167 activities or shoplifting,” explains Broussard. “For instance, AI-powered surveillance cameras can detect unusual behaviours and alert staff immediately. Additionally, AI can be integrated into radio-frequency identification tags to track items in real time throughout the store, which helps prevent theft.” To capitalise on the many potential benefits of implementing AI, retailers must gather highquality, accurate data from a variety of sources. “AI systems are only as good as the data they process,” says Broussard. “AI models trained on incomplete data may develop biases and produce inaccurate predictions. Data must be cleaned and organised to feed into AI systems for effective and reliable retail insights.” Data centralisation ensures that any analytics tools based on that data produce accurate, actionable insights. Kyndryl helps retailers to get AI-ready, assisting them with data integration by consolidating applications and systems onto a unified platform. For example, Kyndryl helped one of the largest Germanybased retailers – which has over 10,000 stores across 15 countries in Europe – to better connect its IT locations. “The retailer had previously taken a pragmatic, hands-off approach to IT, allowing each operating company to build and run its own infrastructure,” says Broussard. “This fragmented approach gave each entity control, but it did not support new business objectives such as the creation of a company-wide mobile application for cashiers.” Kyndryl helped the retailer to adopt a centralised cloud strategy by migrating 170 apps from across 75 legal entities in eight countries. “We moved all appls onto one cloud system without any business disruption,” says Broussard. “Since the migration, the firm has improved performance across all departments by over 30 per cent. The consolidated data has simplified supply chain logistics, reduced IT spend on new hardware and enabled the firm to grow with new customer demands.” RETAIL & CONSUMER GOODS Photo: iStock/kupicoo
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