“Smarter retailing” requires the use of technology to make smarter and faster decisions. Making decisions in near real-time with enterprise inventory visibility will, or has, become table stakes for retail. In addition, the labor shortages has caused retailers to focus on technology to automate as many tasks as possible.

As the CEO of Levi’s recently said in an interview, “automate everything.” Hyperautomation is a terrific aspiration and retailers (and all businesses for that matter) should be looking for ways to do this in their enterprises — and be continually looking for opportunities to do more. However hyperatuomation, analytics and AI alone won’t get the stranded container ship into port, nor deliver a memorable store experience. Businesses can’t algorithm their way to success, but it’s a powerful approach when applied effectively.

I have a dim view of most companies attempting automation.

“Hyperautomation” is not an urgent priority. Having well-trained staff is urgent. Writing and communicating well-defined processes is urgent. Having processes for continuous improvement that everyone buys into is urgent. If you attempt automation before any of this, you are just looking for a silver bullet.

Here’s what I can’t believe. It’s an old-fashioned kind of thing. President Biden had to order the Port of Los Angeles to operate 24/7 and he just did? Seriously? And no one thinks that’s crazy? Or that the largest retailers had to charter their own container ships to get past the logjam? Really? You can have all the automation, linkages, and data you want. If the product is floating around in the water, or sitting on docks waiting to be picked up, it’s all useless. So while technology is my focus, I remain grounded in reality. I have been singing the same song for months, ever since I discovered the Port of Miami was not operating on Sundays and learned that carriers were making insane profits. The carriers and the ports have to work for their money. Work hard. Simple as that. It really shouldn’t have taken a presidential mandate. Now, I’m bullish on AI, ML and robotics, of course. That’s great for the future. Our supply chain problems are NOW. And what’s going to… Read more »

I don’t want to be perceived as a naysayer, but we don’t need a new term like hyperautomation to define implementing improvements on all fronts to streamline the supply chain. I was doing work in that area with American President Lines shipping company in 1991! Adopting and implementing automation has not been and will not be an overnight sensation. It should be a planned, thoughtful process that will integrate many (if not all) parts of the supply chain. Automating all parts will take time. Assigning a new name to a concept is not going to change the concept.

Hyperautomation is much bigger than supply chain – it spans and offers huge potential in merchandising as well. Another factor to think about is that organizations are more likely to apply a specific example of hyperautomation (RPA or AI) discretely to focus on specific areas rather than looking at hyperautomation across the whole organization.

What is key is to be able to identify the “low hanging fruit” – the processes that can be automated fastest while providing the largest benefit.

It’s not new but AI adoption grew this year as omnichannel costs ballooned, forcing retailers and brands to find new efficiencies.

Hyperautomation helps companies maximize productivity with rigorous, data-driven process re-engineering using AI.

Short-term factors include leadership unanimity to weave data across the organization and automate menial tasks.

Longer-term factors include smashing functional and supply chain silos, and embracing more digital processes to streamline operations and boost agility.

Retail is headed toward the fusion of physical and digital; hyperautomation gets companies ready for it.

It seems to me that hyperautomation would be the next evolutionary step for those processes retailers are already doing well and are ready for the next level of efficiency. And I think that’s a really short list. There is no arguing that we will certainly automate lots of processes over time. But there is also no arguing that there are lots of learning curves to deal with along the way.

I’m all-in on automation, but it has to be implemented with an enterprise mindset. Yes a project may start in one business function, say finance, but understanding the ripple effect and its intended/unintended consequences is a must. Many companies like to talk about AI, ML and RPA, but the number of companies that have “hyperautomated” their businesses are fewer than one might think. I know several companies that are still running their businesses on excel spreadsheets. Do these companies have issues? Yes, indeed. Are they still making money? Yes, indeed. Could they deliver greater profits with automation? Yes, indeed. But moving up the automation maturity curve and getting to “hyper” takes time and significant investment.

Yes – automation (regardless of “hyper” status) will be critical. Simply put, things are evolving too rapidly to ignore AI and analytics. Whether the issue is supply chains, labor shortages, consumer demand shifts, inflation, evolving competitive landscapes or simple shifts in buying preferences – retailers need to have the tools, processes, strategies and people in place to react to evolving conditions with better outcomes. Automation or hyper-automation can help with this IF it’s built around the right foundational elements, analytics and strategies. People will still absolutely be critical – but instead of manually solving complex problems in traditional ways, they will be designing the automation to make the right choices and to prioritize the right outcomes. The best retailers will be able to evolve and adapt more seamlessly and gain share profitably. The world is moving quicker than ever — retailers need to as well.

Anyone who follows a completely automated approach to retail supply chain operation is in for a very long rocky road and will probably flounder before getting anywhere near achieving it. Like so many great ideas, analysts and consultants get hold of them and try and force them too fast and too far, then they turn round and blame execution followed by a new initiative that will save the retailers that followed the last.

People are, have always been and will always be an integral part of the retail operation. Yes, automation is great, AI is amazing and robotics will undoubtedly improve efficiency but let’s not forget that it takes a human to interpret what is right and what other humans are thinking and doing. Supply chains need to be flexible as well as automated. If not the next pandemic will wipe out a whole lot more. These are all great aids but let’s not get carried away and buy into the hype completely.

The answer varies by sector, the key sales channels uses and merchant size. As you might expect, it’s frankly easier for smaller retailers to look at hyperautomation since they’re nimbler with less complicated or entrenched processes. Ripping the plumbing out of a house is a lot easier than ripping it out of a condo. There’s also a lot more omnichannel cloud tech for the long-tail than enterprise merchants. The pandemic has increased the need for everybody to offer unified commerce, but enterprise retail will take years to migrate to truly modern techstack that can ingest data properly to be used in real-time. As others have rightly pointed out, the supply chain problems are an issue today. That means smaller local retailers will be the first out of the gate to all inventory-to-checkout automation since they have a more localized supply chain. Enterprise retailers will add low-hanging fruit at this point with a plug-n-play mentality from both ends of the spectrum (back office to front of house). If they can buy a store-managed local delivery platform… Read more »