Even before Covid-19, the shift from physical stores to online retailers was evident. All this is accelerating, and new players such as Amazon are further pushing development. More and more end-consumers and businesses are moving towards digital and online channels – and they expect a seamless experience. Not only for shopping; the transaction is also used as a social activity to share, discuss and compare.
Getting closer to customers
Overall, AI is enabling retail systems to work together to optimize customer experiences, forecasting, inventory management, and more. The industry is now in a unique position to grasp the digital opportunities.
“Companies are investing to get better predictions of consumer-demand based on weather, calendar, economic, cultural and other factors”, says Anoop Sharma, who is leading Cognizant’s Nordic AI and analytics practice. “It’s all about getting a deeper understanding of offline and online customer data, of needs based on user personas, and of the relationships between products and consumer behavior.
Streamlining processes
At the same time, companies are working towards optimization of processes, such as efficient supply chains, production efficiency, a highly connected and utilized workforce, reductions in losses and delays, and increased safety and security with smart direct home delivery solutions.
“So far, we’ve seen business outcome potential in use cases like online customer acquisition, churn prediction and digital leakage prevention”, says Anoop Sharma. “Companies are also using AI to utilize opportunities during omnichannel customer journeys and providing effective cross-sell, upsell, promotions and effective campaign management solutions”.
Modernizing digital platforms
How do you make AI happen then? Leaders globally, as well as in the Nordics, are focusing on building a modern data ecosystem and a digital core by modernizing their legacy systems. This means moving to the cloud, creating coherent stories by joining the dots between silos of data and by enriching new data sources, using un-utilized dark data and applying industry-specific machine learning models, image analytics and NLP (Natural-Language -Processing) techniques
As one of the major data and AI consultancy organizations in the world, with over 400 AI experts in the Nordics alone, Cognizant works to operationalize and implement data, AI, and analytics solutions at some of the world’s biggest companies.