Where Does Digital Transformation fit into Your Industry? Part One, with Keith Fuentes, Mark Irwin & Reid Estreicher

Digital transformation can mean a lot of different things to different industries, from medical devices to sophisticated retail consumer data. With that being said, a lot has changed in the last 10 years. What about the next 10 years? Today's episode of Recalibrate brings on a panel of thought leaders from across Samsung to give unique perspectives on the impact of a worldwide digital transformation on business.

Host Jason Claybrook welcomes guests Keith Fuentes, Mark Irwin, and Reid Estreicher, who all shared that in the past, implementing new technology often ended up in a lot of trials and testing but rarely led to action; something they called “pilot purgatory.” Now things have completely changed. Harnessing digital transformations and implementing technology is now a must for any company to own the market. “Companies now have the mindset of being technology first, and [they] also happen to be in the healthcare, retail, restaurant, or other industries," Irwin said.

So, how should companies approach a digital transformation that's right for them? In the world of restaurants, it’s all about efficiency.

“We had a restaurant brand that said they wanted to digitally transform. So, we asked them what the most profitable thing they sold, and they said desserts," Estreicher said. The problem was that this restaurant wasn't selling many desserts because entrees weren’t getting to tables fast enough, and dinners were filling up. The solution? Wearables for wait staff.

“They implemented wearables for the wait staff that notified them when food was ready. It got to the table faster, and diners then had room for dessert. Dessert orders and sales went up," Estreicher said.

Now, that’s not the only opportunities restaurants have. They could take a step further with wearables and integrate those into other operations, marketing and service workflows. “It’s not enough for restaurants to sell food in the restaurant. With connectivity and sharing data securely, ecosystems exist now that weren’t available before," Irwin said.

“The same principles apply to retail and pulling more personalized data in-store. They are great at doing this online, but there are possibilities in-store as well. Being able to pull data from someone’s phone to identify them and their preferences is game changing," Fuentes said.

Networks TechTalk podcast was previously named Recalibrate with Samsung Networks.