National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) has unveiled a new artificial intelligence-based (AI) security technology program aimed at small businesses amid a growing sentiment.
According to a report from the Australian banking giant, 20% of Australian small businesses are planning to invest in AI tools, while 23% have already made an investment.
The $105.78 billion market capitalisation company says its ‘NAB Bookkeeper’ utilises machine learning, a form of AI, to help reduce admin time by up to 5 hours per week.
White-labelled through NAB Ventures backed startup — Thriday — NAB Bookkeeper provides customers with real-time insights, automated accounting, invoicing, and tax calculations all in one place via NAB’s internet banking.
AI is increasingly being adopted by the mining industry as it endures growing pressure to increase efficiencies across the supply chain.
As ore grades decline and more disparate and remote deposits create further challenges in securing new resources, amid rocketing mining costs, there is a growing need to improve mine site productivity.
AI could go a long way for miners and mining services firms to address many of these challenges and inefficiencies, including smart robots, data science, and machine learning.
In late February, Legacy Minerals (ASX:LGM) received diamond drilling assays by its exploration alliance partner Earth AI at its Fontenoy Project, which it says warrants follow-up work after encountering ‘strong’ nickel-copper-platinum group element anomalism.
The company says there is an opportunity to follow-up with electrical geophysics for future drill targeting, alongside surface geochemical surveys which will target platinum group element (PGE)-related mineralisation that may further define drill targets for testing.
Diamond drilling is also being planned to follow-up on these results. Legacy is undertaking the work after receiving diamond drilling assays from Fontenoy by its exploration alliance partner Earth Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Christopher Byrne says the driving force behind this discovery is the implementation of AI through Earth AI.
Fleet Space Technologies is another company in the space. Last year the company completed a heavily oversubscribed $50 million Series C fundraising round led by Australasian venture capital firm Blackbird.
The company is commercialising its revolutionary ExoSphere satellite-based mineral exploration technology worldwide. ExoSphere sustainably accelerates critical mineral exploration by scanning the Earth with advanced, low-impact sensors, Geodes, connected to the cloud through Fleet’s low-power satellite network.
NAB Executive for Small Business Ana Marinkovic notes the speed at which AI technology is advancing means all small business owners can adopt technology once only reserved for large corporations.
“At NAB, we’re continuing to look at how we can safely harness the power of AI to help make the lives of our small business customers easier while keeping their data and the bank safe.
Previously, a small business owner would record their bank transactions in their bookkeeping system, manually reconcile invoice payments and prepare financial reports. NAB Bookkeeper takes care of all this through smart automation.”
Thriday Co-founder and CEO Michael Nuciforo says this “ground-breaking new category of product” has been designed to simplify the lives of small business owners.
“By combining banking, accounting and tax into one solution, we’ve built the first all-in-one financial management platform, fundamentally redesigning how small businesses manage their financial admin and saving them hours each week.”
NAB is currently offering a 6-month free trial with full access to NAB Bookkeeper with no lock-in contract and non tier-based pricing.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Fleet Space
