Trend 5 MYMARKETS #TECHVISION2019 It is not a question of collecting more data; the company created dynamic real-time insight into companies already have information about supply order availability. Now its sales teams can quote chains, customer sentiment, stock, transit times, prices instantly with more accurate delivery and even the weather. The challenge? No team can windows, improving customer conversion and 11,12 tackle this deluge of information alone. satisfaction. The German pharmaceutical company Merck With granular demand forecasting in place to KGaA deployed sensors on factory machines and anticipate and capture opportune moments, in warehouses throughout its supply chain, companies can optimize their existing business and providing a real-time view of operations down to product models. Looking further, the next phase of 10 the individual stock-keeping unit (SKU). Using this projection is getting ahead of larger trends, to see data, and other data from its ERP software, the where the business needs to be in the future. company applied machine learning techniques and generated demand models that outperformed Google already has a “trend spotting” division its previous models 80 percent of the time. dedicated to exactly this. The internet giant leverages its search data to identify trends before they emerge 13 And AI-based forecasting is not limited to future and shares findings with different industries. In demand. Improving the granularity of forecasting another case, to identify the most fashion-forward of lets businesses capitalize on immediate moments, the crowd, New Balance filmed people as they too. Infinera, a telecom equipment provider, used walked in the city during New York City’s fashion to take up to 36 hours to provide accurate quotes week; the company used Google’s TensorFlow on prices and inventory availability. The delay gave machine learning framework to analyze outfits and 14 customers the opportunity to find competing find the individuals with the most exceptional style. quotes, lose interest, or otherwise move on from Thus far, these types of pilots are still limited in scale, Infinera’s business. By using an AI platform to but are poised to influence rapidly businesses’ integrate inventory, scheduling, and pricing data, operating models and strategic planning. 78 TECHNOLOGY VISION 2019 THE POST-DIGITAL ERA IS UPON US