How to Make AI Accessible and Drive Results in 2023

Over the last two years, the pandemic has transformed the customer relationship, how we as retailers engage with our customers, and what our customers have come to expect from us. Our ability to capture market share and compete has become more dependent on having real-time data and advanced analytic technology, which allows us to meet our customer’s demands and increase loyalty. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence is paramount for retailers as it enables personalized interactions on a massive scale while maintaining operational efficiency.?

With many options available to retailers today, a vast sea of data, and business problems to solve, where does one start? In this post, I discuss Evolve Information Solution’s approach to building successful and impactful “Advanced Analytic Solutions” (AAS), as well as some options retailers have and how to make AI more accessible to those looking to win in this rapidly changing landscape.?

We start by asking the right questions.??

Before we get into how to use AI or create an AAS, the data we need, or the skill sets required, we need to start with the problem we are trying to solve. I’ve seen several retailers fail by beginning with the “science” before identifying their approach or ability to execute. Spending time and energy to build an AAS solution for optimization customer fulfillment doesn’t work if your supply chain isn’t ready to support it. Sure, you can spin up a tool that forecasts and suggests where our inventory needs to be by DC, Regional DC, or store, and which is the best place to fulfill from. But if our DCs or stores are not prepared to handle on-off ship to customers (at scale) or to increase replenishment re-order cycles, then the AAS is just theoretical.??

Most of our retailers fail to recognize that technology often outpaces our ability to execute. Ensuring the business processes are in place first is critical to realizing the success of any AAS.

Sales, Promotions, Weather, Social Media, Newsfeeds, Politics, Environmental Factors, customer traffic, impressions, and other data points are endless. Choosing, mining, cleansing, or subscribing to the correct data is critical to the success of any AAS. Before we jump into the deep end of the data lake, we suggest that our clients consider what data is most relevant and impactful to solving their business case. Most of our clients are forecasting demand in some capacity and are certainly using historical sales and most attributes or events. When considering what additional data to leverage, retailers should look at other data sources they already have available. In working with many of our existing clients, we have been able to either cleanse or extrapolate new data correlations from their current data to drive marked improvements to their forecasts without needing to subscribe to new third-party data or solutions.?

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Not all AI is created equal, and how is one to navigate these waters?

AI as a Service?– Are you a retailer without a data science team? Maybe you don’t want to invest in more software, point, or cloud-based solutions? Evolve Information Solutions, among many others in the marketplace, offers AI as a service. We will work through our prescribed methodology to create an AAS to meet your specific needs, consume your data, and generate actionable results that can be egressed to your planning and execution systems or BI tools.?

AI Platforms?– Whether you have a data science team, skilled developers, or savvy business folks, there is an AI platform for you, with low-code, no-code, and open-source models to build, train, and operationalize your solutions. These platforms are abundant in the marketplace. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, among many others, offer cloud-based AI solutions. Subscribe, load your data, and get going! An AI platform vs. AI as a Service puts the control to create, tweak, and own AI modeling in your hands. Evolve Information Systems has partnered with our clients to leverage these platforms to solve various business use cases and drive quantifiable results!?

AI Solutions?– Looking for something more plug-and-play? Wanting something more tried and true? Evolve Information Systems can help you choose the right partner for a pre-packaged solution. We have a vast partner network with significant software vendors in the retail sector, which have significantly invested in solving some of today’s everyday problems. Advanced forecasting solutions, inventory optimization, and customer loyalty, among other solutions, are available in a hosted or 3rd party cloud, ready for you to load your data and get immediate results.??

The key to maximizing customer engagement, driving sales, and achieving operational efficiencies relies on your ability to leverage Advance Analytic Solutions (AAS) to quickly consume, analyze, and react to mass amounts of data points.?

Contact me to learn more about how we can help you with your AAS needs today!?

Brian Rosenberg

Practice Director, Planning Optimization