IBM E-Retail Advancement System

Problem Statement

The current system works on IBM research on social network analysis and the calling patterns obtained by telico subscribers that helps the e-retailers to develop better recommendation systems and personalized advertisements that helps to increase the relationship with the customers as well as increase the user base. The key shortfalls and risks in the present system is to develop the sufficient amount of trust in the users to make them believe that the organization provides all these facilities keeping the privacy and security of the data in mind and ensuring the protection of all the personal details of the users of the organization. The users need to know that the data is kept anonymous and solely aimed to enhance the user experience rather then hinder the privacy of the individuals. They must know that this will let them find the best available option for their requirements without searching for it for a long time on the website. The root causes of these shortfalls are the lack of knowledge and understanding in the user base regarding the privacy policies and integrity of the organizations. The implications for system improvement can be working on supply chain management more to prevent the lack of quality products served to customers as well as enhance the cyber security of the whole organization which will help to retain the present customer base. The security and privacy of the customers should be a major concern for the company and it should be reflected well in its operations.

Team Project Objective

The objective of this project is to develop the e-retail sector by using technology in providing recommendation to the user after analyzing his social activity and telco records obtained from network providers. The project will focus on using AI to extract key words from day to day life and extracting important information from it to develop recommendation system. It will aslo try to use Blockchain to decentralize the supply chain making it more secure enabling the e-retailers to develop relations with customers.The project will develop a platform to secure the online transactions platform of e-retailers by using already developed infrastructure of mobile and security.

Contact Information:

Name and Title: Sowmya Ramachandran, Media and Analyst Relations Manager

Email id: sowramac@in.ibm.com

Company Executive Sponsor:

Name: Arvind Krishna

Designation: CEO at IBM

Part 1: Analysis of Existing System

Enterprise Analysis:

IBM has upcoming project that will enable e-retailers improve customer service and loyalty as well as increase new-customer acquisitions. IBM want to enter this field as there has been a huge advancement in technology in the e-retail sector and every tech giant wants to enter this market and gain monopoly over it. E-retail is gaining participants with every day and has been observing a rapid growth in the users over a long period of time. This will support IBM’s directions as it already provides many services like data analytics and cloud computing that can be helpful for strengthening the infrastructure of e-retail as a whole. The business objectives for the system is to build a strong infrastructure for storage and analysis of the huge amount of data generated in the e-retail sector and rent it to organizations like Amazon that has already built a strong and deep supply chain inside countries. As of now, this project is still in the development stage but has received recognition from many companies. This project needs IBM to develop strong and secure infrastructure to store the data generated and analyze it as well as provide some unique solutions to enhance the present supply chain system.

Existing System Architecture:

The existing system architecture helps e-retailers to analyze the social media platforms and keep a check on the preferences according to which suggestion can be planned and delivered at proper platforms. It uses IBM cloud and its data analytics frameworks to deliver these services to e-retail giants that can use this to develop better relations with the customer base and increase the rate of customer acquisition. This architecture aims on increasing the number of users by providing better communcation and suggestion rather than improving the present mistakes in the supply chain system. IBM can use its security infrastructure to provide better security measures to these companies and prevent them from online cyber attacks which is still a major of concern. Every year these e-retailers experience a great number of cyber crimes that are attempted by hackers round the globe by exploiting the payment portal of such organizations. IBM is not using all its fields to strengethen the e-retail sector but only the data storage and analytics infrastructure to improve the customer’s experience and enhance the personalized marketing plan keeping the privacy and security of all the users in mind.

Existing System Performance Assessment:

The current framework takes a shot at IBM look into on informal community investigation and the calling designs got by telico endorsers that causes the e-retailers to grow better suggestion frameworks and customized commercials that assists with expanding the relationship with the clients just as increment the client base. The key deficits and dangers in the current framework is to build up the adequate measure of trust in the clients to cause them to accept that the association gives every one of these offices keeping the protection and security of the information at the top of the priority list and guaranteeing the insurance of all the individual subtleties of the clients of the association. The clients need to realize that the information is kept unknown and exclusively meant to upgrade the client experience rather than frustrate the protection of the people. They should realize that this will let them locate the best accessible choice for their prerequisites without scanning for it for quite a while on the site. The main drivers of these setbacks are the absence of information and comprehension in the client base with respect to the security approaches and respectability of the associations. The suggestions for framework improvement can be taking a shot at store network the board more to forestall the absence of value items served to clients just as upgrade the digital security of the entire association which will assist with holding the current client base. The security and protection of the clients ought to be a significant worry for the organization and it ought to be reflected well in its activities.

Part2: Proposed System Design

The proposed system is a roadmap for meeting the business objective for the system, either by closing the performance gaps identified in Part 1 or by matching or exceeding best practices in place elsewhere.

