New York – SymphonyAI, a leader in enterprise AI software, announced an expanded collaboration with Microsoft at the National Retail Federation’s annual conference. The partnership aims to provide retailers and consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs) with AI-based solutions running on Microsoft Azure to boost productivity, collaboration, accuracy and connectivity across retail operations.
The centerpieces of the offerings are SymphonyAI’s new “Retail Copilots”. These copilots are retail-focused AI assistants designed to help category managers and demand planners tackle complex retail challenges. They utilize natural language capabilities to provide rapid insights by analyzing customer data and external sources.
The Category Manager Copilot leverages SymphonyAI’s extensive knowledge base on the retail and CPG industries. It can swiftly pinpoint all the factors impacting a product’s performance and suggest best courses of action to category managers. The copilot delivers its findings through both text and data visualizations. By enabling quicker and better decisions, it helps bring category plans to life and ensure consumers find the right products.
Meanwhile, the Demand Planner Copilot prioritizes giving demand planners the most accurate predictions possible on optimal inventory quantities. Its AI-powered forecasts help balance customer demand and supply chain constraints while minimizing waste. Moreover, when unexpected demand changes happen, the copilot can rapidly diagnose the reasons behind spikes or drops and recommend ways to mitigate anomalies before they negatively impact operations.
Both copilots run on fine-tuned retail LLMs optimized for the industry. They tap into Azure OpenAI Service to securely analyze retailers’ own data alongside external information.
“Leading retailers worldwide have responded very positively to the SymphonyAI Retail Copilots and the major improvements they can drive in productivity, collaboration, precision and connectivity,” said Manish Choudhary, President of SymphonyAI’s Retail CPG division.
Microsoft’s Keith Mercier, GM of Worldwide Retail & Consumer Goods, added: “Next-generation predictive and generative AI tools can transform retail by boosting efficiency and enabling end-to-end links from stores to headquarters. We look forward to working with SymphonyAI to bring these benefits through innovations like their retail copilots.”
The collaboration expands on SymphonyAI’s existing partnership with Microsoft. Its new retail solutions mark an ambitious effort to equip retailers with AI systems fine-tuned for the industry’s needs. With Alliance Bernstein forecasting explosive growth for retail AI over the next few years, the latest announcement positions SymphonyAI to capitalize on surging demand.