You could think of it as a rebirth. Or maybe it's one of those COVID-era glow-ups that had people emerging from isolation with straighter teeth and cuter clothes. Whatever you want to call it, Edible Arrangements is in the middle of a major transformation. A few years ago, the company that introduced the world to bouquets of skewered fruit was in freefall. Now, after a bunch of new product launches, one hired-and-fired CEO, and a pandemic, the company is boasting record-setting sales numbers and a renewed sense of self. It's even changed its name: The new Edible sells desserts and doodads of all kinds--not just fruit--and aims to be, as the CEO put it, "the Domino's of gifting." But like most extreme makeovers, Edible's has its detractors, specifically within its own ranks.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing are trending buzzwords of our time. I read about them every day in different media, but as a regular customer it is rare that I get a “wow experience” as a result of new technologies. Where are the actual implementations? I have decided to investigate this subject over the next couple of months with the aim of uncovering what new technology can do for the customer experience through specific examples. New technology opens up new opportunities, but in the very end it’s all about providing a better customer experience. In a digital world, where everything related to product and price is completely transparent, and where the distance between store and customer is shorter than ever, the 4Ps are dying. Instead, we are now talking about the 4Cs: Consistency, Content, Convenience and Contextual – with focus on the customer experience (learn more about the 4Cs here). In this article, I will…

The Nintendo Switch has been doing so well that its lifetime sales -- 68.3 million worldwide, according to the earnings report it released earlier this month -- have soared past the NES's. Now, NPD has released sales numbers that give us a bit more insight on how the console is doing in the US: According to the group, the Switch family saw its strongest October sales yet in the country this year. Nintendo sold over 735,000 Switch and Switch Lite units in the US for October, making it the second-highest October sales of any video game console in history. That's second only to the record (807,000 units sold) set by the Wii system back in October 2008. In addition, NPD reports that Nintendo has sold a total of 22.5 million units in the US thus far.

Have you already optimized your BI program but still aren't getting the user engagement you're looking for? Applying machine learning in five key areas can improve the performance of your BI program. When car enthusiasts want to take their high-performance vehicles to the next level, they may adjust the engine to change the physical nature of how it works. Your company has probably spent a considerable amount of time and effort building out your BI program, optimizing key performance indicators (KPIs) and developing reports, charts, and graphs to meet your company objectives, address your executives' most burning questions, and keep your environment running at its best. What if, by adjusting the engine that serves up your BI content, you could make it more engaging and more effectively consumed by your user base?

By Shweta Gupta Technological advancement and digital innovation in the last few years have been instrumental in defining the success of businesses. However, SMEs today are still hesitant to adopt new and emerging technologies such as AI and data science. One of the reasons that make them skeptical is the perception that AI implementation isn't suitable for small companies due to the lack of resources and adequate funds to deploy AI-powered tools. What and How AI & Data Science can be leveraged by SMEs? In today's dynamic business culture, you don't necessarily have to be a big company to reap the concomitant benefits of technologies such as AI.

SAN JOSE With iPhone sales slowing and the last new Apple product released two years ago, expectations are building for what the company will reveal next week at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Some Apple watchers are counting on artificial intelligence. With Facebook, Microsoft and Google emphasizing AI in their conferences over the past two months, market analysts believe it is Apple's turn. As the race for artificial intelligence heats up in Silicon Valley, some worry that Apple is already behind the game. "If Apple skips AI, I would consider that a significant miss on their opportunity," said John Jackson, a Boston-based analyst for IDC.

Amazon Alexa, the voice assistant of Amazon, was everywhere on CES 2017. Integrated in cars, refrigerators, assistant devices and more, there's an emerging trend which requires us to talk to devices. But are we actually going to talk to machines on a structural level? The first sales forecasts of the Amazon echo are good. Google's voice assistant also had significant sales numbers last Christmas.