Where Do Virtual Human Agents Fit in Your Management Structure?
Virtual Human Agents (VHA) can lower the need for direct supervision and middle managers. Early results point the technology being core to the future of retail.
When a retail giant like Walmart suddenly changes direction, the industry sits up and takes notice. In recent years, the company has been testing ways of radically overhauling the way its stores are run and the day-to-day experience for its employees. The “Great Workplace” initiative, as the project is called, has been hailed by C-level executives as key to winning the future of retail.
Central to its project is introducing new technologies aimed at streamlining operations and, among other things, lower the need for in-store middle managers.
Virtual Human Agents (VHA) is a technology that fits perfectly within that framework.
Bye-bye Middle Managers
Initially, Walmart’s project was set to cover 1,100 of the company’s 5,300 U.S. stores.
One part of the project involves doing away with certain positions, including hourly supervisors and assistant store managers. In their place, employees will be positioned in a smaller set of roles that carry more responsibilities.
While it has been hailed as innovative, the initiative has also caused some confusion as to the exact roles and responsibilities in the new setup.
It is a part of a broader push toward automation that Walmart has been undertaking in recent years. One such area is advanced robots that can stock shelves, sort deliveries, and scrub floors.
Digital Managers as Next Step
Identifying efficiencies and creating new growth opportunities are areas where investment in new technology makes a lot of sense. Retail stores are acutely aware of this, with global retail spending on IT topping $196 billion in 2019, projected to reach $225 billion by 2022.
Much spending revolves around systems that enable retail businesses to leverage vast troves of data to increase efficiencies and insights. Furthermore, stores and chains are grappling with how to use data to personalize interactions with customers. The goal is to create connections like those between local stores and their customers in online stores and larger retail outlets.
Other areas of particular interest to retail companies include improving logistics to optimize delivery processes and upselling through knowing customer preferences. Training and instruction that match individual workers’ schedules — not to mention creating virtual middle management systems — are also focus points.
Digitally Onboarding and Leading Your Workers
Studies have found that the average cost of finding, hiring, and training a replacement employee in US retail is around $3,300. During the training period, the store will likely be operating with slightly lower customer service levels. On the other side of the till, shoppers are unaware of the situation and rightfully expect stores to have the necessary staff to ensure smooth running and deliver a pleasant customer experience.
This is an area where VHA technology has a vast potential to change the situation and improve possibilities for quicker onboarding and on-the-job training. As we have previously explored, this covers training tasks and soft skills that are incredibly important in retail environments.
VHA technology systems, such as the Ludens Rachel from Couger, are also excellently suited to take on managerial roles and responsibilities. Structuring work tasks and dynamically directing staff to busy areas, and providing data-driven insights regarding product placement, are just some of the functions where VHAs can step into the role of middle management.
Shift Underway in Retail
You might be asking yourself if it makes sense to invest in technologies like the ones described in this article. However, there is a reason why 96% of the retail participants in a McKinsey study said they were implementing or considering implementing a range of new technologies, including robots and advanced software systems.
Retail is under pressure, and companies are using new technology to redefine their position and improve competitiveness. To make the transition successful, organizational structures, such as those inside Walmart, need to be transformed to make way for a new, technology-assisted, and led way of working.
As a retail company, it may sound like you are tasked with adapting to how technology works and not the other way around. This can be true for some technologies. It is worth noting that this does not have to be the case. Some technologies, such as the Ludens VHA systems, can be tailored to meet your needs and situation. That is doubly true thanks to solutions like Couger’s, which uses a software development kit to enable low-cost further development and optimization of existing solutions to match the specific needs and use cases of any given company.
