SAP Webinar: Big Data, predictive analytics improve decisions

Waldorf, Germany -- By 2015, retailing will be marked by redefined customer interaction, a new level of real-time customer data, and a global, verticalized supply chain. According to an SAP-sponsored webinar hosted by Chain Store Age on Oct. 29, “Improving Retail Decisions with Big Data and Predictive Analysis,” the plethora of Big Data retailers can now process will make this evolution possible.



“You can take consumer data in real time from different channels,” said Nancy Casey, VP of retail customer-centric merchandising solutions at SAP. “How can you take consumer data, product data and other data and merge it in real time?”



According to Joern Keller, VP of retail development at SAP, one answer is to use the SAP HANA in-memory business intelligence platform. HANA is an open platform which allows retailers to follow a demand-based retail model, as well as build their own solutions on top and extend its functionality rather than “rip and replace” when more capabilities are needed.



“There has been a sea change,” said David Ginsberg, chief data scientist at SAP. “Ten years ago, there was no real-time data and nothing was open. We now have the instantaneous capability of calculations.”



As a result, Casey said the industry is moving toward a customer-centric merchandising model, away from the product view and toward a real-time customer view.



“You can interact with the customer in real time in any channel,” said Casey.



Click here to view a complete replay of the webinar.