A flexible, customizable food service POS system is a necessity in a competitive world where customer demand determines the future of the industry.

Having a flexible, customizable food service point-of-sale (POS) system has become a necessity in a competitive world where customer demand determines the future of hospitality. Givex is a company that can help restaurants adapt, evolve, and meet this challenge.

A POS solutions provider

GivexPOS is the platform of choice for some of the world’s largest brands, serving 113,000 locations in 110+ countries. It provides merchants with customer engagement, point-of-sale and payment solutions in a single platform, which integrates with 1000+ technology partners. 

The robust platform supports simple or complex gift card programs, customized loyalty programs, stored value or loaded tickets, a powerful omnichannel point-of-sale system with options that include fully integrated payment processing, kitchen display systems, inventory controls, labour management, kiosks, handheld ordering tablets, and merchant-skinned online ordering websites. 

Flexibility and customization are the key to success

A POS platform that supports clients by delivering on flexibility and customization is one of the most important features the food service industry needs in a fintech partner, particularly in a post-COVID-19 age. 

Hospitality Technology’s 2021 POS Software Trends Report: Accelerating Innovation, notes that, when it published its 2020 report, “Restaurant operators and solution providers were pushing POS software toward digital and online like never before, seeking to deliver convenience and efficiency to customers, whether in the dining room or off-premises. The pandemic and economic downturn of the past year only accelerated that trend, as restaurants scrambled to pivot to off-prem and meet customer demand for contactless transactions and efficiency, while ensuring as much ROI as possible.”

Working with an adaptable cloud-based POS system was one of the few ways merchants could quickly pivot their businesses to include omnichannel delivery, efficient third-party integration, and modules to allow for expansion and change.

During the pandemic, Meltwich, a Toronto-based fast casual chain with close to 30 locations, quickly moved to online ordering to meet customer demand for off-premises dining. It did so seamlessly, integrating Givex’s POS system into its delivery platform, offering uninterrupted service to its customers. And, because Givex’s platform provides customizable reports, campaign management templates, and an easy-to-use analytics tool, Meltwich was able to gain insights to enable it to implement system-wide changes efficiently.

A POS system that delivers on speed and quality

Clients have also found that working with a single source provider not only delivers customized solutions, but it also saves time and is cost-effective when the provider has all the resources needed to support the business under one platform.

Canadian coffee chain Second Cup, with more than 200 locations across Canada, was already using Givex for gift cards, loyalty programs and POS when Foodtastic — an operation with 650 restaurants across 21 brands — acquired it.

“When I joined Second Cup, I had only known Givex as a gift card solutions provider,” said Tom Hogan, VP of Foodtastic and Second Cup Canada. “As I started to integrate myself into the platform, I realized that a great point-of-sale system was just the tip of the iceberg.”

Givex worked to add historical data from the operation’s previous provider, offered full inventory management solutions, and integrated third-party providers into the customized platform, all within a tight deadline.

“Our existing POS was not supporting the growing needs of our business,” recalled Hogan. Givex was given a deadline of December 31, 2020, to complete the project. “With having to source, train and deploy technicians across the country, deal with different infrastructure at each location, and manage different cafe partner expectations, I’m sure there were some sleepless nights for the team at Givex. Through it all, they remained steadfast in hitting the mark.”

Since project completion, Hogan has seen a significant uptick in efficiency and speed of service across Second Cup’s stores.

A bright future

In the fall of 2021, Foodtastic selected Givex as its point-of-sale and customer engagement platform across all its 21 restaurant brands. Rolling out Givex’s POS system and Customer WebSuite (CWS) solutions across its brands was a massive, yet successful, undertaking.

Andy Huang is the chief operating officer of The Captain’s Boil, another Givex restaurant client with over 20 locations. “For more than five years, GivexPOS and other Givex technologies have helped improve our operations, from the kitchen display system ensuring that our food is served hot, to the robust inventory and recipe application helping control our food costs. In addition, its system seamlessly integrated with a third-party app to help manage our labour costs, and we’re very pleased with the preliminary results of the loyalty program we recently implemented with Givex.”