Benchmarking: The company should try to use the blockchain platform in order to make the supply chain more robust and prevent a huge amount of loss caused to the company. This will help the organizations to build trust in the customer base regarding the quality of the products delivered. Blockchain must be refreshed by accord between members in the framework, and once new information is entered it can never be deleted. It is a compose once, affix numerous innovations, making it a certain and auditable record of every single exchange. Blockchain won't supplant customary corporate social databases, it opens new entryways for the development and capacity of value-based information inside and outside of worldwide endeavors. The companies can follow the mobile and security services of the IBM to make the online transactions more safe and secure.

Determination of Solution Approaches:

The solution to the present data analysis work based on social networking of the user and data provided by the telco companies can be integrated with AI based softwares that detect the name of the products from the user’s day to day life and can personalize the advertisement experience for them. These assistants keep the data anonymous and comply to all the privacy policies of the user. Data is going to be the game changer in next decade. Every industry specially software industries are collecting a huge amount of data daily in order to improve the customer experience and serve the most appropriate advertisement. AI can be really helpful in analyzing a huge amount of data and drawing intelligence from it. It can predict the trends and pattern from data generated and can affect the major decisions of the industry.The most interactive use of AI is to use it for interaction with customer and employees. Assistants such as Siri and Alexa are some of the examples of it. These assistants and chatbots are first trained using training data and can be really helpful in businesses as they can minimize the use of manual labor by interacting with customers and employees effectively and making their experience better and bond with the organization much stronger.

The next is to built and serve blockchain services to e-retailers as they need it the most to strengthen their supply chain system. The blockchain will help the retailers to deliver the products securely to the location without any loss or damage caused to it. The IBM should also use their mobile and security platform to make the online transactions on multiple platforms more secure so that e-retailers can trust IBM and provide them the service to manage the payment portal.

Requirements Analysis:

The “use cases” the system must address and the conditions to which the system must respond are as follows:

1. Vague recommendation system present in the organizations and slow process of data that makes it difficult for users to get the recommendation of desired product on time.
2. Lack of artificial intelligence in organizations that slows the data analysis process and makes it difficult to detect any trend or patters in the data obtained.
3. The difficulty to detect the location of problem in supply chain and degradation of quality of products by the time it reaches the customers.
4. The presence of online frauds and cyber attacks during online transactions while paying on e-retail websites.

Proposed System Architecture:

IBM will be using its present cloud architecture to store the huge amount of data extracted from users on daily basis and will implement all the analytics tool present to detect trends and patterns in the data. IBM will also use the already present mobile and security architecture to ensure the privacy of the sensitive details of the users as well as dealing with the security while performing online transactions on the websites of such e-retailers. IBM needs to develop a robust blockchain architecture to provide blockchain facilities to the e-retailers as it is the most needed service for this sector which will revolutionise the present supply chain system and will resolve multiple problems that are currently present in it.

Solution Assessment and Validation:

The solutions will be able to enhance the present e-retail system by:

1. Providing recommendation to the user after analyzing his social activity and telco records obtained from network providers.
2. Using AI to extract key words from day to day life and extracting important information from it to develop recommendation system.
3. Using Blockchain to decentralize the supply chain making it more secure enabling the e-retailers to develop relations with customers.
4. Securing the online transactions platform of e-retailers by using already developed infrastructure of mobile and security.

Part 3: Implementation Plan

Project Management Plan:

The migration procedure might take one month to complete as it involves various processes. The work will be divided among three teams. The first team will work on developing the blockchain infrastructure for whole month. The second team will work on putting the data received from multiple organizations by the company into the data analytics softwares and tools and then drawing intelligence from it. The second team will also work on implementing artificial intelligence in the applications of e-retailers to enhance the recommendation system based on it. The third will solely work on developing a secure transaction platform that will cater to all the transaction requests and will provide a safe and secure platform to e-retailers in order to prevent them from frauds and cyber attacks. The whole project will be funded by IBM and can be sponsored by e-retailers.

Business Case: The number of benefits are huge as if IBM starts delivering these services to e-retailers and it helps them develop business as it will help IBM to gain a huge amount of profit from it as well as it will help IBM to increase its presence in e-retail sector. This will also help IBM to provide these services to budding startups and can take some shares in their business. It will increase the trust of businesses in IBM as well as it can pave paths for better deals with e-retail companies.

Outstanding Issues and Future Directions:

If IBM once enters the E-retailers field, IBM can also try to develop softwares that will digitalize the SME sector. The small and medium scale businesses need access to technology so that they can use it and increase their rate of development. They need exposure to technology like data analysis and effective networking techniques to minimize the time spent for such activities and use it to develop the business.

References

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IBM-Watson. (n.d.). Retrieved from newsroom: https://newsroom.ibm.com/2019-10-30-MIT-IBM-Watson-AI-Lab-Releases-Groundbreaking-Research-on-AI-and-the-Future-of-Work

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