Verizon Interview Series

Jerri Traflet leads the retail industry team for Verizon Business Group globally with a focus on delivering business value solutions that take full advantage of Verizon’s digital infrastructure and leading 5G and Edge solutions.??She joined Verizon in 2020 with previous roles leading retail innovation at IBM, Oracle, Cisco, GE and Fujitsu.

With more than 30 years of experience in retail technology, solving key business challenges and working with the top 350 retailers globally, Jerri has a passion for helping companies improve their customer experience, streamline operational costs and processes, and improve employee productivity and automation. She is excited to represent Verizon’s technology as 5G and Edge will be the transformational components of this generation of Retail.

When you are talking with retail executives, what are some of their top challenges??

The three biggest challenges we are hearing from retail executives are elevated customer expectations, labor shortages and supply chain constraints. Many of our conversations with retailers focus on how the new generation of shopper is looking for technologies that allow them to shop quickly, safely and easily whether online or in the store. In-store shopping for certain segments of retail is back in full swing and there is a lot of interest in improving mobile capabilities that enable personalization and make shopping more convenient both online and in-store.

Labor challenges are hitting retail harder than most industries, and to make matters worse, retail has the highest percentage (23%) of employees looking to leave their jobs, according to a recent survey conducted by?LinkedIn.?Rising labor costs – driven by the tight labor market – and growing store associate tasks, as well as expanded tasks to support digital operations, are exasperating labor challenges. In response to these critical staff shortages, retailers are turning to automation to perform many operational tasks.

The increase in unified commerce transactions (leveraging store and distribution center inventories) and supply chain delays, shortages and increased costs makes supply chain agility a retail imperative. Improving supply chain visibility can enable retailers to better meet customer demand, reduce overstocks and out-of-stock, and improve labor schedules for inventory receiving and stocking.

How are?retailers addressing these challenges?

In many cases, innovative technologies are being used to improve customer experiences, labor productivity and supply chain efficiency. We are seeing forward thinking retailers, who are trying to innovate quickly, developing thin store system environments that leverage cloud-based applications. This agile approach using wireless technology, micro services architectures and edge computing speeds the deployment of customer-facing immersive mobile apps, associate-facing mobile tools, and IoT applications that improve inventory visibility and operational efficiency. This infrastructure also enables computer vision to support self-service, through technologies such as cashierless checkout, cold chain management, inventory management with new intelligent tagging, and other technologies that allow retailers to improve labor productivity.

What are your recommendations, Jerri?

Retail transformation starts by bringing together disconnected systems to create powerful, modular, and intelligent solutions that can enable new functionality, smarter insights and faster decision making. Success will be achieved by those retailers that prioritize digital innovation to build smarter, more efficient, and more agile enterprises. The result is Enterprise Intelligence.?

To create a platform that can do all this, retailers need more than secure, reliable connectivity. Verizon has the global networking expertise and broad portfolio and partnerships of innovative solutions to help retailers overcome their challenges. We enable what I like to call “the art of the possible” by bringing together the expertise, the partnership, and a platform for the future which consists of 5G, Network as a Service, Mobile Edge Compute, and applications and solutions which provide businesses differentiation and cost savings.

Learn how Enterprise Intelligence can help you go beyond digital transformation:?Verizon Enterprise Intelligence. You can also contact Jerri directly at [email protected].

Content sponsored by Verizon