By demonstrating its ability to adapt to the changing landscape and offer flexible and innovative technology throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Givex was able to expand its robust tech suite and partner with new international clients over the past year, increasing its total number of customer locations to more than 100,000. 

“It’s important for us to be able to provide our clients with up-to-date, innovative technology that makes the most sense for their immediate needs,” said Mo Chaar, Givex’s Chief Commercial Officer. “That includes offering our clients complete flexibility to ensure our solutions work with other vendors, as well as ensuring that we can offer seamless integration with those products — a move that is unprecedented within the industry.”

In 2021, Givex announced the launch of GivexPay, an integrated payment processing solution, enabling the company to enhance its service offering, gain access to the latest payment innovations, and scale globally with one integrated system. 

“With this launch, we can better serve merchants looking for an all-in-one management solution that includes gift card programs, customized loyalty programs, kitchen display systems, inventory controls, kiosks, handheld ordering tablets, online ordering apps, POS, and now payment processing, with the support and scalability they need to grow,” commented Chaar.

All in all, Givex provides owners and managers with a seamless and completely customizable POS experience. The same factors that make Givex easy to use and implement mean that scalability comes naturally for the systems. 

The post Delivering The Goods: A Flexible POS System Keeps The Food Industry Running Smoothly appeared first on HiveInnovates.

It’s not easy being a first-time home buyer in a market designed to make the process seem so complicated, let alone in today’s ever-increasing home price market. As first time homebuyers realize this, more of them are turning to nesto due to their quick, and unbiased solution.

One obstacle facing homebuyers is the minimum down payment required. The sharp rise in property values — especially since COVID-19 — has raised the cost of a down payment.

This reflects in Sagen’s 2021 research, where it’s shown that lower rent thanks to living with family and family gifts contributed to higher home prices met by higher down payments. While nesto can’t provide users with the funds to increase their down payment (yet), they have instead gone above and beyond in simplifying the mortgage process by way of adding transparency to the rate discussion and providing free and unbiased advice through their salaried mortgage professionals.

Best mortgage rates for first-time buyers on the first try

“First-time buyers tend to focus on the lowest rate, an item which nesto specifically covers without any effort or negotiation on the user’s part,” says Belair. Not only is nesto offering among the lowest rates in the country, nesto was built to analyze each individual’s unique situation with the lowest rate top of mind.

One way nesto protects the user is if the lowest rate for a given situation happens to be a restrictive mortgage, nesto walks the user through the examples of how a restricted mortgage could be detrimental to their financial future should an unpredictable life event occur (i.e; employment changes, or relationship changes). In nearly all cases, nesto would recommend a full-featured mortgage product in lieu of, also at best rates for that product type and situation.

With mortgage experts across the country and access to the most advanced technology, the nesto team can screen the entire market in seconds to find the best mortgage for a client’s needs. Because nesto’s agents are salaried, clients can feel confident that they’re getting the best, unbiased advice from a trustworthy source. A quick look at nesto’s 500 plus Google reviews with its overall 4.5-star rating proves one thing: nesto is trusted, and continuously fulfills its mission to always be on your side.

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Tracy Fleming

Advanced Solutions, Avaya

The link between company and customer is built on experiences. It might be products and services that bring people to engage with a company in the first place, but it’s the quality of the interaction that retains customers, or loses them. Wherever and whenever that point of contact occurs, there’s a need to deliver an experience that’s welcoming, useful, appropriate, and enjoyable. With more than seven billion people on this planet, however, each with their own needs and desires, it’s simply impossible to curate a single experience that will suit them all. What one customer loves, another will hate.

And that really matters. People are no longer willing to accept friction in their interactions with companies. They know that there’s a better way and they expect it. The data is quite clear that customers are more than willing to walk away from a company after a bad experience. But how can you consistently create a good one for an audience with infinite variety?

