What Does AI Really Mean for Retailers?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has undoubtedly become one of the biggest buzzwords of 2019 and its use within retail is only set to grow, not just for large market-leading retailers, but for retailers of all shapes and sizes across many sectors. Driven predominantly by the success and maturity of AI and Machine Learning (ML) platforms/solution providers and the pervasive growth and adoption of Cloud Service Providers, retailers are beginning to move past the marketing flurry that AI once was. Now, retailers are beginning to develop a legitimate appreciation of what it takes to properly evaluate, prepare and produce AI and ML-enabled solutions. Despite the progress that has been made, retailers still need to ask themselves: what is the goal? What can AI really deliver – and what will this mean for consumers? Craig Summers, UK Managing Director, Manhattan Associates warns against falling for AI gimmicks if retailers are to leverage AI to its full potential, promoting predictability and above all, delivering a greater customer experience. Confusing Gimmick with Experience Online, in-store, in the warehouse, the opportunities to leverage AI and ML to improve retail operations are compelling – no wonder research predicts that retailers will spend $7.3billion on AI by 2022, more than tripling the average spend in 2018. However, before AI can be truly effective in the sector, the challenge of data quality, quantity and privacy must be addressed. Even with the volumes of data currently captured by many retailers, they often still struggle with capturing and keeping enough of the ‘right data’ – historical data that is accurate, complete and textual – to fully take advantage of the benefits AI can bring. Additionally, many customers are becoming less willing to share their data, which is necessary to truly make AI and ML models accurate and successful. In the rush to embrace innovation, it is easy to overlook these challenges and move focus away from the bottom line objectives, which should be: where is the ROI, and what is the implication for the customer experience? An amazing AI solution in-store that uses a customer’s hair and skin tone, size and style to recommend products, from hair styling to make-up, fashion to accessories, is incredibly exciting. But unless every recommendation is available to buy in-store at that very moment, or if not, easily sourced and delivered to the customer’s destination of choice, using AI in this way is nothing more than a gimmick. It may add a little levity to the shopping trip – but it does not provide a truly compelling and satisfying customer experience that is enduring and repeatably delivers on the bottom line. And this is the key: in today’s highly competitive retail environment, the priority has to be on customer experience, satisfaction, and retention. Otherwise, customers will just easily drift over to another retailer within the overloaded omni-channel marketplace. Strong customer experience and satisfaction is not achieved through gimmicks, but through ensuring customers quickly get their hands on the products they’re seeking. In practice, this means maximising stock availability – where it is needed, at the right time. It means achieving a slick warehouse operation that can fulfil both to store and direct to consumers without unaffordable – and often hard to find – additional workers. It means improving predictions to minimise discounting and maximising best-selling products. With this approach, retailers can achieve true customer satisfaction and loyalty, and therefore achieve higher levels of sales, and sales longevity. AI in the future Retailers that have embraced AI in the warehouse are already driving tangible improvements in efficiency and accuracy. By combining deep, high quality order history data with AI and ML to better understand the characteristics of order trends, including direct to consumer ecommerce orders, retailers can reconsider the pick, pack and ship processes. Schedules are being reorganised; resources redeployed; while orders can be seamlessly prioritised, and new delivery options enabled. Furthermore, AI enables retailers to better manage the changing sales peaks, such as back to school or the unexpected April heatwave, as well as problems with shipping or haulage. Essentially, AI delivers more accurate and granular predictions that can be used to smooth out the entire logistics process in real-time. With differentiation and innovation at the core of AI, there has never been a better time for all types and sizes of retailers to leverage AI and ML to level the playing field with major retailers, not only to help neutralise and compete, but to differentiate and innovate. Retailers have shown in the past how they can embrace innovation, rise to a challenge and adopt the technology available – so now is the time for them to do it again. Conclusion In the future, AI will offer the chance to transform customer personalisation. It will support the most extraordinary innovations – both externally and internally – and support huge changes in the way retailers and customers interact. Aside from AI-driven, personalised and on-demand product creation (imagine the ‘personalisation’ we see today but heightened ten-fold), AI will enable highly accurate behavioural analysis that will ensure the retailer knows what a customer wants long before the customer has any idea. Imagine virtual shopping networks with intelligent shopping assistants, with visual and conversational digital assistants for both consumers and retail staff; imagine just how interactive and innovative retailers can make the experience for their customers. But that is the future. And, let’s be clear, such behavioural insight is of zero value if it cannot be backed up by a retail operation that is efficient and effective – and can automatically and consistently deliver every aspect of the customer experience. AI is taking retail by storm but put the gimmicks aside: the real and attainable value of AI right now is to be gained by applying proven algorithms to drive essential supply chain improvements. Manufacturing & Engineering Magazine | The Home of Manufacturing Industry News
AI Platform Shapes the Future of Video Production
A revolutionary new platform using the latest machine learning technology hopes to transform the video production industry. It works by matching a brand’s production brief with over one million filmmakers across the world, then scaling that down to the most relevant few, in seconds. It’s the latest service to engage sophisticated AI methods to help businesses find ideally matched talent, instead of relying on basic aggregation, agencies or other limited scope sources. Curation Zone scours every corner of the web for the profiles of videographers and other skilled professionals in the filmmaking industry. Using big data analytics, it categorises their expertise, identifies any awards to their name, specifies how much engagement they’ve had with previous videos and even which brands they’ve worked with, and in what capacity. The technology, which took four years to develop, analyses the work of more than one million filmmakers on a rolling basis. It then curates and filters them into a cloud based dashboard where they can be matched with specific client video requirements. “The algorithms decide, based on a number of complex principles, who is worthy of the name, ‘filmmaker’ and which jobs they should be matched to. The advantages are that our system can find talent that no one knows much about outside of their limited circle and evaluate the movers and shakers of the video making industry on the fly,” said CEO of Curation Zone, Russell Glenister. Curation Zone’s software removes the need to store information on a database. The technology constantly tracks and analyses websites and social media channels to identify the very best talent. It accurately categorizes them into genres and gives them ratings that clients can evaluate. It works in a similar way to Trip Advisor, but curating the skills of people, not hotels. While the concept has been applied to recruitment and other sectors it is the first time machine learning has been applied to creative talent in such a complex and effective way. Curation Zone, which launched its platform this spring, says it will transform the video production space and the way brands make video. It enables its clients, which include creative agencies, in-house content creation teams, consultancies and publishers, to be more effective by broadening their reach and helping them find the right creative talent, which has, until now, been impossible to do at scale.
