Hyperautomation: Unfolding the Potential Benefits for the Retail Industry

Digital Transformation in retailing has unlocked numerous opportunities for retail businesses. The integration of technologies like cloud-based data systems, Analytics, AI/ML, RPA, iBPMS, chatbots, etc. can boost the performance of retailers significantly. According to a market research study by Zion, the global hyperautomation market was estimated to be worth USD 9 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 26.5 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 23.5%. With the advancements in digital technologies, the adoption of hyperautomation at various levels in the retail industry has shown tremendous potential in improving the efficiencies of retail business processes.

Factors Compelling the Adoption of Hyperautomation

• Legacy Systems: Recent statistics show that retailers use more than 58% of their budget on maintaining legacy systems while competing with the growing e-commerce industry that has already leaped ahead. The presence of legacy systems makes them hard to replace because of their wide areas of usage.
 
• Human Error: Considering that the retail sector employs a lot of unskilled labor, it's possible that human factors contribute to many errors and potential data security breaches as well.
 
• Inefficient Processes: With the constantly evolving market trends, consumer behavior and market demands, it is important for retailers to improve their process efficiencies. Traditional automation techniques often do not add the needed rigor to retail processes typically.
 
• Lack of Automation: With a large section of customers choosing to buy products in the light of safety and hygienic guidelines, the retail industry needs to rethink its operations mainly in the areas of order orchestration, warehousing, inventory management, payments processing, transportation, supplier management, replenishment and so on. For example, inefficient digital infrastructure in areas like supply chain often results in improper market prediction, resulting in inaccurate inventories and further leading to inefficient customer services. Likewise, manual administrative tasks can lead to heaps of human errors resulting in additional cost due to unnecessary rework.
 
• Security and Compliance Issues: Approximately 4,000 data security threats are reported by PwC every year in the retail sector. In addition, 1 out of every 6 companies or 16% of all companies surveyed suffered losses of over $1 million as a result of data security incidents. Due to the vulnerability of client data to data theft and the difficulty in maintaining consumer trust without effective risk management and compliance, a lack of cybersecurity and compliance may make it difficult to retain customers.

Hyperautomation encourages retailers to solve most of these problems with the help of technology that augments human intelligence. The integration of different AI tools like machine learning and natural language processing can fill the gaps by automating retail processes using appropriate algorithms and techniques augmenting human intelligence. For instance, AI-induced encryption and cloud-based 2-step verification processes exercise quality security for retail databases.

True Potential of Hyperautomation to the Rescue of Retailers

Although the concept of hyperautomation may seem like speculation, in reality, this is especially true for a business to advance in the fast-paced, highly distributed, and resource-constrained environment of today. Owing to the COVID-19 epidemic, the workforce has become scarce or quite dispersed, leading to a significant decrease in the number of employees working at facilities thus preventing the retail industry from serving customers seamlessly. The epidemic caused significant losses for the retail industry, which was already facing threats from e-commerce businesses. The demand for non-essential items fell quickly, upsetting sales projections and resulting in revenue loss. The global supply networks were unreliable.

Hyperautomation involves combining a variety of tools and automation techniques on a seamless platform that ingests data from disparate systems, and implemented without affecting the existing systems or infrastructure. The margins of error are expected to be drastically reduced by cognitive intelligence and the enhancement of manual processes. The global retail automation market was estimated to be worth USD 15.29 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to increase to USD 34.23 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 10.60% from 2022 to 2029.

The benefits of cognitive intelligence-based human enhancement and natural language processing cover all areas of retail operations from automating billing operations to integrating inventory management processes, so as to lower human workload, error, and risk. Real-time automated inventory management enables predicting future market trends and adaptation to meet customer expectations accurately. The main aspects include using RPA systems, chatbots, and other types of cognitive utilities to ensure efficient customer services, manage broad supply chains, analyze market trends to predict future demands, practice efficient inventory management, recommend optimal prices and much more. These aspects are essential for retail transformation and sustainability of retail businesses as a whole.

Key Elements Integral to Hyperautomation

Robotic process automation is one of the biggest achievements in the automation world. Combining it with natural language processing to enhance and ingest enriched data and analyze it to offer appropriate solutions such as collecting holistic customer data and offering personalized services, thus improving the customer experience. Increasingly, the adoption of hyperautomation in retail includes intelligent business process and rules management software also known as iBPMS/IBRMS. The usage of machine learning for workflow management, cognitive process discovery, process mining, real-time business analytics, and business rules. Data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning are making immense contributions to retail data ingestion, enrichment, storage, and analytics.

Although Gartner predicted that by the end of 2022, more than 85% of large organizations and businesses will have adopted RPA and Hyperautomation, it is a concept that is still fairly new. Hyperautomation is a design that is minimal in fundamental structure with low-code/no-code platforms having drag-drop mechanisms for smooth traversal, and built-in connectors for easy navigation and omnichannel media, making it a one-stop platform for almost every need. Despite it being a mostly citizen-driven concept, the applications of Hyperautomation are plenty.

