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IBM Retail Analytics to be Deployed at 8100 Walgreens Stores

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International Business Machines Corp. (IBM - Free Report) has partnered with pharmacy chain store operator, Walgreens. Per the recently signed agreement, the company’s retail analytics solution will be deployed for improving the efficiency level of more than 8100 Walgreens stores nationwide.

Moreover, IBM’s cloud services will be used to optimize the usage of resources at each of these Walgreens locations, depending on the history of service requests. The data gathered will help in determining the extent of the support level required, which will ultimately help in faster resolution of issues at the store.

The increasing adoption of IT solutions in retail is helping businesses to lower monetary losses. Moreover, the availability of real time processed information on inventories, demand and supply chain movement is actually improving efficiency, leading to customer satisfaction. This eventually drives revenues for retailers.

Expanding Clientele Globally

IBM is actually benefiting from this trend globally. Based on its Big Data analytics and cognitive computing technologies through Watson offerings, the company aims to become a dominant player in the retail analytics market. Per MarketsandMarkets’ latest report, this space is expected to witness CAGR of 19.7% through 2017-2022.

In July, IBM announced a Watson-based services platform on the IBM Cloud that uses cognitive technologies to help service providers improve their operations. Danske Bank was one of the initial users of this services platform.

Moreover, mobile offerings are helping the company win customers in International markets. Recently, M-Industry – a subsidiary of Switzerland's largest retailer and supermarket chain Migros Group – launched a new IBM designed mobile offering to transform how product promoters work.

M-Industry is equipping its 300 employees with Apple (AAPL - Free Report) iPad and IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps. This will help them to better promote in-store products.

Cloud Adoption: Key Catalyst for IBM

IBM is benefiting from increasing cloud adoption. In recent times, the company’s cloud-based offerings have been selected by the likes of Syniverse, State of Arizona, Codify Academy, Italian airport operator SEA and Germany-based leading automotive supplier Faurecia.

IBM also remains a preferred choice for federal projects. The U.S. Army's Logistics Support Activity (LOGSA) awarded the company a contract to continue providing cloud services, software development and cognitive computing worth $135 million.

Gartner recently stated that the worldwide public cloud services market is anticipated to increase 18% in 2017 to reach $246.8 billion from $209.2 billion in 2016. The total market is expected to reach $383.4 billion in 2022. This increase in spending bodes well for IBM.

Moreover, the company continues to build new data centers, which will boost IBM’s competitive position in the cloud computing market currently dominated by Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT - Free Report) .

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