As artificial intelligence reshapes business operations, the real opportunity lies in turning technology into measurable value. In this conversation, Saif ur Rehman shares how Tajarat.ai is applying intelligent automation to streamline customer journeys, improve operational visibility, and empower businesses, beginning in Pakistan while aspiring to meet international standards and compete globally.
Boardroom: What are the inspirations behind the Tajarat.ai?
Saif ur Rehman: The inspiration behind Tajarat.ai comes from years of experience across ecommerce, startups and different business ventures. I have experienced both opportunities and failures, and each experience helped shape my understanding of how businesses operate and where technology can create meaningful value.
During my university years, I was exposed to different industries through internships, employment, automation projects and business experiences. Over time, I realized that technology and automation could address many of the operational challenges businesses face every day. Tajarat.ai is therefore a result of that accumulated experience and the mindset developed through taking risks, learning from failure and continuously looking for better ways to solve business problems.
Boardroom: How can the agents really find everyday business operations?
Saif ur Rehman: One of the key challenges we identified was that businesses often struggle to manage everyday operations in a systematic manner. This becomes particularly visible in sectors such as real estate, where agencies deal with a large number of enquiries, leads, appointments, follow ups and customer interactions.
The problem is not simply generating leads. Businesses need a complete system that can attract customers, qualify enquiries, arrange bookings, follow up with prospects and ultimately hand over the right opportunity to a human sales representative.
Tajarat.ai approaches this as an integrated business process. Marketing channels such as Instagram, Facebook and Meta Ads can generate traffic, while automation can help convert that traffic into enquiries, bookings and qualified leads. The system can then facilitate the transition to a human agent when personal interaction is required. This creates a more structured customer journey while reducing the amount of repetitive manual work involved in daily operations.
Boardroom: So, what happens when you select the real estate niche? What is the real estate problem?
Saif ur Rehman: Real estate is a particularly interesting sector because agencies receive a continuous flow of customer enquiries and must respond quickly. There are opportunities to improve the entire process, from the initial marketing interaction through qualification, booking and follow up. A properly designed system can capture an enquiry, understand the customer requirement, initiate the appropriate response and ensure that the lead is followed up according to the client’s requirements. Where necessary, it can transfer the interaction to a human representative. The objective is to make sure that a potential customer does not disappear simply because a sales representative was unavailable at a particular moment. Automation can provide continuity while allowing the human team to focus on higher value conversations.
Boardroom: What is the major issue and how do you resolve it?
Saif ur Rehman: A major issue is the absence of visibility across business operations. When different activities are managed manually, it becomes difficult for management to know what is happening at each stage of the customer journey. An intelligent dashboard can bring these activities together. Businesses can track tasks, monitor progress, review customer interactions and understand where an enquiry currently stands. This type of visibility allows management to identify gaps and take action. Instead of simply receiving information after something has gone wrong, the business can monitor its operations continuously and improve the process accordingly.
Boardroom: What has been the biggest challenge in driving AI adoption among small businesses?
Saif ur Rehman: The biggest challenge is, demonstrating the practical value of AI. Small businesses do not necessarily need technology, simply because it is described as intelligent or innovative. They need to understand how it will improve their business processes, reduce errors, support their people or contribute to growth. The quality and reliability of the system are therefore extremely important. Businesses need to see that AI can work within their existing processes and deliver a measurable benefit. Our approach is to focus on practical applications rather than technology for its own sake. Intelligent dashboards, automated processes and business growth tools become valuable when they solve a clearly identified problem.
Boardroom: Which industries are benefiting the most from your platform?
Saif ur Rehman: Our focus is on industries where businesses deal with frequent customer interactions and repetitive operational processes. Real estate is one important area because agencies continuously manage enquiries, leads, appointments and follow ups. At the same time, the broader opportunity extends to local businesses and other service-based sectors. Wherever a business has recurred customer interactions, operational tasks and a need for timely follow up, intelligent automation can potentially create value. Our experience with different businesses has helped us understand that the technology needs to be adapted to the specific requirements of each industry rather than applying the same model everywhere.
Boardroom: What is your long-term vision, you should go globally. With some standards?
Saif ur Rehman: Our long-term vision is to build Tajarat.ai to international standards and take the platform into global markets. Pakistan provides an important starting point, but the underlying business problems we are addressing are not limited to one country. We want to develop a platform that can help businesses improve their operations through intelligent automation, structured processes and better customer management. As the platform evolves, our objective is to establish the technology at a global level while maintaining the quality and standards required to compete internationally.
