Subscribe

What technology vs humans means for the future

By Jacqui E’Silva
Johannesburg, 04 Aug 2017

ITWeb Industry Tech Update 2017

Register now to attend the inaugural ITWeb Industry Tech Update at The Focus Rooms, Sunninghill, on 18 and 19 October 2017. Andrew Dawson will join other industry leaders in discussing the latest tech updates in the healthcare/pharmaceutical, finance, manufacturing and retail industries. Watch this space for the updated agenda.

Andrew Dawson, commercial director, Mac Mobile, will be presenting at the ITWeb Industry Tech Update 2017 event in October. The retail and manufacturing industries are being severely disrupted by machine learning and algorithms that allow organisations to quickly improve performance and deliver real time service in new markets. Mobile technology is fast-changing the face of the manufacturing and retail industries - what does this mean for your organisation?

ITWeb: In what ways are the retail and manufacturing industries being disrupted by technology?

Dawson: The ability to use mobile technology to secure and mine real-time operations data in both manufacturing and retail industries is disrupting traditional performance and execution paradigms. Performance is measured in GPS tags and the minutes and seconds it takes to complete tasks, orders are created and delivered to manufacturing in real time, with algorithms and machine learning techniques automating demand planning and "Just-in-Time" manufacturing. This saves time and improves efficiency.

ITWeb: Can you tell us more about how you would use customer profiling and unique identity to deploy technology?

Dawson: Customer profiling I believe is really only now starting to get real traction, with the retail sector chasing defined parameters in customer segmentation where the "market of one" unique individual that can be engaged directly is nirvana. The technology tools required to support this are primarily mobile-based, incentive-linked and need to reflect a medium that fits into the customer's buying experience at the point of purchase. Loyalty applications that engage at POS, or are beacon-enabled are good starting points, but ultimately where the customer is engaged enough to voluntarily share feedback "live in trade" via a user friendly platform, then that is the technology of choice, deployment becomes a variable dependent on customer accessibility etc..

ITWeb: How does the South African retail and manufacturing market differ from that of the rest of Africa?

Dawson: In my experience, the principles and market in SA and the rest of Africa have more similarities than differences. Transport, facilities access, data coverage, forex liquidity and cash flow on the ground differentiate the markets by consumer wallet more than anything else. Larger numbers of middle-to-upper income earners dictate larger and more formal shopping experiences, larger numbers of lower income earners will congregate in smaller general trade markets where the basket size is smaller and reflective of the wallet size.

Andrew Dawson, commercial director, Mac Mobile.
Andrew Dawson, commercial director, Mac Mobile.

ITWeb: What key points would you like to leave the delegates of the Industry Tech Update in October with?

Dawson: Big Data without data science (qualitative and quantitative research), and social awareness (conscience) in the business vertical in question is just 'Big Data.' Data is gathered from many sources and is available generally in a bulk format against which analysts extract trends to try and read into what the data is saying. I am saying that without qualitative (personal customer engagement, interviews, surveys, panels etc) and quantitative reading of the results, and then mapping these combined results against commentary and reviews being posted in the social media (customer conscience) the bulk data cannot be deemed to have been accurately interpreted.

Share