A Technological Merge: Amazon Echo Is Domesticity’s New A.I.
Amazon Echo is somewhat of a creative merge, taking the functionality of a Bluetooth speaker and combining it with a sophisticated Artificial Intelligence system named Alexa to create a product that’s both cutting edge and functional. So just how functional is the Amazon Echo’s AI? Well it boasts a host of intuitive voice activated features, from ordering a pizza from Just Eat to pairing the device to a Smart Thermostat to change the temperature in your house completely hands free. Other functions range from practical like ordering an Uber to apps on the more trivial end like the pick-up lines or daily facts apps The product had been launched in the US for 2 years before its November 2016 U.K release. Although many U.K tech enthusiasts will have been green with envy of American techies, the stalled U.K release has in many ways worked in advantage of the U.K consumer. In the two years since the Echo’s original launch many of the kinks have been ironed out through consumer feedback and natural technical advancements, Amazon has been constantly upgrading the software using new third-party apps called Skills. In terms of design the Echo comes in two colours, matte black and white. The simplistic cylindrical design and focus on monochromatic colours give the Echo an inconspicuous aesthetical appeal. In this case less definitely is more. The Echo features an impressive 360° speaker that will pump out your favourite music around the room. The Echo also features a light up rim that changes colour intuitively dependant on the state of the device, for example if Alexa is receiving a command the rim lights up cyan and if Alexa goes offline the rim lights orange. Of course for a product that relies so heavily on voice recognition microphone quality is a key aspect for the functionality of the device. The Echo features a total of 7 microphones with far reaching usability, wherever you are in the room the echo will pick you up, even if music is being played from the device. The quality of command recognition is where the echo really shines, and sets itself apart from similarly priced competition. Even mumbled or oddly worded commands are often deciphered by Alexa, making interaction with the Echo a million times more natural and intuitive than many other AI’s on the market. You could argue the functionality of the Amazon Echo is dependent on the sophistication of your domestic technology. For example the device offers the ability to control smart lights and smart thermostats around the house, you can also stream music through Spotify or other music streaming apps providing you have a subscription. If you don’t have these paired devices that work so seamlessly with the Echo and don’t have Spotify the practical application of the product becomes somewhat redundant. However, if your house is kitted out with gadgets that work in tandem the Echo will seem like a god send, allowing you to seamlessly control so much in your life all through intuitive and effective voice control. Manufacturing & Engineering Magazine | The Home of Manufacturing Industry News
Artificial Fingertip Delivers Real “Feeling”
An artificial fingertip surgically connected to nerve endings in an amputeeâs arm is the first to deliver real touch sensation. Previous attempts to reconnect nerves and bionics after amputation had failed to simulate sensory stimulation in real-time. The pioneering research and technology was developed by Ecole Polytechnhique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in partnership with BioRobotics at the Institute Scuola Superiore SantâAnna (SSSA). The efforts of the French and Italian universities have allowed the patient to feel texture instantaneously, with no perceptible gap between touch and sensation. During research, the teams, led by Silvestro Micera and Calogero Oddo also found that nerves of non-amputees can also be stimulated to feel texture without intrusive surgery. Such a finding means that future technologies can be tested and refined on intact subjects. They also suggested that artificial tactile robotics might successfully be transferred to circumstances of rescue, as well to the manufacturing sector more broadly. Dennis Aabo Sørensen is reportedly the first person in the world to feel texture with the use of a bionic fingertip. The fingertip was connected to electrodes implanted above his stump to remaining nerves in the upper arm. Sensors on the bionic fingertip then perceived subtle differences in texture as a machine controlled the movement of the finger across a range of plastics with distinct patterns engraved on them. From the signal generated by the different textures, a series of electronic spikes were produced and relayed back through the nervous system of the patient. Sørensen was able to differentiate between rough and smooth surfaces at a phenomenal rate of 96%. When the pioneering testing was replicated on non-amputee subjects, the results remained promising; subjects could discern different textures in 77% of cases. Testing on non-amputees also allowed scientists to measure how much the bionic fingertipâs sensory perception correlated with that or innate brain function. EEG scans showed brain activity to be very comparable to that mimicked by the robotic fingertip. The results, published in eLife, could well revolutionise neuroprosthetics and pave the way for an increasingly state-of-the-art health care sector.
