These days the way we shop is changing more than ever before. We have smart speakers that we can talk to, “Alexa, order paper towels, oh and grab me a burger from Wendy’s as well.” And voilia, in comes your paper towels and Grub Hub delivers you lunch. Of course, this is just the power of shopping in the home. What is even more powerful is how these in-home experiences, mobile experiences and in the store experiences are all coming together.

In the next few years, we will see technologies like IoT, Blockchain and Real Time Data and Analytics influence even more change in how we shop. Companies will know us better than ever before and they will be able to personalize to our needs. The outcomes will be so spot-on that consumers cannot even complain about the trade off of privacy because the convenience will be so invaluable. Brands will know what we want, when we want it, where we need it and more just by leveraging the data we input and provide every day just by going through our routines. Scary awesome we may say. And what about drone deliveries? We think stuff we order online gets here fast now, well it’s possible to get even faster.

On this week’s episode of SMACTalk, we had SAS Software’s Dan Mithcell join us. Dan is a Principal Industry Consultant and Connected Consumer lead at SAS Softwre.

In this episode, some of the topics and questions we covered with Dan included:

What are the major drivers of adoption? In what ways is IoT a necessity? An opportunity? Describe the kinds of things can retailers do now with IoT that they couldn’t do before? What do the major capabilities retailers need to plan for to be ready for the 'Analytics of Things? Are there some data management and security challenges of IoT in retail? What are some of the organizational and other non-technological challenges? What are some key things that retail executives and technologists need to know and do to drive business value with IoT?

Be sure to download and tune into this episode of SMACtalk brought to you in partnership with SAS Software (Link). We promise it is full of learnings that all business leaders can leverage in planning the future of their organizations.