Monday Morning Impact – November 19

Published On: November 19, 2018Categories: Buzz, Uncategorized

Survey Finds Retailers Face Major Business Risks Without AI and Automation

New research from Blue Yonder, in association with Microsoft, has revealed that brick and mortar retailers are missing out on the opportunity to improve customer experience and compete with online retailers by failing to automate their pricing and replenishment processes. According to the “Blue Yonder Smart Report,” 96 percent of retailers rely on manual processes for their pricing and replenishment strategies, despite widespread recognition of the benefits that greater automation could bring.

Blue Yonder is a provider of AI and ML solutions for the retail space.

According to the survey, 53 percent of retailers admit that there is room for improvement in their replenishment process, while 54 percent say the same for their pricing strategy. Nearly 60 percent of retailers believe that automated replenishment would generate a better customer experience and 56 percent stating that automated pricing would result in improved profits.

“Online retailers have been able to make small and regular adjustments to their pricing for years, instantly reacting to consumer demand and trends to keep their prices optimized and maximize sales, while brick and mortar retailers have been trying to manage with manually-operated, outdated and static pricing strategies,” said Blue Yonder CEO Uwe Weiss. “However, with automated pricing solutions, retailers finally have the flexibility and agility to optimize their prices in their physical estate, delivering a better experience for customers and enabling them to compete more effectively with their online rivals.”

In September, the company surveyed 200 brick and mortar retailers from the UK, Germany, and the U.S. to understand how they are leveraging the latest technologies to achieve a competitive advantage and level the playing field with more agile online retailers.

Channel Impact®
Cloud technologies and AI can be powerful tools for helping clients in the retail space leverage automation in their pricing and replenishment approaches, thereby making them more efficient. AI solutions can analyze vast quantities of data to completely automate these processes and eliminate the burden of manual intervention, enabling retailers to devote more of their resources to improving the customer experience.

Tech Data Adds CloudCheckr to StreamOne Cloud Platform

Tech Data has added CloudCheckr Analytics and Management packages to its StreamOne cloud platform worldwide, giving cloud partners and their end customers greater control of their AWS and Azure environments with enhanced cost, security and performance management. The analytics package is designed to transform data from public cloud services into actionable insights by reporting, alerting, analyzing and automating the environment for optimal utilization and costs.

The combination of StreamOne and CloudCheckr is expected to enable organizations to optimize and manage their cloud infrastructure and reduce costs while maintaining a high level of security and performance.

“CloudCheckr enhances our overall StreamOne platform capabilities around security, compliance and workload management. This enables our partners to strengthen customer engagement by having a bigger impact on customer cloud computing environments,” said Stacy Nethercoat, vice president of Cloud Solutions, Americas, at Tech Data.

Features include cost allocation and spend optimization tools, as well as security and compliance best practices with actionable intelligence delivered through management automation.

CloudCheckr is available immediately on StreamOne Enterprise Solutions for AWS and Azure in the U.S. and Canada, with Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America to follow in the coming months.

Channel Impact®
The alliance complements Tech Data’s overall global cloud offering with packages that expand security, compliance, and workload management capabilities.

Ingram Micro Rolls Out New Digital Marketing Platform

Ingram Micro has launched its new digital marketing program for partners. Marketed as “Ingram Micro Partner Connect,” the new offering is designed to provide allied partners with personalized, premium digital marketing content delivered as-a-service.

The new platform includes a personal dashboard, domain name and the ability to receive real-time analytics to help assess lead activity and ROI. Launched in beta earlier this year with members of Ingram Micro’s Trust X Alliance community, Partner Connect is now generally available to channel partners in the U.S. and Canada.

In addition to customized content, the platform provides real-time, data-based analytics, and management from a single dashboard.

“Making the move to digital marketing is a must for channel partners looking to build their brand and grow their business,” said Dennis Crupi, executive director of marketing at Ingram Micro.  “Supported by Ingram Micro’s world-class and experienced digital marketing team, Ingram Micro Partner Connect addresses this gap and simplifies digital content marketing, making it easy for resellers to enhance their digital presence with personalized content, targeted Google Ad Word campaigns and real-time analytics.”

Channel Impact®
Ingram Micro Partner Connect is intended to streamline the development and management of digital marketing campaigns that promote their company brand, solutions and services to a wider variety of end-users, leveraging a SaaS-based digital marketing platform.

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