Tag: AI

The past decade has been a game-changer for the way businesses operate in the realm of retail. The advent of e-commerce and its subsequent boom has compelled brick and mortar outlets to undertake a paradigm shift from a profits-first to a consumer-centric approach. Failure in conforming to new consumer demands fueled the retail apocalypse that toppled the brick and mortar landscape. Thus, we see retail giants like Bon-Ton Stores Inc., Sears and Macy’s filing for bankruptcy and liquidate their holdings.

Implementation of targeted mobile promotions, loyalty benefits, e-payment gateways is just some of the strategies adopted by retail outlets to maintain a competitive advantage in the face of fierce technological overhauls. With disruptive innovation gaining a strong footing now more than ever, the need to constantly reinvent and augment is more pressing than before. Here are five key disruptive technology trends that you need to sync your business model with, to offer consumers retail experience par excellence:

Related Reading: 5 Ways to Enrich Customer Experience at Your Retail Store

1. The advent of Artificial Intelligence

Robots and AI bots capable of not just learning but also executing real smartness are the new focus in tech innovations. Retail giants are already experimenting with ways to implement these AI bots in their business operations. A strong case in point would be Amazon’s no-checkout cashier-less convenience stores, Amazon Go being tested across different states in North America.

Then there are self-driving grocery stores and automated trucks making home deliveries that are still undergoing trials. Of course, that is not to say that AI dominating retail operations will become the new normal tomorrow, but it is in the offing. Businesses that are in the retail sector for the long haul will stand to gain from their preparedness to embrace this change.

2. The Internet of Things

The ability of devices to interact with humans, understand commands and execute them is passé. The Internet of Things (IoT) puts the limelight on the ability of machines to interact with one another. The slow but consistent development of IoT is shaping up a new ecosystem where our gadgets will be able to operate without human intervention. Besides, the global market size for IoT in retail is expected to grow around 94.44 billion by 2025.

The emergence of IoT will inevitably alter the dynamics of the way consumers interact with retail business and the way businesses interact with distribution networks and supply chain partners. More importantly, it will usher in a connected customer model by relying on smart-store applications like smart shelves, beacons, and customer service robots. Making room for these swift connections powered by the internet will help you build a business model that is future ready.

3. Striking the Online-Offline Balance

It is the age of digital customers where the lines between online and offline existences are forever blurring. Brick and mortar businesses need an online extension to sustain themselves. Now, the spotlight is on understanding the dynamics of virtual and augmented reality and creating a marketing strategy that caters to the customers’ dual persona – considering their social media image and real identity – to encourage continued interactions and conversions.

The result – a complete overhaul of the shopping experience by bringing in a consistent omnichannel approach built around a convenient digital backend. For instance, Oasis, the UK-based fashion retailer is closing the gap between in-store and online purchasing by merging shopping experiences across its mobile app, website, and brick-and-mortar stores.

4. Personalized Shopping Experience

Take a look at how e-commerce websites function – bringing customers exactly what they need, every time, on every device, without fail. This carefully curated shopping experience eliminates the need for buyers to browse through the inventory of online stores to find what they need. Over time, this approach toward shopping has been normalized to an extent that customers expect the same out of their retail shopping experience too. Installing smart screens, tablets etc. is one way of using technology to recreate the same sense of personalization in your retail business.

5. Banking on Data

Big data is the next big thing in terms of business operations. Multinational corporations are pumping in billions of dollars to assimilate and organize this seamless information to create the right kind of marketing strategies. While big data may be out of your reach as a standalone business entity, you can create your own pool of data and use it to offer improved retail experiences for your customers.

Fun quizzes, for instances, are a great way to gather insights into your customers’ buying preferences, which can then be used to offer personalized product recommendations. You can take it a step further by tracking these recommendations to know if they are appealing to your customers and tweak them accordingly.

Related Reading: How Big Data and Analytics are Evolving Customer Experience in Retail

[Courtesy : European Bank for Reconstruction and Development]

Meanwhile, other technologies like virtual and augmented reality will continue to grow in popularity and efficiency. As a retailer, the onus of using these disruptive innovations to offer a seamless customer experience falls on you. Pairing with the right technology partner is the first step. Get in touch with our experts today to uplift your retail experience with cutting-edge software solutions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), the next big thing in the technology space, is all set to unleash big scale disruptions. The potential impact is more profound in the financial sector, which lives and breathes data.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered “smart” machines do not just crunch data. It indulges in self-learning to solve cognitive tasks, until now the forte of the human brain. A traditional analytical engine or software robot requires someone to feed in clear set of rules set in advance. AI-endowed self-learning machines create the rules and frame the logic by itself, as it crunches through millions and millions of rows of historic data, identifying. It learns to perform the required task based on the decisions humans have made previously. AI powered algorithms also learn from mistakes, meaning the predictive analytics in spews becomes more and more accurate with every recorded transaction.

