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Perhaps no business sector requires smoothly performing more daily functions than retail. Every day, at every location, store chains must manage thousands of products, customer transactions and operational requirements, both in-store and online. As competition grows from e-tailers and other tech-forward giants such Amazon, Target and Walmart, so does the need to fully leverage intelligent automation.
InRule Technology provides dynamic, low-code tools to quickly automate key functions throughout retail operations. Two customer stories illustrate how our process automation empowers far-flung, cumbersome retail operations to move at the speed of digital.
Granngården claims new efficiency.
A largely unrecognized issue among retail operators is claims resolution. Getting full, timely reimbursement for returned merchandise can be a complex process, requiring detailed documentation that often lies in disconnected silos. A long-established Swedish chain attacked this problem head-on through intelligent automation.
Retail automation for gardening. Credit: Granngården Facebook
“Claims has been a time thief, both for the staff in the stores and us in customer service.”
Michael Wedin, Granngården Claims and Deviation Examiner
Founded in 1880, Granngården sells a wide range of products for garden, pets and home at over 100 outlets across Sweden, as well as online. Each day, around 800 employees satisfy the multitude of customer needs, including returns. Their process involved a patchwork of manual Excel files to cover gaps in disconnected legacy systems.
“We now enjoy an enormous sense of security with the data we base our claims on is complete and correct.”
Åke Wallin, Process Manager, Business Development
Today, InRule Technology provides end-to-end machine management of their claims processing. By eliminating human effort and associated time and errors, Granngården realizes ongoing savings and improved employee satisfaction that ultimately radiates to better customer service and satisfaction.
Apoteket replaces pen and paper with process automation.
Apoteket (The Pharmacy) is a Swedish drug and convenience retailer with a structure that’s foreign to many in capitalist countries in that it’s state-owned. Founded in 1971, under the direction of the Ministry of Finance, the company held a state-sanctioned monopoly on consumer pharmaceutical sales. The monopoly was lifted in 2009, exposing the large government enterprise to upstart private competition.
Retail automation for pharmacy. Credit: Apoteket Facebook
The pharmacy chain is massive and multicultural, with over 390 locations throughout the country staffed by over 3,000 employees from 88 countries working in departments including customer service, logistics, IT, finance, sustainability and marketing. Customers can get help in over 55 languages.
To succeed in the open market, senior management recognized the need to overhaul their entire system of disconnected legacy systems that accumulated over the decades. Empowered by InRule’s formidable, human-friendly automation platform, Apoteket is charging full speed into the digital age. The system’s open architecture and intuitive interface enabled the organization to quickly automate key functions including daily “digital store checks,” a complete inventory rundown of every medication and consumer product – everything in the store.
“We’ve minimized waste, reduced handling time and improved monitoring.”
Åsa Åberg, Apoteket AB Sales & Operational Development
Apoteket has successfully retired legacy systems in favor of a single, accessible source of truth and automation power. Vital functions such as medication dispensing and return approvals have been cleansed of human error. And thankful store personnel could gladly put away pen and paper.
As retailers face down new competition and rising consumer expectations, InRule Technology is ready to help operators succeed by fully realizing the power of AI. Some of the world’s largest banks, manufacturers, insurers, healthcare providers and government institutions enjoy the multiple benefits of our combined solution of decision automation, process automation and machine learning.
Attention forward-thinking retailers: the cost savings, error reductions, improved service and improved employee and customer satisfaction of AI-decisioning are ready for pickup. We invite you to take advantage of these human-accessible AI tools and join those operators riding smooth in the express lane.
For more information on InRule Technology’s low-code automation tools for retailers, visit here.
