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Change is coming. In retail, frontline labor shortage, brick-and-mortar profitability challenges, and high turnover are driving the adoption of new AI-enabled technologies with demanding store infrastructure requirements. A retailer’s competitive advantage will soon be defined by capabilities such as virtual store management, live retail influencer broadcasts, and robotic inventory scanning/cleaning.  Such applications depend on computer vision, natural language processing (NLP), and streaming real-time data. To succeed, stores will need guaranteed access to high-bandwidth and ultra-low latency. While AI introduces disruptive opportunities to transform business, the performance and productivity of many use cases are particularly sensitive to common networking issues that have plagued retail for decades.

Virtual Assistant Store Managers

Restaurants and convenience stores are turning to AI-enabled computer vision and natural language processing (NLP) applications to reduce labor requirements while elevating the customer experience. In today’s market, adequate frontline labor is difficult to fill, and seasoned store managers are even harder to find. NLP not only frees up labor by capturing the consumer’s voice orders, but it also enhances the customer experience by enabling them to order in their native language.

Computer vision analysis of store activity, with front-line task management, provides the foundation for a virtual assistant store manager.  With a virtual assistant store manager, automation of frontline task assignments not only eases the store manager’s direct responsibilities, but it also elevates the front-line employee performance and reduces turnover by gamifying the role.  While such applications provide a compelling opportunity to magnify a manager's ability to manage multiple stores, they introduce high-fidelity, multi-media streaming capabilities required for accurate voice and video computer analysis.

Live Retail Influencer Broadcasts

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Retailers seeking to drive brick-and-mortar revenues in an online-dominated market are expanding the role of the store from a primarily in-person brand experience role to one of directly driving online purchases. As demonstrated globally, the ability to broadcast live shopping experiences from popular celebrity influencers dramatically increases remote purchases and in-store traffic. These revenue-generating video broadcasts require guaranteed access to consistent bandwidth for a high-quality consumer experience.

Retention Driving AR/VR Employee Training

Enterprises across industries are turning to augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) to supplement field staff with remote expert corporate resources. Such technologies enable compelling employee engagement, accelerating onboarding productivity and increasing retention by transforming training from something “they have to do” into something “they want to do.” With the retail and restaurant industry norm of high turnover, employee onboarding and retention become a differentiating competitive advantage.

Enterprise Private 5G Opportunity

Today’s best-efforts approach to networking cannot keep up with the marketplace demands for guaranteed access to higher capacity and ultra-low latency bandwidth, which are the hallmarks of a 5G network. With increasing dependence on digital technologies for employee engagement and customer experience, every use of the network becomes an opportunity to exceed customer/employee expectations or cause disappointment. Enterprise 5G’s seamless handoffs and wireless signal interference mitigation are foundational capabilities for modern enterprise networks. Escalating cybersecurity threats will be a primary market driver for private 5G execution. The future of private wireless lies in the ability to satisfy today’s business requirements.