font advocates for stopping looking only at the profit and loss statement of each channel, and having a global approach that puts the customer at the center.
In addition to the customer, data takes on special relevance in the age of AI. "There are already manufacturers very interested in how a competitor is doing with a certain product or promotion, and they ask us to sell them data to have this information," explained Font alongside Guardiola, who assured that AI represents a revolution that can optimize processes and facilitate the day-to-day of companies and, therefore, productivity. The until June president of Cercle d'Economia recalled that, from the institution, they promoted a think tank to promote aspects such as this productivity, which can now benefit from AI. "It will allow mechanizing processes of all kinds, or even identifying weak points," highlighted the also former CEO of Banco Sabadell.
Thus, AI is faced as a challenge and an opportunity. For the rector of the UOC and vice-dean of the Col·legi d'Economistes de Catalunya, Àngels Fitó, it is something more: "It is a technological arms race," she said in a round table alongside the professor of the UPF Barcelona School of Management Oriol Amat, who highlighted that AI is already reaching unexpected spaces. It even does so in Udon's kitchens, as highlighted by its CEO and co-founder, Jordi Pascual, who intervened alongside technology expert Anna Navarro, and the AI Factory Service Manager of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Santi Gallardo, who advocated for seeking accompaniment and the right partners when venturing into AI.
"We need a great improvement in productivity, and AI must be able to help us," proclaimed the president of Comertia, Ignasi Pietx, at the closing of the conference. And it is that "in Europe, Spain and Catalonia we have a serious problem of decline in our productivity, and the differential gap with the United States and Asia is increasing." At the same time, this AI should allow for streamlining administration: "Less bureaucracy is needed, which slows down the dynamism of companies."
"We must help companies with registered offices in Catalonia, because they create quality jobs, pay taxes and stay here when something goes wrong," Pietx defended, and he did not stop there: "We have to help family businesses, which have a purpose and are more resilient over time; they seek a legacy." To do this, he asked for tax improvements and to eliminate corporate tax, in a list of demands that the Minister of Business of the Generalitat, Miquel Sàmper, collected. After advocating for promoting public-private collaboration as the engine of these improvements, he praised the figure of the entrepreneur: "They are the generators of wealth in the country; the generation of wealth requires someone to have risked, and it does not always turn out well." And among this business fabric, Sàmper praised the role of family businesses like those brought together by Comertia: "They are the ones that best resist crises and anticipate the next generations."