The augmented human experience

In today’s era of cloud AI, the golden prize of a truly personalized experience for each customer is finally within reach. The answer is not, however, replacing agents with computers. Instead, we can augment the capabilities of the agents with AI, blending the human and the digital to create a seamlessly personal experience. “The human piece of this isn’t going away,” says Tracy Fleming, Practice Leader for AI at Avaya, a multinational technology company that specializes in cloud communications and workstream collaboration solutions. “Human interaction is still the gold standard. What you’re seeing is AI enabling that human to provide a better experience.”

Artificial intelligence is by no means a new area of exploration within the customer experience field, but as the capabilities of modern AI continue to grow exponentially, the implementation is taking on a whole new character. “The cloud is really the accelerator for the applied use of AI,” says Fleming. “It allows the technology to be applied seamlessly across an entire business model, and so we’re certainly seeing it being deployed in a much broader range of applications. But the core capabilities in this space have been executed in the Avaya world for years.”

Human interaction is still the gold standard. What you’re seeing is AI enabling that human to provide a better experience.

The angel on the shoulder

One of the major new developments is the ever-increasing speed and flexibility with which these AI solutions can be integrated into ongoing interactions. Gone is the time of AI systems facilitating the start of an interaction and then analyzing it afterwards. Whereas it used to be the norm for something like five percent of daily calls to be thoroughly analyzed after hours, now one hundred percent of calls can be analyzed as they’re happening.

AI still plays an integral role in directing the right customer to the right agent, not only for their needs, but also for their personality, demographics, and mood. But then it stays on the line. “What’s been really interesting due to the amount of computing and storage in the cloud today is the way we can provide outcome and input to agents in real time,” says Fleming. “We can have the AI acting as the front door concierge and also sitting on the shoulder of the agent as they’re talking. The AI hears what the customer is saying, finds the relevant data, and then renders it out to the agent on the fly. And it can prompt the agent before the call is over if they forget something, so you never have these incomplete experiences.”

The end result is an experience that is even more human. This is the real arc of the AI transformation, as it allows us to rehumanize our interactions. After decades of digitization and depersonalization, technology is building us a bridge back to genuine human connection.

Let’s see how your company scores on the total experience self-assessment?

There’s nothing artificial about an experience

When implemented properly to build dynamic experiences, artificial intelligence creates an environment where the humanity of both the agent and the customer is able to shine. The Avaya Experience Builders ecosystem leverages all the power of this technology to customize customization itself, so that the experience can be refined down to the essential of the business and then broadened again to fit the rich diversity of its customers. When done right, the most diligent AI experience work renders itself almost invisible.

“When a customer gets off a call thinking that, for 10 minutes, they were the only thing in that person’s world, they may not think to themselves, that was an incredible use of artificial intelligence,” says Fleming. “I would argue that’s the point. I think artificial intelligence is at its best when you don’t know it’s there.”

The post Harnessing the Power of AI to Craft Customized Customer Experiences appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Canada aims to increase immigration following slowed population growth due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Immigration is vital to Canada’s economic and social well-being. Individuals who come to Canada on work permits, study permits and as landed immigrants become the Canadian citizens of the future and help the country address skills shortages and demographic challenges.

But travel restrictions associated with COVID-19 massively slowed immigration in 2020, including last summer, when Canada recorded its slowest population growth from international migration since such data became available in 1946, according to Statistics Canada.

Canada relies on immigrants for economic growth and to fill labour shortages due to an aging population. The slow population growth means that Canada will depend even more on immigration for its post-pandemic economic recovery.

As part of its recovery plan, the Canadian government aims to welcome 401,000 permanent residents this year, which is a challenge, says Jack Kim, a partner in the Toronto office of the immigration law firm, Fragomen. “Because of COVID-19, there has not been that new wave of students and workers coming to the country who will become permanent residents and then citizens. So that is something we are going to have to watch over the next few years,” Kim says.

