The retail industry is a globally connected network of suppliers, brands, retailers and customers – interacting in both physical stores and with digital online channels. This makes the retail industry an ideal beneficiary for the blockchain revolution. Join us to explore the ways in which retailers can benefit from blockchain now and over the next few years.
What are the most exciting opportunities in retail technology right now?
Voice, AI/ML, Robotics, IoT and Blockchain are very exciting. Each on their own is a powerful next stage in the technological evolution, but a combination is much more exciting. Imagine Blockchain connected IoT devices which learn as they measure and share information securely on the Blockchain.
What are the top 3 things that a company must do to stay competitive during the digital revolution?
- Look outside – the answer is often out there
- Allow your people to test, try and fail – develop a fail fast mentality
- Don’t ignore it – we are in a digital revolution and it is only going to get faster, cheaper and easier to implement
Who or which company has been your biggest inspiration in technology and why?
I truly believe that Blockchain is the next major transformational technology and there are a number of companies out there trying to make this work – IBM is the main global giant who is making significant progress with enterprise Blockchain technology and my favourite start-up is Omnitude who is building a Blockchain middle layer to sit on top of back office systems and ecommence systems. They have solutions for identity, loyalty and supply chain in ecommerce and all built on hyperledger for maximum adoption.