Industry 4.0 – Symbiotic Autonomous Systems Part I

Evolution of retail: from the commissioning the production to an artisan, to the shop, on to on-line shopping and now transitioning to multi-channel shopping. In the future the omnichannel and the Integrated Digital shopper. Credit: CSC

Another scenario of application of symbiotic autonomous systems, a much more complex case, the one of Industry 4.0  from a retailer point of view.

Interacting with clients has always been a “fun-challenge” task and this is why several years ago I decided to open a shop selling appliances. I went through some hard times as the avalanche of on line shopping chew on my business, harder than I ever imagined when I started. Indeed, when I opened my shop at the turn of the century on line commerce was already taking up but I thought that by having my shop in an attractive location, a smart and ever changing window plus a customised relationship with prospective clients I could weather the storm.

I had placed all the latest tech in my shop, from the shop window to the shelves and this worked out pretty well in attracting people to step in. And, once in I could cajoled them into looking at some wares and most of the time selling them a bit. That has been quite an effort. Keeping the shop attractive by using the latest “selling tech” is a never-ending effort, and a quite expensive one too. In addition, you need to balance what would be feasible with what is usable (in a seamless way) by the prospective clients keeping an eye on potential undesired effects (like balancing the knowledge about a customer with the perceived breach in privacy).

In spite of my effort, the tremendous shift towards to on line shopping has hit me hard. I was, actually, on the point of giving up. Then, also thanks to my years long pursuance of innovation in retail, I found myself riding the wave of Industry 4.0, almost from the ending point, since I am in retail. That, I discovered, was actually a good place to be, because it opened up many opportunities.
Nowadays I am no longer (just) a retail outlet, I am a key player in the production chain and that has brought back some good leverage towards the clients and put me in the value map again.

Sometimes I look back at the evolution of the retail experience and then I imagine what evolution will take place next: well through this exercise I see that the future evolution is going to be much more “expansive” than the one we had in the past and the concerns coming from the US with mails closing down because of the pressure from on line commerce are not concerning me. Of course, it will take a different kind of “retailer”, with different skills and “network-relations” and I am not sure I can fit the bill, but at least the future is in my hands.

Long time ago there were, basically, no shops in my sector, appliances. There were small workshops, clients would knock at the door explaining their needs and the artisan would work out a solution.

It was the advent of the industrial revolution, with its volume production, that started the shop business. Clients came in looking for a product that would reasonably fit their needs. The on-line shopping in these last 20 years expanded the offer creating a gigantic mall and beyond the convenience of on line shopping it was these blown up offer that shifted the focus and habits of consumers.

To be continued..

About Roberto Saracco

Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications long time ago. His background is in math and computer science. Until April 2017 he led the EIT Digital Italian Node and then was head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital up to September 2018. Previously, up to December 2011 he was the Director of the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, looking at the interplay of technology evolution, economics and society. At the turn of the century he led a World Bank-Infodev project to stimulate entrepreneurship in Latin America. He is a senior member of IEEE where he leads the New Initiative Committee and co-chairs the Digital Reality Initiative. He is a member of the IEEE in 2050 Ad Hoc Committee. He teaches a Master course on Technology Forecasting and Market impact at the University of Trento. He has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines and 14 books.