Key Benefits of Hyperautomation for Retailers

Hyperautomation has been benefiting every industry on a global scale,and its adoption for processes in the retail industry has gained successful traction. Various ways in which Hyperautomation can be adopted can lead to multiple benefits that retailers can appreciate, such as below:

• Increasing Sales: Through efficient processing and seamless engagement, the adoption of hyperautomation across retail processes increases customer experience and satisfaction. Systems and methods using machine learning adjust to consumer needs and record their browsing or purchase information for further use in recommendations and purchase decisions, leading to a personalized shopping experience. Hyperautomation allows retailers to precisely identify the pain points and make the necessary corrections by gathering the appropriate input and assessing the saturation of problems product by product resulting in improved customer satisfaction and an increase in sales.
 
• Forecasting Product Demand: With the help of sophisticated machine learning algorithms, hyperautomation makes it possible to predict future product demand with accuracy and integrate further into purchase and replenishment of goods. One of the main benefits is the analysis of purchase patterns through holistic set of data. Hyperautomation offers AI that examines historical sales data and uses data analytics to forecast future market trends and the rise or fall of demand for the relevant object(s). By implementing hyperautomation, businesses stay informed about the current state of the market and any potential changes.
 
• Automating Billing and Checkout: By processing records using algorithms, cognitive automation systems lessen the likelihood of human error in billing. Through integrated computing mechanisms, process automation, and cognitive computing, hyperautomation links the needs of various systems. By eliminating the tedious task of adding up each purchase and the store data, executives are relieved of a lot of stress and can charge customers appropriately with automated billing and checkout systems. This could include features like automatic product barcode scanning and inventory checking, which makes it easier for customers to check out without any hassles.
 
• Decreasing the Burden on Retail Associates: Hyperautomation of processes make it easier for associates to work by sharing duties between physical executives and intelligent systems and supporting them by reducing the workload on employees. With hyperautomated processes like inventory management and automated billing, retail associates are empowered to focus on providing a premium customer experience. Automated retail operations not only help in increasing operational efficiencies but also help in empowering the workforce.
 
• Data Accuracy: Hyperautomation can accord data across various sources and determine their accuracy while suggesting appropriate changes to reduce the approximation and increase their precision. With automated tools like AI, NLP and RPA bots, a business can leverage hyperautomation to differentiate between structured and unstructured data, and advanced machine learning programs can work together to extract readable and accurate data to rule out any anomalies.
 
• Secure and Compliant Frameworks: Hyperautomation leverages the utility of AI and machine learning tools in securing databases and storage servers enabling top-of-the-line security systems and ensuring complete privacy of customer data. In addition it can help in improving data processing, data threat recognition, and preventing data fraud.
 
• Faster Sales and Checkout: In retail, hyperautomation can help improve the sales and checkout process in a number of ways. For one, it can help to speed up the identification of potential customers. By automatically monitoring customer behavior, retailers can more quickly identify when someone is interested in making a purchase. In addition, hyperautomation can help to streamline the sales process itself. By automating tasks such as product recommendations and pricing comparisons, retailers can make it easier for customers to find the right product at the right price.Finally, hyperautomation can also help to improve the checkout process. By automating tasks such as credit card processing and order fulfillment, retailers can shorten the time it takes to complete a sale. As a result, hyperautomation can help to improve both the efficiency and the customer experience in retail.
 
• Automated Supply Chains and Inventory Management: Hyperautomation is the use of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to automate high-volume, repetitive tasks. It has the potential to transform supply chains and inventory management by providing real-time visibility into stock levels, reducing errors, and increasing efficiency. For example, hyperautomation can be used to automatically track inventory levels and send alerts when stock is low. By automating these tasks, retailers can reduce their reliance on manual processes, freeing up time for employees to focus on more strategic tasks. In addition, hyperautomation can help retailers to better manage their supply chains by providing visibility into every stage of the process. This helps retailers to identify bottlenecks and optimize their operations accordingly.

Hyperautomation can streamline a lot of retail processes making it easier for retailers to carry out their functions with ease as well as providing customers a seamless experience. Hyperautomation provides retailers with an edge over their competition by streamlining many retail processes and making it easier for them to carry out functions efficiently while also providing customers a seamless experience. It gives businesses the ability of technology that helps in projecting future scenarios, which they can use as input towards successful business practices so long-lasting success will be inevitable!

Social connections between the customer experience and a dynamic competitive environment are the driving forces behind today's online and digital marketplace. A business can leverage technological imperatives to stay on top of its competition with the right knowledge and capabilities in offering smart and omnichannel retail technology solutions & services tailored to the industry. Utilizing the power of the cloud, analytics, business intelligence, mobility, modernization, and bespoke algorithms to unleash the business value across the retail eco-system, JK Tech, a next-generation Digital and IT services provider, supports retailers in streamlining processes throughout the supply chain, improving the overall omnichannel experience, and better understanding the behavior of their customers. With time-tested quality and data security expertise, JK Tech focuses on reducing costs, lower risks, and providing a faster return on investment for your business.