Episode 22: Episode #22: GS1 and the strategic value in implementing RFID technology

Computers now have primary control of critical vehicle functions.

Welcome to the IBM Keep It Simple Technology Podcast, where each episode we discuss technology, but in a simple way. We keep the explanations simple, but what we spend our time on is emphasizing what this technology means to you and how you can best utilize this technology for you and your business. Welcome to the IBM Keep It Simple technology podcast. I'm your host, Thomas Anglero, and today, today I am remote. Today I am no longer virtual. Today I am actually in a customer's office, actually in their smart center. And you're going to love this because I've been on a tour here at the GS1 Norway smart center. And let me tell you, I'm from New York, born and raised in Manhattan. I've seen it all., but I haven't seen what I've seen in the GSM Nord Resort Center. This place impressed the hell out of me, and I've been to a lot of fancy places in New York City. So listen, let me welcome to the show and welcome all you to be your minds blown. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to the manager of GSM Nord Resort Center, Anders Askervold. Welcome to the show, Anders.

Thank you, Thomas.

Anders, this is— your place here is amazing.

Thank you.

It's absolutely amazing. You have video technology from the Olympics in Athens from 2002. What year was that?

Yeah, 2002.

2002. You have demonstrations of technology with the fish industry. You have demonstration of technology from retail industry. You ended, when we were running out of time, you were showing me with the hardware industry. And the beauty of your center, the whole thing here is that you could touch, feel, and then you learn. And that's the power of this. It's not just a PowerPoint, it's not just listening to a webinar. Here you actually touch, feel it. And when you're talking to leaders and bosses, it's a big difference than being pitched to. The leader can actually touch. So let's talk about RFID. Why don't you introduce the place and then we'll go into technology. Go right ahead, Anders.

Thank you very much. The Gistwon Smart Center is actually a tool for us in order to keep it simple and let people learn for themselves what technology together with GS1 global standards can do in order to improve their processes internally. So every day we at GS1 Norway, we make an effort to show how our standards contribute to increased value creation and to improve business, society, and the globe. GSON Smart Center is an important tool to support this work. So we want to inspire and we want to motivate for change, and this is the reason behind the establishment of the Smart Center, a meeting place and an arena for networking and competence where the rewards not only good experiences but also increased knowledge, insights, profitability, and innovation. The concept is all about bringing people together, sharing best practices So proper use of the GS1 standards provides increased control, profitability for companies. Processes can be made easier, faster, and safer by utilizing technology together with the standards. And in the Smart Center, we show examples of how.

Anders, let's simplify what you just said and go into real world. So what I just experienced, what Anders is talking about, and then we're going to talk about RFID tags. I'm just going to jump there. Because Anders blew me away with his simulated retail store— clothing store, sorry. What Anders is saying is, if you are— if you run— if you work in a retail business, you've been presented to, in regards to different technology that could help your retail store to be more profitable and operate better. Anders has an RFID demonstration here where he has an actual store with clothing on the hangers, on the shelves and everything with RFID tags. And let me tell you, there is a big difference when you walk around an actual clothing store. So being again a New Yorker, walk around The Gap or something like that. Everybody loves The Gap. I don't know anybody who hates The Gap. It changes when you have RFID tag technology implemented. So Anders, let's just go deep dive on that so people understand. But my point is, so everybody understands, what Anders is saying is you come here and you're not just presented to, you actually go into the actual store, you actually see the implementation, you touch to close, you pick up the scanner, you scan the thing, you look at what took you months to do, and Anders and his technology took, what, about 10 seconds to scan the store?

Yep.

About 10 seconds.

Yeah.

Anders, why don't you just take it from there and tell us about when you had typical visit, when a customer comes to here to the GS1 Smart Center. Tell us, let's stick to the store, the retail store. Who's usually your customer? And what is usually the expectations, and do they usually leave with less hair on their head?

