Peak named in the May 2020 Cool Vendors in AI for Retail report by Gartner
By Richard Potter on June 15, 2020Today marks another exciting milestone for Peak, as we announce our recognition in Gartner’s Cool Vendors in AI for Retail report. We’re one of three interesting, new and innovative companies recognized in the report.
For sectors such as retail, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that AI is now critical to a business’ future success, rather than a “nice-to-have.”
According to a recent Gartner press release, “Gartner research shows that 77% of retailers plan to deploy AI by 2021, with the deployment of robotics for warehouse picking as the No. 1 use case.” I’ve spoken before about our belief that we’re entering the AI era – and that it’s our mission to help businesses do great things with data to compete in this era. To us, it’s fantastic to have our work recognized by Gartner, as we continue to look to make AI accessible for all retail businesses.
Retail, as an industry, is ripe for AI adoption. Given the vast amounts of data a retail business produces the potential AI technology brings the industry is huge. Our work with the likes of boohoo, Fred Perry and Footasylum demonstrates this, with these businesses achieving game-changing outcomes from taking an AI-driven approach. However, for many retailers, being in a position to successfully adapt – and derive value from – AI is challenging, if not impossible.
Why we think we’re cool
The Gartner report states that “The future of retail is found in agile flexibility, based on the understanding of customer expectations, innovation and continuously delivering more value for customers.” We believe that the key to making this happen is by introducing a centralized system of intelligence into a retail business’ core.
In order to help retailers achieve success in the AI era, we’ve built a brand new business system – the AI System. It centralizes intelligence and puts data to work across the value chain. It’s able to leverage data from across an entire retail business to eradicate silos and power business-wide optimization.
Without such a system, retailers looking to introduce AI will struggle to keep up and realize their true potential. The current software market lacks scalable AI infrastructure, integrations and support services, making any attempt at harnessing the technology slow and frustrating. We believe that a new way of thinking, and a new type of enterprise business system, is required.
We see this latest recognition from Gartner as further validation of both our approach and the work we’re doing in the retail space. It’s another key landmark on our journey to enable all retailers to do great things with data.
Gartner, “Cool Vendors in AI for Retail,” Robert Hetu, 29 May 2020
Gartner Press Release, “Gartner Predicts At Least Two Top Global Retailers Will Establish Robot Resource Organizations to Manage Nonhuman Workers By 2025,” February 4, 2020, https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-02-04-gartner-predicts-at-least-two-top-global-retailers-wi
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