Month: May 2022

Retailers Must Adapt and Leverage their Data Better

Posted on by SuperAdmin

Data has become the driving force and the stimulus of the retail world in these modern times. It is now the most essential constituent of any Digital Transformation strategy aimed at moving ahead to keep pace with customers’ demands and preferences. Without real-time data and analytics, Retail will be dead and gone.

More data are being generated in Retail businesses than ever before. The key is to make contextual sense out of this data and how to put it to the best use.

Investing in and adopting technology to upgrade your Data analytical capabilities is proving to be the best way to discover not only new opportunities but also to improve and change your business processes for a better bottom line.

Personalised experience

A Forrester report has revealed that shoppers today will not mind sharing personal information if they get convinced that it will result in their getting personalized products or promotions. This is confirmation of how important a personalized experience has become to a shopper. For the Retailer the message is simple. If you don’t invest in Data analytics you don’t get to deliver personalized service. And that is just one part of the story.

Data-driven Decision making

Artificial Intelligence AI), Machine Learning (ML), Computer Vision (CV) and Cloud technologies are some of the popular routes to making data driven decisions. What in essence Retail businesses need is software that gives you the capability to adapt quickly to new ways of delivering products and services based on the data you generate, whether it be on Sales trends, Inventory movement or Visual images and videos thrown up by your CCTV infrastructure.

The ultimate software is the one that can convert huge amount of data into logical, meaningful and consistent insights that can be instantly displayed on an integrated dashboard. If this software can link up to multiple data sources and collate them in a manner that is easily comprehensible, nothing like it.

Predictive Analytics

AI-based software solutions, such as the ones based on Vision Intelligence, are today capable of analyzing past events, current happenings and estimating what is likely to happen in the future. Predictive analytics is the name of the game. For example, Cogniphi’s AI Vision platform uses CV and ML-based learning capabilities to understand data, analyse patterns in that data, link them with several potential scenarios, and make predictions that will reduce the gap between what is needed by the market and what is actually delivered.

Successful Retailer of Tomorrow

The two most essential components of the Retail business today are Understanding your customer better and Improving your supply chain, to be able to deliver the right product to the right customer at the right time and at the right price. The successful retailer of tomorrow will be the one who acquires these capabilities by using technology that turns his Data into useful business intelligence, which enables him to meet customer needs and to run his operations efficiently.

About Cogniphi

Cogniphi is a technology company that enables customers to achieve transformational outcomes through cognitive digital solutions. It believes in a 360-degree problem-solving approach, building solutions that can scale and adapt to changing business demands for continuous improvement.

Become actively responsive with predictive analysis

Posted on by SuperAdmin

Our world today is in the midst of its fifth industrial revolution. It is an era that is pushing the boundaries of science and technology to harness its best possible potential for the benefit of mankind. To have a deeper understanding of what Industry 5.0 is all about and how it is transforming our lives today, we need to delve into what constituted its predecessor – Industry 4.0. The fourth industrial revolution was all about introducing the basics of automation to the world and applying it heavily in the manufacturing space. 4.0 essentially brought together robots and other interconnected devices to execute repetitive and routine tasks that are best done by machines. Industry 4.0, like most other industrial revolutions, was a giant leap for human innovation, but it also brought to the fore, fears about machines replacing humans and this gave rise to a lot of negative sentiments that led to robots and technology being cast as the enemy. Industry 5.0 is dispelling all such notions and showing us how man and robot are not rivals and in fact can work together as partners.

Industry 5.0 takes the founding pillars of 4.0 – automation and efficiency – and adds a human touch to it via artificial intelligence and smart machines. And if Industry 4.0 was all about by automation, then Industry 5.0 will be about a sort of synergy and harmony between humans and machines. Industry 5.0 is constantly demonstrating to us that pairing humans and machines to further utilize human brain power and creativity is the way to go in the future. Take for example Cobots or collaborative robots that are specially designed to share space with humans. They are one of the best examples of Industry 5.0 because they are designed to integrate with humans; a good example of this would be surgery cobots or co-pilot cobots that assist humans to perform highly specialized tasks during surgery and flying respectively.

Another fascinating and remarkable leap made by Industry 5.0 is vision intelligence. At its core, vision intelligence is a subset of artificial intelligence that works towards making computers and machines visually enabled – it very literally is the process of giving machines the very human ability to see. Through vision intelligence, machines can be given the ability to see and process visuals the same way humans do. Computers don’t subjectively react to visuals the way humans do and hence lack decision making capabilities. However, through programming a photo recognition software or cobots and robots, machines can be taught to mimic ­­­human qualities and thus enable us to live enhanced lives.

Vision Intelligence and the Smart Factory

 

A pertinent example of vision intelligence’s uses would be its applications on a factory floor. Manufacturers today have the ability to run smart factory floors with the vast applications of vision intelligence technology. CCTV cameras can be programmed to do much more than just capture moving grainy images, instead, they can be programmed to perform cognitive functions, for e.g., segregating damaged goods from good food produce. Picture hundreds of ears of corn moving on a conveyor belt as workers sort the good ones from the bad as fast as humanly possible. Now imagine a vision-enabled machine aiding human workers to spot the poor-quality corn ears through their AI enabled vision technology. Aiding in quality checks of corn produce is just one of the myriad examples of vision intelligence applications in factories.