Hopefully, yeah, hopefully. So the typical visitor to the Smart Center is either existing members of GS1 or potential new members of GS1. At least that's our hope. So we try to show them how they can improve their business with this technology. And we typically go into simple processes. For instance, the inventory, the stock-taking process, which takes forever. And if you ask the employees, that's the most fun part of working in the store, of course, they all shake their heads and say, no, that's really boring.

Let me tell you, Anders, I used to work in retail. I didn't tell you that when you were demoing out there. When they used to say, who wants to work that shift? All of a sudden I said, no one wants to do that.

No.

No, no one. Taking inventory sucks.

We know this. So what we're trying to show them is how they can use this technology that's been around for forever almost and do a more simple process, gaining much more control of their inventory, keeping up the sales, and maybe do that before they go into click and collect. Or multi-channel or omnichannel concepts and so on, because you really piss off your customer if you don't have that accuracy. I think everyone experienced that. Either you look for an item online and you see, ah, this store has the item that I want, you go there and say, ah, well, we can't find it. It's supposed to be here, but it must be something wrong with the inventory. Everyone's experienced that. And why should that be so when it's so easy not to?

You know what you just triggered in my head? You actually are the savior for all retail stores against Amazon.

Well, brick-and-mortar stores have a lot of advantages towards the pure online players.

Absolutely.

Need to know how to use that.

And that's what we were talking about before we went on the air, right? The brick-and-mortar store has the human being. It has the ability to have the personal touch, right? But the online store, and let's stick to Amazon, they have invested in technology. When they say they have 11 shirts in the size small, they have 11 shirts. The brick-and-mortar store, when they hesitate in saying they have 11 shirts, they don't know how many they actually have, right?

Or in which size.

And which size, exactly. And then you lose the customer, you lose credibility, all in something that with what you were showing me and what you hear at GS1 Show, it doesn't cost that much. And what you were talking about with the future generation or for the GTAGs moving to graphene, the cost is going to almost be irrelevant to almost nothing. So really, a lot of leaders who are listening to the show now who are in the retail space, There is no excuse.

It's a no-brainer. Those who have implemented SEISO, it's a no-brainer because the return on investment is for one process only, the inventory stock-taking process, is like months. Exactly. Yeah, so why shouldn't you take advantage of that to improve your service to the customer? Free up time for employees to do service, customer service.

And now, now let's blow everybody's mind, right? Because you blew mine. So you said one process, taking inventory, takes months. That's one. And then you have a partnership with what university in the United States? I forgot.

University of Arkansas collaborates closely with GS1, but we also support a lot of universities around the world. Like the MIT, the Fudan in China, the St. Gallen, and so on, in order to have a closer look into new innovations within this area and keep up with the technology and the development.

And in that one study you told me, they found how many processes can the RFID improve in a retail space.

Well, it's defined more than 60 use cases for RFID just within apparel retail.

60, 6-0.

6-0, yes.

And the one use case of inventory is to save you what?

It pays for the whole investment in months. So it's all the other things that you can put on top. If it's security, if it's point of sale, if it's interactive dressing rooms, Whatever you put on as added processes, it's just a bonus.

Exactly. So do you ever get visitors here in the GS1 Smart Center? Are we in Helsøy here? What is this neighborhood town?

Yes, Bryn.

In Bryn, here in right outside of Oslo. It's still in Oslo, I think. When you get a leader or somebody here, are they open-minded to this or are they tech-averse? Or what usually is the type of customer you get here? What kind of mental state?

We have all kinds.

Okay.

From all levels of the organization, from the store personnel to the CEO or the board members. And it's different perceptions depending on who is coming here and what they know from before. Everyone who's been here remembers that they've been here.

Exactly.

And they walk out a little bit more enlightened, I would say.

So let's blow people's mind. I think I know the answer to this one, but let me guess at it. The people who, the level of workers who work in the store, those are the lowest level people, are they the ones who are the most excited about tech typically? And then you're laughing, good. And then the bosses, the top people, Are they the ones who are most tech-averse? Is my assumption correct?

