business
‘‘
TALKING
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year’s study findings. Despite the aggressive
year-over-year growth in their ‘intelligence’
score, retailers’ average spend on IoT is the
lowest among all surveyed sectors.
I suspect this is because retailers have spent
the last few years thoroughly evaluating the
many different IoT strategy and solution
options available and are just now starting
to move into the execution phase. (Only
58% of retailers actually have a well-defined
IoT vision and are executing on this plan
right now.)
Others (41%) have yet to scale their IoT
solutions company-wide. They’re likely testing
different models in select stores in order to
optimise mobile device configurations, refine
workflow applications, shore up security and
solicit both worker and customer feedback on
the impact of such technologies on in-store
shopping experiences.
Spending should increase as pilot
programmes conclude and retailers become
more confident in their strategy and ability
to bring comprehensive IoT systems to scale.
The real ROI of ‘intelligence’ is
measured by action
For the last few years, the primary goal for
retailers has been to gain greater visibility
into their operations. The ability to fully
38
INTELLIGENTCIO
sense and analyse what customers and
associates are doing within a store or
warehouse can be invaluable. Definitive data
about what is or isn’t happening informs
inventory management strategies, decisions
about the digitalisation of customer
experiences and more.
Yet, the real power of IoT – the real return
– comes when those lessons are turned into
measurable action.
Today, only 55% of retailers share
information from their IoT solutions
“
ONLY 58% OF
RETAILERS
ACTUALLY HAVE
A WELL-DEFINED
IOT VISION AND
ARE EXECUTING
ON THIS PLAN
RIGHT NOW.
with employees in real time or near-real
time. And only 38% share the actionable
intelligence with all of their employees.
That’s a missed opportunity.
If you know what issues are plaguing
your store or warehouse, and you even
have a firm grasp on why those issues are
occurring, then why wouldn’t you prescribe
a specific action to a worker to resolve them
immediately and mitigate recurrences?
Why wouldn’t you articulate the ‘best next
steps’ to take with their current mobile and
barcode-based systems already in place
in order to maintain pricing accuracy and
stocked shelves?
Why not give associates tools they need
to more quickly locate items for customers
or expedite checkout to avoid losing sales?
And why not deploy a team immediately
to investigate suspected theft or fraud and
adjust asset protection processes?
Retailers who utilise the IoT-powered
technologies at their disposal right now to
both capture intelligence at the edge and
take direct action on it are the ones who
will most successfully capture their edge as
both customer demands and competitive
pressures intensify. For more information,
check out Zebra’s 2019 Intelligent
Enterprise Index. n
www.intelligentcio.com