Remote work affecting immigration

Another lasting impact of COVID-19 will be the increase in remote work, according to Kim. “Because work has usually been centred around an office, this led to immigration to Canada, Kim says. “With the increase in remote work, what does that do downstream? For example, Canada relied heavily upon a steady flow of people coming from the United States in the last few years, can we continue to rely on this?”

Fragomen is a leading immigration firm with more than 55 offices in more than 25 countries. Its Toronto office serves corporate clients, finding solutions to issues like how to mobilize a large number of employees effectively in Canada or how to tackle an employer compliance inspection. It also serves individuals who may need help with questions such as how they can remain permanently in Canada. The office also assists with immigration needs outside of Canada and with consular support services for those wishing to travel to the United States and other business destinations.

Fragomen a top immigration services provider

Fragomen has won many awards and is distinguished as the top immigration services provider in many major markets and as a leader in diversity and inclusion. The firm also prides itself on providing pro bono work, including assisting non-governmental organizations tackling immigration issues or working with charities like SickKids Foundation, with its program to bring children in need of medical care to Canada.

The firm also has a partnership with Talent Beyond Boundaries, which helps place skilled refugees in jobs in stable countries around the world. “This is a new way to resettle refugees under different pathways,” says Kim. “We are happy to help with something that can change someone’s life.

“One of our core tenets is giving back to the community. Our Toronto office reflects the diversity of the city and a lot of us come from communities that need help. Immigration only happens in a world where there is some stability and a certain amount of people who care. I think we need to do all we can to help.”

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Digital Smart Labels are transforming the grocery shopping experience and giving grocers a cost-saving and efficient way to engage consumers.

The retail landscape is changing rapidly in North America, with tech-savvy consumers demanding more from their shopping experiences — and grocery stores are no exception. Consumers want seamless convenience, impeccable customer service, and engaging experiences. Digitization plays a big role in this, and Danavation’s Digital Smart Labels are leading the way in reimagining grocery stores.

The smart new tech that’s disrupting the grocery industry

Digital Smart Labels are micro e-paper displays that enable companies across various sectors, including grocery retailers, to automate their labelling, pricing, product information, and promotions in real time. The unique innovation is a product of Danavation Technologies Corp., a leading Canadian tech company that provides Digital Smart Labels to organizations across North America.

Digital Smart Labels are small but mighty. This state-of-the-art technology, driven by cutting-edge IoT automation technology and proprietary software developed by Danavation, is modernizing the grocery store landscape and disrupting the market. In boosting sales, cutting costs, engaging shoppers, and enabling quicker responses to competitor activities, Digital Smart Labels are well on their way to shaping the future of grocery.

Importantly, modern customers increasingly expect such experiences — ones that are seamless, convenient, and highly engaging.

Giving customers a convenient, beneficial, and engaging experience

Digital Smart Labels allow grocery retailers to give customers an enhanced shopping experience. More and more, customers are using this concept of experiences to differentiate between stores, brands, and products — when grocery shopping, they’re not just buying food anymore, they’re buying an experience. Grocers should consider how they can provide shoppers with experiences that teach and enrich them, making their lives better and easier.

“You can add things like augmented reality and QR codes to Digital Smart Labels,” says John Ricci, Founder and CEO of Danavation. “For example, you could allow customers to scan a wine label and see a drone view of the vineyard, the grapes, and the wine-making process. Now they’re not just buying the wine — they’re buying the experience.”

Other details that are important to consumers can also be displayed on Digital Smart Labels, including information about ingredients or dietary preferences, product reviews, in-store promotions, cross-promotion, and more.

Digital Smart Labels offer multiple benefits for grocery stores

Digital Smart Labels also increase grocers’ operational efficiency and free up employee time, so staff can focus on product education and offering valuable customer service — much more high-impact tasks than switching out labels manually. “You’ve got smart people working for you. Have them do things that are important to you rather than menial tasks,” says Ricci.