Not always.

Ah! Sorry.

But I think the ones responsible for the store's result, they catch this. They see the advantage.

Interesting.

They're responsible for the sales, they're responsible for the staff and all the processes and the losses and everything. They see the advantage. But if you talk to the typical IT manager, well, what's, what's, how is his performance measured? It's stable systems, everything's up and running, low cost. Well, he has no initiatives for going into this kind of projects, so we had to have a different message depending on who we are talking to. So the finance people, they understand losses, they understand lost sales. If you talk to the marketing people, they see the customer, how to engage with the customer to have improved customer experiences and all those things. So it depends on who you're talking to, actually.

I love what you just said because what you said is very advanced sales. What you're saying, it to keep it simple, right, is that you have to know who you're talking to and have catered that pitch, that message for that one person. Because once you touch that person and understand how it benefits them, right, it's always, "How does it benefit me?" That's all people care about. "How does it benefit me?" Then all of a sudden, something as simple as putting a transparent RFID tag on an item in a store becomes extremely important, relevant to the IT director, to the accountant, to whoever. Fantastic. But I mean, this is easy for you, you do this every day, but for a lot of people listening, we forget that. You know, you have this only one perspective and it's not, right? Please keep sharing.

So I think you have to put yourself in the customer's place. I used to work in retail for 10 years and one of my struggles going into a retail store for buying clothes is that I always think I'm one size smaller than I really am. So I'm a bit optimistic on my own behalf. So I look through a pile of jeans and I find what I think is my size, and then, oops, I gained 5 pounds since last time.

How did that happen, man? Yes, how did that happen? Jesus Christ.

But it happens all the time.

I know. Damn chocolate cake.

So I go into that dressing room, which is often kind of small, not always that clean or tidy, and I take off my clothes, I try on the pants that doesn't fit me. What do I do? I have to take all my clothes on again, I have to go outside, I have to look through another pile of jeans to find the right size, and then go back into the dressing room if it's available and do the whole process again.

The dance, the dance.

Yeah, yeah, it's a dance. So very often I think, okay, well I don't have time for that, so it's tomorrow and it's a lost sale.

Exactly.

So what we see is that we can utilize the same technology to give that information to the customer, what's actually in the store, which colors, which sizes. And if they don't have my size in the color I want, maybe they have it in another color, so I can try it on and see if it fits, and then I can order the color that I want for home delivery or pickup in another store or whatever.

And just to interrupt you, this is important. Your demo, you can order from within that changing room or the trying, trying out room or whatever dressing room, because you had a mirror that could read the RFID tag and actually offered you different sizes and actually a click and pick up and all these things. And that's amazing. I mean, that's fantastic versus this mirror, dirty, extra changing room, you know, and no privacy, whatever. This is—

it's actually giving the customer the information that you already have in store, uh, but making it available for the customer.

Perfect.

And, and giving them, uh, the possibility to interact with the staff. For instance, if I want another size, I can just push the magic mirror, uh, which is interactive, and it sends a message to the staff saying that 'Well, hello, in dressing room number 2 there's a person who wants this pair of jeans in this size, bring it to him.' And while I'm waiting for that, they can do cross-sales, upsells, maybe tell me, 'Well, Anders, you're a regular customer, you were here last month, you bought this sweater, and it fits perfectly with the pants that you just tried on.' And they can bring me an image of the sweater I bought last week, or last month, or they can say, well, we have a sale for socks or t-shirts, and if you buy t-shirts, you get 5% discount. So while I'm waiting for the pair of jeans in my size, I get these offers that I can, that can lift the price on the shopping basket.

