For nearly a decade, Mission Data has been an ongoing research and development partner of the Kroger Company, the nation’s largest grocer with $108 billion in sales. The Cincinnati-based supermarket giant employs more than 431,000 associates who serve customers in 2,778 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 35 states.
In today’s fast-paced business environment, companies are expected to have real-time visibility of their inventories and deliver goods at Amazon-like speeds. While emerging technologies such as augmented reality (AR), voice interfaces, and the Internet of Things (IoT) have entered the consumer mainstream, enterprises are beginning to explore how these new tools can enhance value and solve problems. One major area in which we’re seeing enterprises effectively utilizing new tech is supply chain logistics.
![Why We’re Launching OpSense [Video]](https://blog.missiondata.com/wp-content/uploads/OpSense-comps-bg.png)
Mission Data is launching the OpSense IoT platform for the foodservice and retail industries to boost productivity, track assets, and improve ROI. Eventually we plan to expand to other industry verticals with similar needs.
In recent years, the Kroger Company, the nation’s largest grocer, partnered with Mission Data engineers to develop several Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives to boost employee efficiency, including a temperature monitoring platform that has now been rolled out at nearly 3,000 stores. Created to reduce a time-consuming, labor-intensive process for tracking temperature data, the IoT platform resulted in millions of dollars in savings, became a leading food safety solution, and improved labor efficiency and consistency.
We toured suppliers, prototyping facilities, organizations, and more.
Amazon’s recent announcement that it will buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion sent shockwaves throughout the retail world, and the news is being discussed from just about every possible angle. While some pundits are crying doom and gloom, this is a pivotal moment for grocery retail, and there are practical, strategic steps that stores can make to keep up with the digitization of the industry.
Last month we attended the National Restaurant Association’s annual conference in Chicago. It was interesting to see how the food service industry is taking on digital transformation. There is still plenty of room for growth in terms of digital transformation for the foodservice industry, but it is primed to take the next step in incorporating more emerging technologies into its business processes.
Mission Data has joined the zigbee alliance, a non-profit association of companies creating, maintaining, and delivering open, global standards for low-powered wireless Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Last week we talked about trends we were seeing unfold with artificial intelligence. Although still in its very early infancy, AI is the trend to watch in 2017 as businesses look to incorporate the technology into their operations. This week we’re turning our attention to an emerging technology that’s a little further along on its growth curve, the Internet of Things (IoT). Numerous companies are applying the tech to real business problems and are already receiving returns on their investment. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)is leading the way, but enterprise and consumer IoT products are catching up. In this post we will focus on enterprise and consumer IoT use cases.