The goal is to drive business efficiency using generative AI
Innovation to develop the partnership between IBM and SAP AI
IBM recently announced its collaboration with SAP to develop solutions that help customers in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail industries improve their supply chain, financial operations, sales and service using generative AI.
With a shared legacy of technology expertise and the completed work of incorporating the IBM watsonx, an enterprise-ready data and AI platform and AI assistants In SAP solutions, companies are working to create new traditional and generative AI solutions that focus on addressing the business process complexities of direct-to-store delivery and product portfolio management. IBM Consulting and SAP are already working with CPG customers around the world to gather detailed requirements to create secure, scalable AI solutions that can be integrated into the solution SAP Direct Distribution®.
The goal of the new solutions being developed is to help CPG companies, distributors, wholesalers and retailers more efficiently manage point-of-sale assortments, improve product distribution and drive incremental revenue by:
Improve transportation planning and execution: IBM plans to feed external data such as weather, traffic and local events into the SAP Direct Distribution solution and apply AI to help CPG companies identify optimal delivery routes with the aim of reducing costs and carbon footprints. Real-time updates can provide drivers with information to make immediate changes based on local conditions.
Optimize assortments at the point of sale: IBM plans to apply AI and generative AI to develop in-store assortments based on each outlet's market dynamics, past sales patterns, anticipated demand and current product mix. The goal is for solutions to be able to make specific product recommendations and include preliminary planning so that enough products are added to the assortment with the goal of maximizing sales and minimizing waste.
Automate order settlement: The complexities of direct-to-store delivery can often prevent automatic settlement of transactions. IBM will work with SAP to develop solutions that can use automation and intelligent workflows to proactively deliver operational efficiencies and help increase AI-based settlement accuracy in the last-mile distribution component for SAP Direct Distribution.
“Global and regional consumer organizations manage multiple commerce applications and need advanced insights to provide proactive recommendations that help improve operations and meet customer expectations,” said Luq Niazi, Global Managing Partner, Industries and Global Consumer Industry, IBM Consulting. “With SAP, we are seeking to build on the long-standing work of incorporating AI into SAP solutions that can help enterprise customers achieve greater business value.”
IBM Consulting plans to build these solutions in SAP Business Technology Platform ® (SAP BTP) and will integrate with watsonx through APIs. Warehouse organizers, frontline delivery associates, and customer representatives can have an enriched user experience by using Watsonx Assistant to create chatbots using IBM's conversational search capabilities.
“At SAP, we are excited to collaborate with IBM on this important initiative that will help consumer goods companies transform their operations and improve their bottom line,” said EJ Kenney, Senior Vice President, Consumer Products Industry and Life Sciences Business Unit at SAP . “We understand the complexities of managing direct store delivery and by leveraging the power of AI we aim to help our customers better manage their last mile distribution more effectively, minimize waste, improve customer satisfaction and achieve business value at an accelerated pace.” current consumer sector.”
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