No retailer wants to read complaints about their store on social media platforms such as Yelp or Facebook. And in segments with thin margins, such as grocery stores, a lousy customer experience can be particularly damaging. To improve the customer experience, retailers are increasingly implementing autonomous systems that can continuously monitor stock levels, cleanliness and…

Local governments face a major challenge in determining how best to manage traffic. Which intersections need stop signs or traffic signals? Which roads need streetlights to illuminate them? Which streets should be restriped to prohibit passing? Accident reports sound like a smart place for municipalities to find the answers to these questions, but these reports…

Digital transformation enables companies, government agencies and other organizations to make more informed business decisions, maximize productivity, improve security and provide better customer experiences. That’s a lot of benefits, but research indicates that while most organizations are considering digital transformation, many aren’t actively pursuing projects. Why not? A common obstacle is figuring out where to…

In the future, Chicago may add the title “City of Big Data” to the list of appellations poet Carl Sandburg lumped on the city in his famous 1914 poem. The city has many initiatives pushing it to the forefront of the smart city movement, but one in particular is pushing the envelope of data-driven civic…

Manufacturers favor “just in time” over “just in case” across the entire supply chain because it minimizes overhead expenses and fattens margins. But manufacturers, their suppliers and their customers are still leaving a lot of money on the table because they don’t have deep, real-time visibility into all of the factors that affect supply, demand…

Digital transformation occurs when enterprises fundamentally change their business model, creating a shift in technology that affects IT culture and how value is being delivered to customers. Scale, referring to additional connected devices increasing data growth, is one of those technological changes. The Internet of Things, for example, is often a key component of digital…