In the financial sector, such AI-powered systems delve into many years of banking, insurance, mortgages and financial trading history, apply deep learning principles, and self-construct algorithms to automate routine tasks, unlocks insights, improve decisions, mitigate risk, and prevent frauds. AI’s natural language processing system can read through regulations, reassembling words into a set of computer-understandable rules.

The CBInsights Conference on the Future of Fintech predicts a rapid pace of disruption in the financial sector, requiring incumbent stakeholders to adapt or risk being submerged in the coming tidal wave of predictive analytics. Apart from conventional tools, Artificial Intelligence-inspired technologies such as blockchains, insurance tech, robo-advising, and other latest cutting-edge innovative tools promise to take analytics to a whole new level.

The following are the potential applications of Artificial Intelligence, which would take over financial services in the near future:

• Improved efficiency through greater automation and better insights
• New models for several traditional functions, especially in stock analysis and wealth management advisory services
• Customization and personalization of financial products, leveraging the services of analytics-driven recommendation engines;
• Improved cyber-security monitoring and responsive systems, and automated fraud detection

Improved Efficiency

AI and robotics powered automated solutions are on the verge of subverting the traditional business models of banks and other financial institutions.

AI-based algorithms automate much of the routine tasks that require extensive workforce now, leading to considerable savings on overheads, accelerated processes, and overall improved efficiency. Being lean and mean is the mantra for success in today’s highly competitive environment, and AI will help financial institutions discover new meaning to lean and mean.

AI-based technology simplifies and automates a host of routine tasks related to money management processes, such as identity authentication, know-your-customer checks, sanctions list monitoring, billing fraud oversight, anti-money laundering monitoring, risk control processes, and more.

AI facilitates several tasks, such as bot messaging, document discovery and more which require extensive manual work now.

Such efficiency improvement interventions have the potential to offer huge ROI for the financial service industry. Banks adopting ROI already report about 40% increase in productivity.

New Trading Models

AI powered predictive analysis has the potential to create entirely new business models in equity, forex and other trades.

Algorithms are already in widespread use to manage risk and exposure. With AI getting better, the scope of intervention will change from refining existing models to becoming the bedrock of newer innovative models. AI-powered algorithms offer brokers and investors access to charts and trends at a much more sophisticated level than before, enabling them to chase short-lived opportunities cutting across venues, asset classes, and geographies. Trading algorithms assess the best liquidity providers during execution. The possibilities are endless.

Thomson Reuters predict algorithmic trading systems to handle 75% of the global trade volumes in the near future. Almost all hedge fund in the world already have a huge data-science team, and deploy sophisticated filters to screen investment ideas.

Tightening regulation mandating extensive record keeping and tracking of all trades, and the need for increased speed in correlating multiple variables, to keep pace with a fast paced and highly competitive environment plays into the eventual dominance of AI.

Deep Personalization and Customization

One of the innovative possibilities with AI in the financial sector is in the realm of marketing. Already, marketers are analyzing behavioral data captured from online activities in a big way, to customize and personalize offerings based on spending habits, social-demographic trends, location, and other preferences.

With AI capable of understanding human language and emotion, marketers of financial products and services would soon take personalization to a whole new level. For instance, AI-powered marketing database could suggest language that elicits certain emotional responses to advertising and email subject lines, and trigger cultural sensitivities to certain words and timing of campaigns. Biggies such as Citi and AmEx already use such tools to good effect, to fine tune their social media and marketing engagement.

Security and Fraud Prevention

Cyber-attacks have brought down many high-profile financial institutions, and continue to be a nightmare for the industry stakeholders. AI promises a fresh breath of hope.

For instance,

• AI based analytic engine capture multivariate time series patterns, to predict anomalies.
• AI based predictive analytics make explicit customer behavior, to flag potential fraud or breach in real-time
• AI can easily correlate and link multivariate transaction data, facilitating easy recovery of layers of bank documentation and data to meet regulatory policies, and establish a money trail to bust financial frauds.
• Sophisticated machine learning and algorithm that monitor market movements in real time allow regulators to prevent major accidental market movements.

Regulations influencing financial markets, such as the European Union Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) push for greater automation of trades, further boost the prospects of AI in the niche.

Experts estimate AI to surpass human intelligence by 2040. However, the financial services sector need not wait that long for predictive analysis to take over and relegate human brains to a role of supporting AI functions. It nevertheless takes great skill in developing actionable apps and products that leverage AI to unlock the many possibilities on offer. Your best bet is to partner with us and leverage our highly talented and experienced skill set for the task. We are in the thick of AI inspired things, having access to the latest technology and developments, and offer you the unique value proposition of technical competency with a considerable track record in every industry to understand your specific needs and develop highly customized products.