IBM Services – Breakthrough Partnerships: Future Group optimizes energy consumption with a Watson IoT solution

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Visit any mall this summer in India, and you’ll come across a very familiar sight. The place will be teeming with people trying to engage in ‘retail therapy’ while enjoying the respite from the more-often-than-not boiling temperatures outside. Not many will make their purchases right away and some may only window shop. Some others may have come only to explore what’s being “physically sold” in stores, only to compare with prices of the same products being sold online! Only a small share of the footfalls in malls convert to sales aided only by a good bargain they’re getting from the brands offering a discount!

In such a challenging environment to do business, keeping costs under control is paramount for retailers. One of the largest components of running a retail store is the energy consumed in running it. Imagine all the lights you must constantly keep ON, and all the air conditioning – cooling in warm countries like India and heating in other colder places around the world.

What can a retailer with a countrywide presence in a booming economy such as India do to contain these costs, where there is constant margin pressure on your top line? How can the latest in technology come handy and are there people with the know-how of what needs to be done and how to do it?

If you are searching for your trusted partner, consider attending Building Cognitive Enterprises– an IBM & CNBC event on June 20th in Mumbai.

Watch the video of one such story of a Breakthrough Partnership between Future Group and IBM Services. Schedule a consultation with a digital reinvention expert to know how you can begin your own journey of transformation.

Future Group teamed up with IBM Services to create an end to end solution for their retail stores to minimise energy costs and reduce carbon emissions. They implemented a Watson IoT based energy management solution that yielded 10% cost savings and fully automated the energy saving processes. Collecting and analysing data from each retail store helped predict abnormal behavior and reduce equipment failure across 2000 stores! Working with IBM’s Global Financing division further helped soften the impact of the upfront cost, by spreading it over a period of 5 years, easing the pressure by showcasing an optimal cash flow projection.