In this blog series, we started with a look back on SymphonyAI’s roots, and then unpacked the facts behind our strong market growth. In today’s blog, we discuss a topic that is critical to retailers and CPG manufacturers, as well as technology companies like ourselves. Innovation. We all need to continually innovate to grow, stay ahead of the competition, and make more intelligent decisions that will ultimately keep customers loyal. SymphonyAI’s culture of innovation is core to advancing the cause of our customers.
Innovation is part of our DNA, but don’t just take our word for it
We were extremely proud to be ranked 4th in product innovation in EnsembleIQ’s recent Retail Technology Innovation Index 2018. (see image on right, click to enlarge)
What’s led us to this rating? Solutions like CINDE, the first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence-enabled digital assistant specifically for grocery and hard goods retail. CINDE didn’t happen overnight. She was the output of our corporate culture and the way we think, but she’s also the type of innovation that can only come from a company that is deeply enmeshed with its clients.
Here are a few more examples of innovative solutions we have recently launched:
- SR Personalized MarketingAI – helps retailers deliver customized messages and offers to each shopper in real time by incorporating a 360-degree view of customer data, using an intelligent, predictive analytics engine.
- SR Promotion PlanningAI – gives category managers the prescriptive recommendations they need to accurately forecast and plan promotional events, measure effectiveness and adjust tactics with agility.
- SR Virtual Store Remodeling – enables retailers to implement new store layouts faster and at lower cost, incorporating shopper feedback to ensure stores meet the preferences and needs of customers.
- …and in a few weeks’ time we’ll be announcing our latest AI-enabled offering that will peak the interest of supply chain professionals!
These solutions are quickly making their mark. For example, one of our customers realized a 34% increase in the number of customers redeeming one or more offers using SR Personalized MarketingAI, which resulted in a spike in overall campaign performance. This occurred after just three weeks! Promotion planning is showing equally impressive results with our customers are seeing 2-4X greater promotional effectiveness over previous efforts.
These customer successes resulting from innovation make a key point. You simply can’t innovate if you don’t have the industry expertise – and you can’t innovate if you don’t have a tireless drive to make a difference for your customers.
Innovative evolution
We’ve adopted a methodology that enables our team to go from ideation to market validation via the straightest line possible. Working sessions are followed by rapid prototyping, which allows us to take concepts to market quickly, test them out with customers for feedback, and determine how, or if, we should proceed with development. This has been a successful practice for us – because of it, we’ve introduced breakthrough solutions in very short timeframes, as previously mentioned, but it’s also why we’ve been able to evolve our solutions by incorporating AI and machine learning capabilities.
Our focus on innovation is our focus on customers
While we have grown rapidly over the years to become a 1,000+-person organization with offices on every continent, we often refer to ourselves at a “start-up with 30 years’ experience.” This attitude, remembering what got us in the business in the first place, coupled with SymphonyAI’s nimble organization, stokes our drive to continually innovate in the FMCG sector.
Through our AI, machine learning, and virtual and augmented reality solutions, we’re innovating where it matters most, on the front lines with our customers, helping them solve their biggest challenges, take advantage of new opportunities that innovative technologies bring, and enabling them to create even more compelling experiences for their customers.
