DECEMBER 2017CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM9IoT has implications for a wide variety of different industries, retail represents one of the largest opportunities for process improvement through smart devices--intelligent stores that automatically count inventory and replenish merchandise, for example. IoT will rely on a whole ecosystem of technologies working together, so trading partner systems interoperability will be key to its success. Enterprise systems in retail, for example, have made considerable progress leveraging collaboration and RFID technology to deliver real time item level inventory visibility. IoT will take this a step forward with the cooperation of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers who want to maintain full product visibility as they make their way through their supply chain. The uniform identification of products, coupled with a common language to share data about visibility events and objects, across corporate software systems, can represent the true bridge between the physical and digital world. As IoT becomes mainstream, external collaboration (outside of proprietary systems) will ensure that all parties know the "what," "when," "where," and "why" to achieve both speed and accuracy.Machine Learning Machine learning, inclusive of digital assistants such as Siri and Alexa, is growing at a staggering rate. A recent Ovum report reported that there will be more than 7.5 billion devices with digital assistants by 2021, surpassing the 2017 world population! In addition to answering "What's the weather report today?" this technology has the potential to eradicate the figurative disease that infects data--human error. Consider the automated processes that can bolster the capabilities of many industries; helping to create the speedy, personalized experiences that consumers crave. Forward thinking companies embrace collaboration to preserve data integrity--so that what is being fed into machines does not perpetuate an endless cycle of "garbage in/garbage out." Product data quality is further enhanced when using industry standards, rather than numerous proprietary procedures and systems. Standards create consistency, based on scalable, repeatable processes, and effectively elevate an organization's ability to explore machine learning. BlockchainBlockchain has the potential to produce a tidal wave of business process changes in the next 5-10 years. Data is replicated, shared, and synchronized across a distributed ledger and is resilient to a technological or organizational failure. In a supply chain, blockchain delivers significant opportunity for enhanced security and operational efficiencies, whereby many manual business processes are eliminated. We are at a critical juncture in blockchain's development. To effectively scale to meet the demands of supply chain business processes, industry trading partners need to come together and collaborate to move adoption forward. As not all companies will select the same technology partners, industry will need to align on standardized identifiers and data sharing structures to ensure compatibility, speed, and efficiency. Ultimately, the most cutting-edge CIOs know the time is now to decide to be at the forefront of these transformational technologies. Through improved industry collaboration, companies will find they already have laid the solid groundwork to reach new heights. Forward thinking companies embrace collaboration to preserve data integrity--so that what is being fed into machines does not perpetuate an endless cycle of "garbage in/garbage out
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