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Email us at sales@psfk.comHow to Enhance The Frontline With Technology & Intelligent Systems
This PSFK guide is an employee technology report on deploying tools and technologies to enhance workflows & drive superior CX.
Executive Summary
In an effort to support frontline employees in an ever-changing retail landscape, companies are utilizing centralized tools and systems that streamline communication, guide day-to-day tasks and make key information like customer profiles and real-time inventory readily accessible.
Report Overview
In this employee technology report, the PSFK research team explores how organizations are super-charging their frontlines with the tools to simplify and automate tasks, improve communication, and drive enhanced customer experience. Within the trends and supporting examples, discover the technologies and key features to boost employee knowledge and capabilities, while also catering to consumer needs and elevated expectations of today.
What You’ll Learn In This Report
- By integrating digital tools and key technologies into workstreams, how companies are streamlining operations and creating new efficiencies, giving associates more time to focus on assisting customers with their individual needs.
- As omnichannel becomes consumers’ purchase path of choice, how companies are reimagining the roles of their sales staff, investing in sales platforms that empower associates to deliver personalized service and experiences to customers shopping from anywhere.
- By arming their associates with the tools to succeed, how brands and retailers can stand out from a crowded field for more than just their product offerings.
Who Prepared This Report?
This employee technology report was developed by the same PSFK research department that since 2004 has provided trends-led innovation consulting advice to Apple, BMW, Facebook/Meta, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Volkswagen.
Key Topics
Iterative InnovationRather than taking a long-term view of project planning, retailers and brands are adaptive dynamic approaches to their business: deploying, testing, and refining processes across the entire organization to respond to nuanced marketplace needs and opportunities in real time. Iterative innovation involves launching different projects at once, A/B testing alternative strategies, and learning from in-the-moment marketplace feedback. With iterative innovation, retailers can improve their processes in a low-cost and time-effective manner, rather than perfecting ideas...
Localized Supply ChainA global disruptor such as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted just how interrelated the supply chains of retailers, brands, and distributors were, leaving many companies scrambling to replace or reshuffle their operations based on shocks across the globe. Retail resilience requires having micro- and macro-approaches to development and distribution, relying not only on cost-reducing global channels, but also sustainable nearby systems that can respond to the region’s or community’s needs.
Multi-Functional StoreCreating physical store locations with multi-purpose designs to accommodate different shoppers’ preferences and needs, from the passive consumer to fully engaged brand fans and members.
Featured Examples
Hy-Vee partners with communication and task performance technology Retail Zipline to create employee support platformUS-based supermarket chain Hy-Vee partnered with communication and task performance technology Retail Zipline, which specializes in the consolidation of processes and procedures, conversation platforms, personal tasks, and messages within a single dashboard. Through partnership, Retail Zipline’s app helps the supermarket’s employees more easily understand what they need to do within their day-to-day job, as well as create a direct link between Hy-Vee’s CEO and all employees for more streamlined announcements, conversations and alerts.
Salesforce rolls out Salesforce Field Service, machine learning products designed to assist field agents in streamlining tasksCloud based software company Salesforce is rolling out AI-powered products designed for field service workers. This new offering, Salesforce Field Service, consists of machine learning tools that provide appointment scheduling, optimization features, AI guidance, and automated customer communications. Through machine learning, Salesforce is able to provide contextual recommendations regarding parts that will need to be ordered based on past similar jobs, help field agents access relevant client or job-related information, and determine the best course of action based on previous interactions.
Stitch Fix app uses proprietary algorithms and machine learning to generate optimized suggestionsTo help their CX agents satisfy customer needs as they shop, online personal styling service Stitch Fix created a sidebar app that appears within each customer ticket window and helps to quickly surface client information and provide shortcuts to recommendations based on similar past client requests or needs. Powered by the brand’s proprietary algorithms and machine learning, the guided solution-providing sidebar app is able to learn from past client interactions and completed tickets to then recommend an action that is most likely to be client positive to the CX agent.
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