The growth of digital data worldwide is accelerating at an unprecedented, virtually incomprehensible rate. The search engines we use constantly collate data about our browsing habits, merchant websites create a profile about the combination of products we keep returning to, and our social media accounts merge all our data to build a profile of our digital avatar. However, despite this, our scattered data is often stored in farms without a purpose, leaving us with poor recommendations and ads that do not respond to our interests and needs. This results in poor targeting and a bad experience both for buyers, who are being sold products they neither want nor need, and sellers, who are expected to sell products and services to the wrong audience. In the world of B2B, this is not simply annoying – this poor targeting ends up harming the reputation of the brand behind the seller.

The capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) for retailers of all different shapes and sizes has undeniably grown across many sectors in recent years. In today's world, retailers are beginning to develop a legitimate recognition of what it takes to properly appraise, develop and generate AI and ML-enabled solutions of the future, moving past the marketing outbreak that AI once was. Moreover, despite the developments that have been contrived, some retailers have not yet acknowledged the true possibilities of AI and what this entails. It is these retailers that need to question themselves: what do we want to accomplish with AI? What can AI really deliver – and what will this mean for our customers? The opportunities to leverage AI and ML to improve retail operations are exponential for either online, in store or in the warehouse.

"AI and ML enhance the adoption of IoT by adding the Return on Investment (RoI) layer on top of the IoT stack for both businesses and consumers."- Utility and convenience have been one of the primary forces behind increased adoption of IoT in the Appliances and Consumer Electronics (ACE) sector in India. With Smart IoT powered appliances, end users can control and monitor appliances, set schedules, and automation rules using mobile apps and voice commands from voice assistants such as Google Home, Alexa, and Siri. Acknowledging this market trend, almost all major brands are adding IoT enabled appliances to their catalogue. From smart lighting to smart air conditioners and smart water purifiers, the Indian market has started witnessing the adoption of IoT products.

Given the increasing compliance demands on organisations from the public and regulators alike, companies cannot afford to neglect their compliance obligations. The role of compliance is to prevent, detect, respond to and remediate risk and financial institutions (FIs) must use all of the tools at their disposal to achieve it. Implementing an effective compliance framework requires the whole firm to be on board, from the C-suite down. The compliance function is in a state of flux, however – virtually unrecognisable from a decade ago. The catalyst for much of the change in the financial services industry was the global financial crisis.