Digital Smart Labels sync with grocers’ ERP and POS systems, offering unprecedented speed and accuracy and vastly improving in-store efficiency and productivity. This cuts costs while also generating sales — an incredible boon for grocery stores, where profit margins can be low. Digital Smart Labels also allow grocers to avoid costly mispricing errors, to improve store organization and inventory control, and to streamline labour workflows.

The post Digital Smart Labels™: What They Are and Why You Need Them appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Paying for purchases in smaller, regular intervals is a choice that a growing number of Canadians are looking for. Here’s how Visa’s new Installments solution will help financial institutions offer consumers more choice and control over their budget.

When it comes to purchasing decisions, it’s clear that Canadians want more options for when and how they pay for purchases. Installments — also known as “buy now pay later” plans, which involves dividing total purchase amounts into smaller, equal payments made over time — is a rapidly growing trend. It’s seeing accelerated adoption across the globe as it represents increased choice for consumers, and the ability for merchants to up their competitive advantage and bring shoppers more ways to pay.

“In Canada, we’ve seen 30 percent growth in installments in the last year alone,” says Brian Weiner, Vice President and Head of Product and Digital at Visa Canada, referring to an Ipsos September 2020 study. “The pandemic has accelerated the growth and speed of digital payments everywhere and created room to insert additional options for consumers and merchants.”

In Canada, we’ve seen 30 percent growth in installments in the last year alone.The pandemic has accelerated the growth and speed of digital payments everywhere and created room to insert additional options for consumers and merchants.

It’s not a new phenomenon — installments have been popular in markets like South America and Europe for a long time. The Australian market is expected to double by 2023; in the U.K., it’s expected to double by 2025.¹ However, it’s not just customers driving this trend. According to Shopify’s recent report on the Future of Commerce, the number of Shopify merchants in the U.S. offering installment payment options has increased by 60 percent since the start of the pandemic.

Canadians of all generations are adopting innovative payment options

The data suggests that the installments trend is here to stay. As is common for any industry undergoing a period of rapid growth, the payments ecosystem is also experiencing disruption and innovation. The pandemic is continuing to push businesses to offer improved consumer experiences, with digital-first ways to pay. And consumers of all ages are embracing flexible payment solutions like installments.

“We know that Gen Z and millennials are a new class of consumer who expect flexibility and choice,” says Weiner. “But, interestingly, the biggest growth of interest since 2017 has come from Gen X and baby boomers. And as consumers seek more flexible options, transparency and trust remain of high importance among all demographics.”

To better protect the long-term health of financial ecosystems, it’s important that installment providers understand the needs of consumers and merchants in today’s payments market.

“Visa is in the great position of being present in and observing markets all around the world, and our goal is to bring the best payments experiences to Canada,” says Weiner. “Installments aren’t new, but we’re seeing their resurgence in a modern economic context. At Visa, our vision is to create a solution built on a foundation of trust and responsibility, designed with the well-being of both Canadian consumers and merchants in mind.”

Canadian consumers and merchants first to benefit from Visa’s new installments solution

This summer marks the launch of Visa Installments in Canada — one of the first countries to launch globally. Visa Installments will give eligible credit cardholders the option to divide purchases they’ve already made (online or in-store) into smaller, equal payments over a defined time period, based on the existing credit available on their credit cards.

Looking ahead, Visa Installments will also be made available by Canadian issuers at participating merchants during the checkout process. “With the Visa solution, buyers use existing accounts and lines of credit from the bank or card issuer they know and trust. There’s no need to download an app, submit a new credit check, or enter any additional information,” says Weiner. “If you have an eligible credit card, the purchase will automatically be deducted from your available credit line. Allowing consumers to make this choice without taking on any new credit is a key component of the solution.”

Where merchants have opted into the during-purchase installment program, Canadian consumers will be able to choose whether to pay in smaller, regular amounts at the point of purchase. With transparency related to the payment schedule, the solution is geared towards providing consumers with more control over their budgets.