And there is the truly the ultimate example of how a brick-and-mortar store can absolutely trump any online store. Yeah, because what you were talking— as you were talking, I was saying I've experienced this once or twice, not with a digital magic mirror, you called it, which is a really cool name for it, but that's called a concierge service. But you've got to pay and spend a lot of money, go to a really expensive store, and you have to dress really nice to go to these stores where— and book an appointment with somebody who treats you this way and walk around with you and all that. But what What you're saying is from the most uncomfortable public place, which is the dressing room where you're standing half naked, you can have a concierge service and you can have everything brought to you at your size with suggestions, matching items, and improve sales. I mean, it's—

and even pay for the item.

Oh, that's right, I forgot you could pay for an item from the fitting room.

Because if it fits me and I want to have it on, I can just keep it on. I can pay with a tap of my phone with Google Pay or Apple Pay or whatever, Vipps in Norway, and it will turn off the alarm as soon as the transaction has come through and I can just walk out of the store, the receipt is sent to me by PDF on my cell phone and I'm happy.

I actually believe online stores are in trouble. But let's go to human dynamics. What percentage of the companies that come here that experience, and maybe they're not excited as me, but I get excited easy, when they go back to their office, what percentage of them actually start to implement or pilot project or something?

Well, we don't have numbers for that, and we're not always involved, of course, but the We're hoping that the ones coming to visit us get out of there a little bit wiser and that it started a thought process on how can this affect my business, what could I do, can I learn something from another industry or from another retailer that I can use to improve my business. And if they do, we have succeeded because GS1 is a member organization, we are not nonprofit member organization. And if our members are doing well, then we are doing well, then we are serving our purpose.

And this is— you're wrapping it up really, really well. Um, the, the point of coming here is you don't have to be a retailer. I've been focusing very much on retail, but you, you have also salmon fishing demonstration that we didn't get to that. But to come here and to shift your mind, to shift your mindset there's nothing like that experience. And that's why I told you, you were showing, you were scanning things, and I said, Anders, let me hold the wand. I gotta hold the wand because once I touch something, there's a part of your body, your mind, that it becomes a permanent memory versus watching something on the screen, somebody, right? And here you touch and feel, learn, and you have a mind shift. And that's the power of GS1 Smart Center here in Norway. How does somebody become a member of GS1?

Well, that's easy, you just go online on gs1.no and the application form is there, just fill it out and you're a member. It's very easy.

And if somebody, if someone listening to this podcast, and again, anyone listening to the podcast, you don't have to be retail, you can be in any business whatsoever, any industry.

Any industry.

You contact Anders Askewold, did I say it right? Yes. You contact Anders here at GS1 Smart Center here in Bryn, near Helsfyr in Oslo, Norway. And Anders will blow your mind. Welcome you to the GS1 community. And I, Thomas Anglero, want to thank all you from the IBM community to this fantastic discussion with you, Anders. This has been, I hope people understand, I want your doors to be like blown down because this place is a hidden gem out here. You know, you guys should be downtown in Bustevæien or something.

We should be in the Barclays.

Exactly. There you go. I hope you can pay that rent. Listen, everybody listening, Anders, thank you. All you out there, thank you. This is a must-see. And by the way, didn't touch on this, but it's important. If you don't have to be in Norway to experience GS1, there's smart centers all over the world. Anders, how many different cities and what cities?

Oh, we have, uh, not all the member organizations have a Smart Center or similar facility, but there's one in Stockholm in Sweden with our Swedish colleagues. There's one in Cologne in Germany with our DS1 Germany. We have in Italy, we have in Portugal, there's a small one in Ireland, and there's also one in Australia. And that's the one I know of.

Yeah, and for anyone who's near these places, or if you're going on vacation, go to those centers and experience touch and feel where you've technology becomes relevant to every facet of your life. I'm Thomas Anglero. This is my guest, Anders Oskarvold, and we are proud to bring you another great episode of IBM's Keep It Simple Technology podcast. Thank you, everybody. Take care of yourself. Anders, thank you, my man.

You're very welcome.

My pleasure. Let's go back and look at more of that stuff. It was a lot of fun. Ladies and gentlemen, take care. Till next time. Bye-bye.