CEO Today Magazine - October 2021

25 were outright unavailable. All retailers have hence started their individual digital transformation journeys. Sensormatic Solutions understands the challenges associated with digital transformation because the company recently experienced its own. Decades ago, Sensormatic pioneered the first anti-theft pedestals and tags. Today, Sensormatic works with IP-enabled hardware, cloud and SaaS offerings, data lake and analytics solutions, AI and smart sensors, and more. Sensormatic IQ is the ultimate expression of that evolution. What’s your favourite thing about Sensormatic IQ? One of the best parts about the Sensormatic IQ platform is that it’s backed by an industry-leading portfolio of partners, including Google Cloud and Intel (among others). This means Sensormatic IQ can evolve with the needs of retailers because its open, secure and agile. What’s more, Sensormatic IQ leverages the Google Cloud to deliver advanced analytics capabilities with a global reach. This is innovation at scale. Additionally, Sensormatic IQ integrates a variety of data streams under a single platform umbrella, bringing together traffic data, customer demographics, inventory counts, point-of-sale data, and more. It then analyses the information to generate new insights (helping retailers anticipate and prepare for changes) against different retail personas, product categories, and shopper journeys which can improve conversion and operations. Sensormatic IQ never stops finding new ways to deliver value across the enterprise. In our mind this type of capability is no longer “nice to have”—it is becoming essential to compete. What is your ultimate goal for the future of Sensormatic IQ? Our goal is to make retail successful - higher precision, more agile decision-making and meeting the consumers where and when they want to be met. Doing all of that with individual configurable digital transformation journeys that can be executed at scale with a synergistic platform approach while ensuring continued innovation. Sensormatic IQ is not static. It is an ever-evolving set of capabilities that integrates new data streams as they become available, providing valuable analytics at any scale. As the retail industry evolves, Sensormatic Solutions will evolve with it— thanks to Sensormatic IQ. What excites you most about the future of technology and the sector you operate within? I am most excited about the speed of innovation. We are actively using advances in material sciences, engineering, computer vision, AI/ML, data science and many more. The combination of these technologies allows us to create solutions that have been unthinkable in the past. For instance, with safety consistently being a priority for in-store shopping during the pandemic, we partnered with Intel to develop innovative technology. By combining Intel’s AI technology with our Sensormatic IQ platform, we’re now assisting retailers grappling with social distancing regulations brought on by the pandemic by delivering near-real-time alerts related to health and safety. From occupancy tracking to mask detection, our joint solution allows retailers to have confidence in their safety protocols. Can you discuss the importance of sustainability and the contributions Sensormatic Solutions is making in this space? Many consumers are now adopting a more eco-conscious consumption mindset and, as a result, brands must prove themselves to be environmentally conscious or risk losing key demographics. I believe new technology is required to help retailers truly have a positive impact on the environment. Responsible Retail is at the heart of our business and fundamental to everything we do. We approach sustainability in three prongs: 1. Sustainability for our own company: We are continuing to improve our environmental performance and energy management across facilities by identifying and reducing every excess. 2. Sustainability for our retail customers: We are committed to delivering sustainable products, solutions and services to 185,000 stores in 100+ countries (and have been doing so for more than five decades). 3. Sustainability for shoppers: By using our solutions, we believe retailers are providing their customers with a seamless and sustainable experience. Additionally, Sensormatic IQ leverages big data and artificial intelligence to help optimise retail store sustainability through connected, digitally enabled, secure solutions and services. Ready to fast forward retail? Contact Sensormatic Solutions (sensormatic.com/contact) to learn more about Sensormatic IQ, and how we can become a strategic partner to support your retail environment. THE CEO INTERVIEW