Why Retailers Need Advanced Data and Analytics Services
Retailers need to invest in data analytics and advanced technologies such as AI and ML, NLP and deep learning.
Your modern data infrastructure isn’t delivering even after modernization? The limiting factor could be the processes and operations surrounding the systems. Learn how to improve your operating model to best leverage infrastructure and technology investments.
Cognitive enterprise planning is a key area where we generative AI is changing the game. We're seeing finance, supply chain and healthcare sectors lead the way by fusing GenAI, blockchain and IoT technologies to get real-time insights and make more informed, proactive decisions. Use cases include strategic forecasting for business expansion, workforce planning, inventory management, operational efficiency optimization and more. We help companies achieve the leapfrog benefits of a true cognitive enterprise.
Despite growing investments and sustained C-suite interest in generative AI, advanced analytics, BI and data infrastructure, businesses and their customers often are underwhelmed by the capabilities of their data systems. And the competitive pressure from nimbler competitors and new entrants is on the rise. We also can expect growing regulatory requirements in the data realm – from customer privacy, data sovereignty, compliance, cybersecurity, to fairness and inclusivity.
To advance your data capabilities, you must grow your investments and talent. ISG helps you evaluate existing investments, identify opportunities and build a cognitive enterprise.
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Learn MoreThere is a lesson to be learned for enterprises as they strive to make use of analytics and data to out-compete their rivals. Just as all 100-meter runners are fast, all enterprises strive to be data-driven. Making decisions based on data is not enough to be successful, however. The winners are those that can process and act upon data at the speed of business. This is easier said than done, given the overwhelming historical reliance on batch data processing. As I have previously stated, the execution of business events has always occurred in real time. Batch data processing is an artificial construct driven by the limitations of traditional data processing capabilities that require enterprises to process data minutes, hours or even days after an event. Processing and acting on data at the speed of business necessitates a change of approach by enterprises to make real-time data processing a central component of their analytics and data strategy, rather than an exception.
Enterprises are embracing the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver improvements in productivity and efficiency. As they move from initial pilots and trial projects to deployment into production at scale, many are realizing the importance of agile and responsive data processes, as well as tools and platforms that facilitate data management, with the goal of improving trust in the data used to fuel analytics and AI. This has led to increased attention on the role of data operations (DataOps) and its role in the application of agile development, development operations (DevOps) and lean manufacturing by data engineering professionals in support of data production. I assert that through 2026, more than one-half of enterprises will have adopted agile and collaborative DataOps practices to facilitate responsiveness, avoid repetitive tasks and deliver measurable data reliability improvements.
Use data to assess your supplier delivery against regulations and monitor customer-specific requirements. Complexity and regulatory scrutiny of third-party relationships are on the rise. Get a comprehensive and data-driven way to control risk throughout the life of the relationship.
The development, testing and deployment of data pipelines is a fundamental accelerator of data-driven strategies, enabling enterprises to extract data from the operational applications and data platforms designed to run the business and load, integrate and transform it into the analytic data platforms and tools used to analyze the business. As I explained in our recent Data Pipelines Buyers Guide, data pipelines are essential to generating intelligence from data. Healthy data pipelines are necessary to ensure data is integrated and processed in the sequence required to generate business intelligence (BI) and support the development and deployment of applications driven by artificial intelligence (AI).
Nearly every analytics provider has GenAI capabilities that incorporate NLP either in preview or generally available. Enterprises are adopting GenAI as well. In fact, 85% of enterprises believe that investment in GenAI technology in the next 24 months is important or critical (from the ISG 2023 Future Workplace Study). And the recently completed ISG Buyer Behavior research on AI shows enterprises are experiencing positive outcomes from their AI investments.