Published by Faye Simmons, February 26th, 2025, Tribune News
The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive yesterday said the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies is key to greater business profits.
Dr Leo Rolle told Tribune Business that such practices will enable the private sector to scale their operations faster and shift employees to more targeted tasks that can supplement revenue generation.
“We encourage and we applaud businesses that use technology in a way where they are able to scale faster and be more efficient,” said Dr Rolle. “When a business is more efficient and they can scale faster, it increases their bottom line, it increases their profitability, and they’re better able to utilise staff for tasks that are not able to be done by technology.”
Speaking after the Simplified Group of Companies unveiled what it described as the first AI-powered loan officer, Dr Rolle encouraged the Bahamian business community to use technology as a supplement to human labour. And, while some tasks may be replaced due to these advances, those employees can be trained for roles that cannot be performed by AI.
“While there probably will be an offset or shifting of some jobs, as not as many human personnel will be needed for some of the mundane tasks that the technology can do, it will spur more job creation in things like animation, programming and data analytics,” said Dr Rolle.
“In order to be proactive, begin training and developing your staff in other areas. While there may not be a need for someone to manually enter data, someone will have to analyse the data. There may no longer be a need for some to collect information for the verification process, but someone will have to verify the information is correct. Someone also has to program the all the various functions.”
He added that the global market has evolved to a point that consumers have become used to shopping 24 hours a day via online platforms, and integrating technology into the local market will allow firms to expand their reach and generate revenue outside of typical operation hours.
“From a business standpoint, COVID taught us that you have to ensure that people can access your goods and services from anywhere in the world. Tech platforms allow people to purchase and interface shipping and logistics at a finger-tip. Imagine, then, the revenue generation, where your business can actually be generating income while the business is closed, because people can be shopping online,” said Dr Rolle.
“This is how a lot of the major conglomerates have been able to continuously increase and expand because they are able to infuse technology. People are able to order, ship and purchase at the click of a button. But you still will have those clients that would rather purchase from the store.
“By making both of those options available, you expand your market territory, you expand your reach, and then you’re able to use technology to infiltrate markets you would not have, otherwise, because of geographic location, been able to access and so we feel like this is a step in the right direction.”
Dr Rolle said the Bahamian technology industry also has great potential and can boost employment by creating new jobs through this emerging sector. Acknowledging the lack of professionals in the local industry, he said it presents an opportunity for training and development through local tertiary education institutions and the National Apprenticeship Programme.
“We think that it will become a great industry. It will readily make jobs available that are not necessarily available. We know that there is a lack of persons in the technology industry, and so it creates an opportunity, because now there’s a gap that needs to be filled,” said Dr Rolle.
“Working with the University of the Bahamas, BTVI and the National Apprenticeship Programme will allow us to identify key areas and address those gaps that will be become available.” He added that the Chamber has recently created an AI sub-committee, a subset of its digital transformation committee, that will assist businesses with integrating the technology and help them with emerging challenges.
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