Retail operations have traditionally been plagued by outdated processes and use of paper-based logbooks, setting retail brands back in terms of productivity and performance. Nowadays, the emergence of digitization, including the use of artificial intelligence to accelerate data analysis and decision making, is automating those traditionally tedious retail processes, enhancing visibility and lowering costs for retailers worldwide.
Gone are the days of templated workflows that don’t integrate to a retail business’ unique requirements, processes and operational needs. From streamlining operations to ensuring compliance, today smart mobile apps and automation software allow retailers to embrace AI to improve and automate workflows with real-time dynamic data. The applications of AI and its benefits in retail are vast. By leveraging technology such as AI, IoT smart sensors, automation and more, retailers can make their data work harder for them, not only streamlining operations and ensuring compliance but also better maintaining safety regulations, ensuring quality standards, saving time and money, and yielding consistent high-quality customer experiences. Let’s break each of these benefits of AI in retail down further.
Maintain Health and Safety Regulations
If you were audited tomorrow, how long would it take to produce evidence of your continued compliance? How confident would you be that your data is reliable? AI accelerates data analysis making it possible to implement, and indisputably prove, continuous compliance in a matter of minutes, making it quick and easy to comply with health and safety requirements.
Ensure Quality Standards
It’s possible to increase efficiencies by streamlining processes that reduce the number of checks required without compromising quality standards. Process management apps allow retailers to avoid cleaning on demand, resulting in increased efficiency and less spend. With dynamic data through AI analysis, retailers can make informed decisions of resource requirements to optimize service quality and levels.
Save Time and Money
Paperwork and outdated processes hinder a business more than they help, as they’re not only burdensome but most of the time effectively remain invisible until an accident happens. By digitizing daily processes and utilizing AI tools to provide visibility and actionable insights, retailers can save millions of dollars per year in paper costs alone — let alone the preventative maintenance capabilities that ensure retailers don’t fall victim to otherwise expensive, reactive fixes.
Improve Overall Customer Experience
Customer experience is the cornerstone of retail business success, and smart technology is revolutionizing the retail space by empowering retailers to not only have full visibility of their business, but create immersive experiences. Personalized marketing, automated checkout, standardized processes, inventory management and more all drive customer loyalty that’s vital to healthy retail operations.
When it boils down to it, in order to maintain a competitive advantage retail brands must embrace the use of AI to accelerate data and make informed decisions. By automating workflows, retailers not only streamline operations and ensure compliance, but also better maintain safety regulations, ensure quality standards, save time and money, and yield consistent high-quality customer experiences.
Fred Whipp is the vice president of business development at mpro5, the process management app and customer-first solution trusted by food service, retail and facilities management.
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