Artificial Intelligence

Best Buy Co. Inc. is expanding a series of programs and partnerships designed to ensure the availability of a crucial IT component – human talent.

As part of this ongoing initiative, in spring 2016, the Best Buy Teen Tech Center network will open four new centers that offer year-round after-school programming. And from May through September, more than 6,000 students will attend free Geek Squad Academy (GSA) two-day sessions in communities around the country.

Technology-themed sessions were in abundance at Chain Store Age’s 52nd annual SPECS conference, which was held March 13-15 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. The conference focuses on store planning/design, equipment, construction and facility services, and IT is slowly but surely becoming a much bigger part of this end of the retail enterprise.

Here are three technology-related learnings from the conference.

Buildings get smart

Technology-themed sessions were in abundance at Chain Store Age’s 52nd annual SPECS conference, which was held March 13-15 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas.

The conference focuses on store planning/design, equipment, construction and facility services, and IT is slowly but surely becoming a much bigger part of this end of the retail enterprise.

Mike McNamara, CIO of Target Corp., recently spoke on the role of today’s CIO at the Forbes CIO Summit.

McNamara has been serving as CIO of Target of eight months, having come from international grocery retailer Tesco. He shared insights such as how the rapid adoption of smartphones has been a game-changer for both consumers and corporate IT teams, the ongoing shift underway from legacy software and mainframe systems to cloud and open-source technologies, and the need to build a team of curious, analytical problem-solvers.

As the notion of channel conflict subsides, consumer packaged goods companies who don’t elevate their digital game are playing to lose and a new study from a two industry leaders shows just how much.

The struggle to dominate leading-edge mobile payment technology may be taking an even more competitive turn. According to Re/Code, Amazon.com has filed a patent application for a process that would allow consumers to authenticate mobile transactions with digital photos of themselves, rather than with passwords. MasterCard recently announced it will roll out a similar-sounding technology called “Selfie Pay.” [Re/Code]