Part 3 of 3: Top Retail Tech Trends for 2018

There are no shortage of tech predictions for 2018. Artificial intelligence promises to play a much greater role in retail as mentioned in part 1. And we probably will see yet more digital-physical walls come down as mentioned in part 2. But what else does 2018 have in store?

Tech Prediction: IoT analytics take off. Forbes’ article, “Top 10 Trends for Digital Transformation in 2018,” said IoT analytics will move multiple industries toward greater efficiency in 2018. “If you’re maxing out on data and analytics in 2017, just wait,” said author Daniel Newman. “The mass amount of information being created by the IoT has the power to revolutionize everything from manufacturing and healthcare to the layout and functioning of entire cities — allowing them to work more efficiently and profitably than ever before.”

PLM’s Role: Surely if IoT analytics can be harnessed to manage the inner workings of an entire city, they also can help you build brand loyalty and accelerate time to market, right? Yes. Look for an IoT-enabled PLM platform with a powerful analytics engine. This is the technology that will finally help make sense of all of your data — from the market, internal systems and the value chain. Think of it as a new breed of business reporting. For example, advanced analytics built into PLM can parse through vast amounts of weather data to help you anticipate demand trends. It also can provide visibility into real-time vendor performance to identify potential delivery delays. Do you need better access to sales data and in-season customer feedback for planning and design? IoT analytics can deliver real-time information to help you make more informed decisions about product assortments.

At the end of the day, the tech predictions shared in this blog series support getting the right information, in the right format, to the right people, at the right time.

Learn more about the role IoT will play in PLM solutions today by downloading the IDC report.