For merchants, opting into the program can also carry significant benefits. The solution is designed to be seamless, and easy to use for customers. Integrating an installments option at checkout can increase both the average ticket size of purchases and conversion rates for shoppers.²

“Our solution is API-based and designed to be very simple to integrate for both in-person and e-commerce transactions,” says Weiner. “With a single integration, a merchant can enable installments options for their eligible customers without them needing to sign up for a new service or be directed to another page and asked to fill out an application form. It doesn’t get any easier than that.”

¹ Euromonitor Global Installment Payment Opportunity Report
² Euromonitor research: Interbank Cards Centre of Turkey

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Digital Transformation

The past year has created opportunities for small businesses to increase their audience through digital technology and adapt innovative ways to reinvent their business model. Some ways to embrace digitalization include:

1. Social Media and Digital Marketing. Being active on social media helps you build meaningful relationships with key stakeholders in times of uncertainty. Startups can accomplish their marketing goals and connect with a wider audience through digital marketing.
2. Flexibility. Flexibility has become an important part of the push for digital spaces and work environments. Employees have the autonomy to work from any place at any time, and we are now able to connect with people beyond our usual network. Stats Canada reported that at the beginning of 2021, 32% of Canadian employees aged 15 to 69 worked most of their hours from home, compared with only 4% in 2016.
3. Better Investments Towards Technology. With the significant push towards digitalization, organizations have been able to adapt to this change at a rapid pace. According to Mckinsey, respondents stated that their companies were able to adapt to digital change 20-25 times faster than usual.

Emphasis on Community

If there is one thing the pandemic has taught us, it’s the importance of community and care. Businesses that emphasize community initiatives are more likely to succeed long term. A survey from Deloitte found that 87% of executives believe companies perform best over time if their purpose goes beyond profit. The common nature of entrepreneurship is that there will be highs and lows – in those low moments, you can look to your community for support. 

1. Utilizing Community. While being wary to not dilute your message or lose authority, partnerships with local, national, or international organizations operating in the same sector can strengthen connections to the community, expand customer bases overnight, and assist in reallocating resources where most needed. For underrepresented entrepreneurs – such as women, LGBTQ2+, Black, Indigenous, and rural founders – Chambers of Commerce and other targeted, specialized support organizations exist to help.
2. Giving back. Many startups don’t have the luxury of giving back to their communities in the form of capital or monetary action. However, founders can get creative in their attempt to give back to other SMEs, including sharing staff expertise, sharing capital-heavy subscription services or workspaces, offering your time and advice, and making your support known through your various platforms – scream it from the rooftops!

Embrace Innovation

COVID-19 has disrupted and fundamentally changed the way many businesses operate in Canada. Many weren’t fully equipped for this drastic change, however, this had led to the emergence of new and innovative ways for ventures to adapt to the new normal.

1. Skill Building. Virtual Communication tools have created an avenue for businesses to offer educational workshops and panels, featuring advice and mentorship. According to a Mckinsey report, 69% of respondents have seen an increase in skill-building during the pandemic as a result of digital learning panels and workshops.
2. Agility. We’ve seen an increase of ventures adjusting to the needs of customers during the pandemic. Companies like VitalTracer, Co-Founded by Azadeh Dastmalchi, launched a medical-grade smartwatch that measures all vital signs and provides cardiac monitoring, while also serving as an early-stage COVID-19 prediction solution.

Although the pandemic has left entrepreneurs and small businesses vulnerable, there has been a large drive towards transforming the business landscape, impacting positive change for years to come. Businesses have shown immense resilience in the face of adversity, and are now equipped with the necessary tools to better deal with future challenges.

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Businesses need to provide excellent customer service and engagement even during times of crisis. Avaya OneCloud CPaaS helps businesses build that resiliency.

The COVID-19 crisis has accentuated the link between customer engagement and business success. “The pandemic basically disconnected this common pattern where customers can physically see you and engage in your business,” says Davide Petramala, Director of Avaya OneCloud CPaas, at Avaya, an international technology company specializing in cloud communications and workstream collaboration solutions. “Suddenly businesses found themselves competing with thousands of other online options with staff all working from home.”

