Artificial Intelligence

Armonk, N.Y. - IBM is betting big on the cloud. The enterprise technology giant is releasing new hybrid cloud technology and services designed to extend clients' control, visibility, security and governance in a hybrid cloud environment similar to what they have in their private cloud and traditional IT systems.

In doing so, IBM aims to increase data portability across environments and make it easier for developers to work across cloud and non-cloud environments.  

New York -- The mobile payments war continues to heat up. In a post on its blog, Google said it partnering with the three of the nation’s largest wireless carriers — AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile — to bring its Google Wallet mobile payment app to their Android phones later this year.  

Google also said it has purchased some technology and intellectual property from payments firm Softcard (formerly known as Isis) to make Google Wallet better.

By Shah Karim, Saferock

If it hasn't done so already, the consumer experience will undoubtedly include omnichannel shopping, mobile, and social media as part of what consumers do naturally. Based on this inevitable evolution of how customers engage with retailers, here are seven retail “megatrends” which will become reality by 2020.

The White House recently hosted a daylong Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University. Speakers ranged from President Barack Obama to Apple CEO Tim Cook to Walgreens president Alex Gourlay). Here are a few takeaways.

Retailers Recognize Chip and PIN

New York -- Rebecca Minkoff’s New York flagship combines advanced technology with the designer’s fashion-forward apparel and accessories to create a highly engaging and immersive shopping experience — one that’s right in sync with the brand’s omnichannel- and mobile-savvy customer base. It’s also in sync with the ethos of the designer herself, who has entered the wearable tech market, with a bracelet that alerts the wearer to calls and texts, and a cuff that charges mobile device

Omnichannel commerce is exposing organizations as "legacy channel impaired." Customers don’t talk about and don’t care about channels. Customers care about engagement, information, value, product and service. Channels are a frame we’ve used to organize around and operate in an increasingly disruptive environment. What started as a fear of cannibalization has evolved into an opportunity for augmentation, as digital and physical convergence accelerates across categories and formats.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. – The Wet Seal Inc. wants customers to have a social online shopping experience. Wet Seal will utilize 3 Tier Logic's Platform3 consumer-to-consumer content marketing and data mining platform to increase the quantity and duration of website visits and the conversion of those visits to generate more e-commerce transactions.

Nearly 300% more retailers plan to use mobile POS in the next two years, according to a special report by Boston Retail Partners (BRP).

The study, “Mobile Technology – Transforming the Customer Experience,” forecasts that the use of mobile technology for other customer-facing activities in retail will also dramatically grow in the next two years. For example, approximately 200% more retailers plan to use geolocation within three years. And 350% more retailers plan to support NFC payments by October 2015.