Direct mail is back—but this time, it’s providing advanced analytics about the buyer journey, intent, and conversion.

In this episode, Matt Gunn chats with Tom Barbaro of PebblePost, the company that invented programmatic direct mail. As most retailers have gone digital in their marketing efforts, the mailbox has become relatively vacant, clearing the way for “digitally reactive mail”—allowing retailers to retarget customers at home and capture advanced analytics about buyer intent and conversion.

Leave your legacy with the next generation of retail and fashion software.

By Nick Castellina, Infor industry & solution strategy director

Digital manufacturing. Industry 4.0. You’re probably familiar with these terms, and maybe you’ve even successfully piloted these concepts. But how do you roll out such an initiative more broadly, beyond a specific use case, to ensure you are deploying operational intelligence to your entire operation and across factories, and gaining the promised productivity increases?

Many companies start with a predictive maintenance pilot, according to Capgemini’s podcast: “Emerging Trends in Digital Manufacturing with Pascal Brosset.” Improving the reliability of critical assets has an obvious payback, uses proven analytics, and is overseen by a limited, self-contained team: maintenance. Further, more and more equipment manufacturers provide maintenance services or applications along with the asset itself, which further accelerates the maturity and popularity of this use case.

Manufacturers in all segments, from food and beverage to industrial machinery and equipment, know that digitalization is coming and they need to adapt or risk obsolescence. They all want to find an easy way to do that. But there’s no easy method for achieving digitalization, also known as digital transformation or Industry 4.0. Research shows manufacturers are ready to move forward, but with small steps in carefully controlled pilot projects.

While this a move in the right direction, manufacturers should also recognize that short-term initiatives will not offer the massive gains of an enterprise-wide re-vamp of processes. The true potential of digitalization will come from new revenue streams and outcome based selling. That type of strategy must start at the top, and start now.

What if instead of racing against the clock, you could deliver on time, every time? With fierce competition, you must be able to get to market quickly and do a better job matching up supply with demand. No matter how complex your supply chain, you must respond faster to change, reduce excess inventory, and cut costs. Even more importantly, your customers expect what you promised, when you promised it. You can deliver all this and more with an ERP solution that helps you improve productivity—both in the office and on the shop floor.

Infor® CloudSuite Industrial (SyteLine®) is that ERP solution.

Is it time to modernize your ERP? Review our checklist to help you decide.

Infor CloudSuite™ Industrial (SyteLine) is a robust ERP solution with built-in best practices and highly efficient process flows to help manufacturers improve productivity.

What are the top 5 reasons?

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the highest-ranked executive in a company. The CEO has many responsibilities, ranging from setting strategy and direction to configuring the company’s culture, values and behavior. The chief executive is also responsible for building an executive leadership team and allocating funds to match the company’s goals and priorities. Some CEOs have even more on their plate, especially those at the head of startups. Oftentimes they are responsible for more than just the traditional duties, and can include anything from brewing coffee to marketing their product. 

The list, compiled by ERP's Solution Review, includes Infor CEO, Charles Phillips.

In its 2018 predictions, analyst firm IDC prognosticated the following will happen by 2019:

50% of manufacturers will be collaborating directly with customers and consumers regarding new and improved product designs through cloud-based crowd-sourcing, virtual reality, and product virtualization, realizing up to 25% improvement in product success rates. (This is prediction #5 in the IndustryWeek article discussing IDC’s Top 10 predictions.)

Digital disruption is the new normal. And, as part of their digitalization journey, manufacturers now have a whole spectrum of modern tools to embrace. Greater agility is often touted as one of the important benefits of these digital tactics. Greater speed is a coveted prize, sought after by manufacturers since the era of Henry Ford’s assembly line.

Now, though, responding to change with lightning fast reflexes is not enough. Manufacturers must anticipate future trends and strive to predict customer demands before the customer even has acknowledged the need. Being the first in a market pace is often the key to owning it.

So, having a view of tomorrow is now more important than ever. Today we call it predictive algorithms and data science. We strive to speed product releases and adopt new features as quickly possible. Accelerating speed in one department drives the need for acceleration in other departments. The continuous rush of change, when not controlled, can start to resemble a hamster spinning in its wheel—but getting nowhere. Without meaningful objectives, speed for the sake of speed starts to become fruitless.

As manufacturers undertake digital initiatives, they should pause and consider the ongoing quest for speed and understand its true value. It’s important to be cautious about blind, over-emphasis. Speed has its risks, from higher levels of errors, quality issues, and a workforce that isn’t trained on new policies or processes. There is a fine line between efficient decision-making and rash, knee-jerk responses which can take a company down circuitous routes, far from the prime objectives. In fact, some would contend that reactionary measures lacking cost analysis and thorough financial impact study are simply reflexes, with a 50-50 chance of being right or wrong.

How did we get here?

What deep learning means for Retail CX

Matt Gunn and Puneet Mehta of msg.ai, a Silicon Valley startup focused on conversational AI, discuss how deep learning will shape the future of retail as consumers engage with brands (and their AI) to achieve more personalized, intimate shopping experiences.