Despite the disruption, many businesses not only survived, but thrived during the pandemic. “Stats showed that the ones that thrived were focused on the business of customer engagement, where customers are the centre of their business,” says Petramala. “Those businesses are seeing higher profits and faster growth because each customer represents not only more revenue, but also more commitment and loyalty.”

Why great customer service and a great customer experience are essential for success

Even in non-crisis times, great customer service and customer experience are essential to business success. Recognizing this, businesses are increasingly putting customers at the centre of their business model, instead of at the end of the supply chain. “Customer engagement and experience are no longer side pieces, but the focus of your business if you want to succeed,” says Petramala.

A happy customer is more likely to become a long-term customer and to share the good experience with others. Conversely, the negative impact on a brand from a bad experience can be exponential. “They say that for every positive experience, that customer will organically go and tell six other people, but for every negative one, they will tell 14,” says Petramala.

Shaping the business and its services around customer expectations is challenging. “What customers are asking for is dynamically changing,” says Petramala. To meet the challenge, today’s businesses need technology that’s flexible and responsive to constant change.

Technology as a service allows for flexibility and adaptation

The Avaya OneCloud ecosystem and its solutions are designed to do just that. The Avaya CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) is a composable platform that lets businesses take pre-built frameworks and modify them for their unique customer experience and engagement requirements.

Unlike in the past where companies invested in costly technology infrastructure only to see it soon become obsolete, a service like CPaaS enables them to adapt quickly to a customer’s ever-changing requirements without added expenses. “By purchasing a service instead of a product, companies are relieved from taking on any technical debt, and they can pick and choose the tools, customize them, and then modify them on demand based on their needs,” says Petramala.

Whether it’s compliance, health care, finance, or curbside pick-up, the business simply takes up the framework, embeds digital challenges, adds in AI, and can be up and running within weeks or even days. “Because it’s all based on AI, one can deploy the service, see the customer engagement in real-time, get feedback, and improve over each iteration,” says Petramala. “Having a composable system, with no technical infrastructure tied to any physical investment, means businesses can get a return on investment (ROI) on the technology while actually using it. That allows businesses to exceed customer expectations, so they don’t just survive but thrive in chaotic times.”

To help businesses identify their customer engagement pain points, Avaya runs free workshops.

The post How Businesses Can Keep Customers at the Centre — Even When Disaster Strikes appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Retailers switching from paper to digitized labels could engage both customers and employees in more effective commerce — and in real time.

Retailers looking to build stronger connections with their customers may want to consider deploying Digital Smart Labels (DSLs) to communicate more than just price.

And that’s exactly what Danavation’s DSLs are designed to do. Rather than a paper label—which has long been a static point of contact for customers—DSL technology uses an e-ink display to show pricing, product information, QR codes, or any other relevant details to better engage consumers.

Being a wireless system, each label runs on a lithium-ion battery with a 10-year lifespan (based on one price change a day), so there’s no need to run wires to power all the labels from a single source. They can also be adhered to any type of shelf using clips and other hardware solutions.

“It’s a system that works with a base station wired in directly to your network with a PoE (Power over Ethernet) cable — the number of these depends on the size of the store, and they’re usually placed in the ceiling,” says John Ricci, Founder and CEO of Danavation. “After that, the DSLs are installed on the shelf with no wiring required. It’s very flexible for any retailer in any environment to be able to have an active DSL system and for it to be functional.”

The benefits of going paperless

The biggest initial cost-cutting aspect in adopting such a system is in removing the paper and ink involved in printing new labels, says Ricci. DSLs negate the task of replacing paper labels on a regular basis, allowing administrators to easily update pricing when necessary in real time.

Ricci notes that it’s also scalable, meaning a store can do it on its own or across a chain of retail locations adopting the same system. In that scenario, Ricci says that a central hub at a head office or in a flagship store can switch prices on the fly, as well as other information that appears on the label.

