Boosting SME Survival Rate by enabling convenient and accessible Cash Flow Management via Artificially Intelligent Virtual Assistants.

COVID-19给许多中小企业的财务带来了巨大压力。需求下降已威胁到商业生存能力，尤其是对现金储备低或现金流不稳定的企业而言。80%的中小企业倒闭是由于现金流问题。德勤的报告《2019冠状病毒病：管理现金流》（2020年）强调了有效的现金流管理对企业在大流行中生存的机会的重要性。该项目旨在提供一个工具，使非专家能够轻松快捷地了解和更好地管理公司的现金流。所提出的技术使所有中小企业的现金流管理更简单、更快捷、更方便。这将通过建立一个人工智能虚拟助手（VA）来实现，该虚拟助手可以通过文本或语音界面随时为用户服务。企业所有者可以访问VA，通过即时通讯、网络聊天或使用自动语音识别的电话等一系列渠道，使用正常的会话语言查询他们的现金流状况。开放式银行集成将有助于将信息集中到一个地方。市场分销将通过与中小企业现有服务供应商的伙伴关系进行。该计划的目标是在5年内挽救数千家英国企业；这可以通过减少使用建议服务的中小企业的故障率来实现。VA绕过了使用财务术语的需要，因为用户可以自然地表达自己。例如，一个企业主可能会说：“我估计我三分之一的客户付款缓慢。他们是谁，平均需要多长时间，你能告诉我他们欠我多少钱吗？”响应将是即时的，提供来自银行账户和会计软件包的最新信息-所有这些都以日常自然语言呈现给用户。然后，企业所有者和经理可以采取行动或要求提供更多细节。

COVID-19 has placed tremendous strain on many SMEs' finances. Falling demand has threatened commercial viability, especially for businesses with low cash reserves or unstable cash flows. 80% of SME failures are a result of cash flow problems. Deloitte's report 'COVID-19: Managing Cash Flow' (2020) highlighted the centrality of effective cash flow management to businesses' chances of surviving the pandemic.This project aims to provide a tool that makes it easy and quick for non-experts to understand and better manage their company's cash flow. The technology proposed makes cash flow management simpler, quicker, and more accessible for all SMEs. This will be achieved by building an artificially intelligent Virtual Assistant (VA) that is permanently on call for users via text or voice interfaces. Business owners can access the VA to interrogate their cash flow positions using normal, conversational language through a range of channels including instant messenger, Webchat, or via the phone using automatic speech recognition. Open banking integration will help pull information into one place. Market distribution will be via partnerships with existing suppliers of services to SMEs.The objective is to save thousands of UK businesses over a five-year period; this will be achieved by reducing the failure rates of the SMEs using the proposed service.The VA bypasses the need to use financial terminology because users can express themselves naturally. For example, a business owner may say: "I reckon a third of my clients are slow paying. Who are they and how long are they taking on average, and can you tell me what I'm owed?". Responses will be immediate, providing up-to-date information from both bank accounts and accounting packages - all presented back to users in everyday natural language. Business owners and managers can then take action or request more detail.