A complex infrastructure of end-to-end process automation underpins the flashy technology reflected on the front end.

Process gaps shatter customer journeys and lead to a lack of transparency in supply chain and customer interactions, which together form a composite of the AI backbone. If your retail organization suffers from process gaps and manual routing — and 37 percent of business and technology decision makers report that they are — you must start with laying the groundwork before leaping to AI bling.

So where do you start? An incremental approach to AI in retail should focus on:

Automating customer journeys. Most customer journeys are hindered by manual processes and legacy systems, but new tools are arriving to help. Automating customer journeys is a great starting point for retailers. Seamless journeys drive better online shopping experiences with AI-based solutions like enhanced analytics or intelligent recommendation solutions.

Building software more quickly. Customer journey automation requires more software that many firms don’t have time or resources to build themselves. As retailers identify the gaps and pain points in their shoppers’ journeys, new tools like low-code development platforms are stepping up to speed software development. Seamless journeys are the building blocks for predictive AI features.

Leveraging robotic process automation (RPA). RPA drives client-side automation and integration, which enables businesses to automate manual tasks typically handled by humans. This offers straight-through automation, as well as end-to-end transparency.
 
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