CCTV infrastructures can be further adapted to build intelligence into factory designs. A surveillance system at a chemical factory for example can be taught to gauge distance between a worker and a vat of dangerous chemicals, thereby sounding a real-time warning alarm and reducing the risk of industrial accidents. Similarly, vision AI tech can be useful at construction sites where each and every process can be monitored real time and chances of mishaps are thereby reduced.

The human decision-making process is steeped in context and analysis. Our brains interpret visuals, contextualize the situation and make a prediction or decision based on a number of variables. Up until now, machines only had the capacity to perform repetitive pre-programmed tasks because they lacked the ability to see and process visuals. However, with vision intelligence, machines can now observe human patterns and make predictive decisions by learning from the big data they collect, thereby becoming almost-apprentices to workers in factories.

In a factory setup, vision intelligence is thus a game-changing development that can be used to streamline complex processes and aid human beings to perform better.

Harnessing Business Intelligence to Do Wonders in Retail

Posted on by SuperAdmin

The retail market is fast-paced and super competitive with continuous evolution taking place worldwide. Various retail business firms come up with advanced technologies to ensure that customer retention and customer engagement concerns are addressed.

Gone are the days when we saw the customers’ data as records and evidence of the purchase. Today, you can transform the customer’s data, sales data, and other qualitative purchase information into useful marketing or business growth strategies with Business Intelligence.

Read further to know how Business Intelligence can track shopper behaviour, enable personalised experiences and enhance customer loyalty in the retail segment.

Challenges faced by Traditional Loyalty Programs

The traditional concept of a customer loyalty scheme is no more a cup of tea for retail businesses. Though the customers appreciate points-based loyalty programs, the chances of them redeem the points are very less.

The Customer Relationship Programs that many businesses run still fail to maintain an appreciable pace with the changing mindset of the customers. Buyers expect timely and relevant experiences, with modern science and technology, where they rate businesses based on the ability to read their minds.

People now prefer stores that deploy Business Intelligence-driven solutions to reap the best retail shopping experience.

Business Intelligence will Transform Retail

Elements like relevance, customer satisfaction, and personalization key contributors to brand loyalty. Retailers choose to capitalize on innovative technologies such as Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence to enhance the customer experience.

Vision Intelligence helps retailers to tackle their retail store pain points and transform the customer experiences by providing critical insights obtained from visual data that CCTV cameras throw up. By capturing, understanding and analysing the environment in real time it empowers quick decision making as well as a collection of contexts, meaningful data that can be invaluable in retaining customers and gaining an edge over competition.

Business intelligence can monitor how the users interact with the stores, and the data can help the businesses to stimulate the customer shopping experience. For instance, a customer might gain suggestions based on the items they viewed recently, or how much time they spent on gauging an advertisement.

Business intelligence practices can let businesses find relevant information and insights about consumers to make refined business decisions.

Expanding Outreach to Customers

E-commerce lets retailers implement efficient decisions that rely on customer behaviors with business intelligence. Businesses can adjust the prices, or the merchandise they offer, to allow real-time data monitoring.

Brick-and-mortar stores can also use Business Intelligence to maintain a balance between both in-store and online stock to offer affordable shipping options, like buy online or pick up from the store.

Nowadays, most physical stores expand their outreach to customers across all channels to improve the brand experience. Business intelligence methods can also predict when the products might run out of stock so that the retailers can order the items in advance and make location-based decisions for merchandising.

A Range of Benefits

The AI vision gives customers a personalized shipping experience with effective marketing campaigns, customer behavioral analysis, customer service analytics, customer product interaction, demographic intelligence, and many other features.

Here are the benefits of using Business Intelligence in the retail segment:

  • Demographic Intelligence

Businesses can analyze the physical locations of the buyers, find the products, websites, etc. through email campaigns or referrals. Location intelligence also helps businesses to make recommendations as per the locations and user preferences, to facilitate better audience targeting.

  • Monitor Customer Spending Habits and Buying Behavior

Customer loyalty programs can help retailers track customer behavior and spending patterns. As per the research, 52% of customers will join a customer loyalty program once it is offered. Loyalty programs can retain customers easily and help businesses generate user reviews. For instance, the loyalty program of Marriott includes benefits like VIP upgrades, members-only rates, free mobile app check-in, etc.

  • Provide Personalized Shopping Experiences

About 89% of businesses say that the customer experience is a key aspect to drive customer loyalty and retention. With retail intelligence, retailers get insights to improve purchasing experience, packaging, organizing, and the complete delivery of the products. Retailers can also track dwell time, ie. the time the user spends and interacts with your store.

  • Track Social Media Behavior

With business intelligence, companies can use the information to analyze sales and brand performance. Retail businesses can assess the Social media sentiments to track how the products score in the minds of consumers.

Business Intelligence is an effective tool you can use to recommend the products or the product promotions to the buyers based on their social sentiment and past purchase behavior. It helps your business drive profitability, with the personalization and precise customer analytics model.