Through technology monitoring, we position fast-moving consumer goods companies to anticipate, identify and incorporate emerging technologies in their product development process. Internal stakeholders use our insights to stay abreast of new developments in touchless technologies, smart vending, frictionless retail, autonomous and drone delivery, and artificial intelligence. Clients can identify potential solutions and partners that enable innovative new product development.
Uncovering Opportunities in Touchless, Voice-Based Technologies
As the pandemic emerged, there were growing concerns about disease transmission via surfaces and face-to-face interaction. Our client wanted to know about opportunities in voice-based and in touchless technologies.
We uncovered insights that reflected the shift in pandemic-related consumer and technology trends. Next, we educated our client on technologies in retail settings that reduce the need for touch. Our focus was on innovations such as voice control and computer vision for product recognition. We identified potential partners for a pilot and recommended those that were the strongest fit. Our client narrowed their choice and partnered on touchless vending prototypes.
Touchless Vending Success Leads to Computer Vision Project
With success in the touchless vending program, we took on a follow-on project in computer vision, also in retail. Our client had created a prototype prior to COVID-19, and, with our help, they accelerated their work in spring 2020. We identified companies with product recognition capabilities on a vending machine scale, and our client has identified new potential partners.