“Wherever you are across Canada, from east to west, you can update specific stores or price points, by region or province, and have everything controlled by the head office on a scheduled basis,” he says. “For example, if you have 2,000 price changes that need to go out between midnight and 1 a.m., you click a button and it’s on the schedule. All those prices will be changed when the managers come in to their stores the next morning.”

Altering customer perceptions

DSLs help reorient employees away from tedious tasks and more toward servicing customers and managing inventory on shelves. And when rearranging stock, labels don’t need to be removed, as DSLs can be programmed for all the changes. That also plays a big role in price matching with competitors, says Ricci.

“There’s this perception that when a customer walks into a store that’s gone digital, they’ll know the retailer currently has a new digital price strategy at the shelf,” he says. “It’s a price play operationally, but what you can do with DSLs is engage your customer and keep them interested with QR codes, product reviews, and more at the shelf. You’re basically communicating with them and showing that you understand them, which creates a positive shopping experience for the customer.”

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Razan Hasan

Chief Risk Officer of Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC Bank Canada

The importance of supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in the community is increasing exponentially in our progressively more diverse and connected world. The significance is even greater for a global organization like HSBC, that serves over 40 million customers in 64 countries and territories around the world through its global businesses. Consistent with this global marketplace, HSBC understands the importance of fostering a culture that embraces and promotes diversity, equity, and where customers and employees alike, feel valued, and respected

Diversity and inclusion as core values

“Diversity and inclusion are part of our DNA,” says Raza Hasan, Chief Risk Officer of Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC Bank Canada. “Being a global organization, it’s important for us to have a workforce that reflects that global nature.”

HSBC’s commitment is reflected in its diverse workforce. Globally the bank has around 238,000 employees who speak 144 different languages. In Canada, 43% of employees identify themselves as a visible minority. and half of HSBC Bank Canada’s Board of Directors and senior leadership roles are held by women. “It really starts from the top,” says Hasan, who was recently named as one of EMpowers Top 100 Ethnic Executives for 2020.

The bank’s diversity initiatives include a Diversity & Inclusion Council, Employee Resource Groups, unconscious bias training, mentorship programs, and more. This diversity encourages different perspectives and fresh ideas, benefiting HSBC’s customers, business, and employees by promoting innovation, inclusion, and sustainable growth.

There’s still work to be done, however. HSBC recently made a global commitment to improve opportunities for Black and ethnic minority employees and to boost the diversity of its senior leadership.

A passion for community building

HSBC also supports diversity and inclusion within the community at large. “In 2019, we donated $4 million to various community programs that were accessed by 126,000 people and that helped 455 businesses to grow,” says Hasan.

The bank also supports employees with a paid day for volunteering with their preferred charities, as well as donations to charities that they actively volunteer with. “The HSBC Volunteer Fund contributed over $100,000 to various charitable causes in 2019,” says Hasan. “People can use the program to get involved in the community and in things they’re passionate about.”

The programs that HSBC supports reflect the diversity of its workforce and the communities in which it operates, including a program aimed at helping newcomers to develop their financial literacy and numeracy skills.

Supporting newcomers in Canada

Supporting newcomers is part of HSBC’s commitment to diversity. Its Newcomers Program provides banking solutions that meet newcomers’ needs, allowing them to build a credit history in Canada and settle more quickly. “We’re able to offer credit cards with no credit history to our new-to-Canada clients, overdraft protection and also a mortgage, which is a very comprehensive program compared to a number of our competitors,” says Hasan. The program also includes up to $1,000 in cash bonuses and no monthly banking fees for 12 months and if someone is moving to Canada, they can set up a new chequing account in advance before they arrive using our International Account Opening Program.

HSBC’s diverse, global customers want to see themselves reflected in HSBC’s offerings, and the bank has delivered with a diverse workforce and innovative, inclusive products. In an increasingly complex world, its approach to diversity and openness to different perspectives aims to connect customers to the kinds of opportunities, products, and services that work for them.

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