How We Optimized Retailer's Workforce by Leveraging Beacon & Big Data Technologies

Client Challenges

• Eying the business expansion, the client was planning to grow their presence in the USA and Latin America
• However, the client wanted to ensure the workplace efficiency and employee productivity before chalking out the plan of handling the increased amount of data as a result of the possible expansion Going for the expansion of such massive scale for the first time, the client found it extremely difficult to
• Identify opportunities for workforce optimization
• Analyze work movements of store associates in terms of time spent across various departments
• Take tech assistance in improving business processes and thereby efficiency

Our Solutions

• We were quick to identify that the client’s inability to optimize workforce and workplace stemmed from their inadequate data gathering and performance monitoring systems
• Since it’s impossible to optimize the workforce without tracking employee movement, scheduled work hours, dwell time & behavior across departments, we advocated used of Beacons- the tiny and inexpensive, micro-location-based technology devices that can send radio frequency signals and notify nearby Bluetooth devices of their presence and transmit information
• Moreover, beacons would have addressed the client’s pain point of analyzing work movements, as smartphones or other mobile devices can capture the beacon signals and distance can be estimated by measuring received signal strength (RSSI)
• To establish a better correlation between store KPIs such as sales, transactions, traffic, actual worked hours and employees’ efficiency, we suggested thorough monitoring of time spent by associates between their home departments, external departments, and neighboring departments through Wifi & Beacon technologies

To ensure quality in data input and the resultant recommendations, we devised a four-part solution: