CASE STUDY
Especially given the combination of both power and risk that can come with AI . We ’ re continuing to look into this and how we can connect and knowledge share with the industry .
Could you elaborate on how the transition to Microsoft AI technologies , such as Azure OpenAI Service , will specifically benefit Currys in terms of personalised product information and post-sales services for customers ?
WORKING WITH THESE PARTNERS , WE ARE JUST
BEGINNING TO SEE THE IMPACT GENERATIVE AI CAN
HAVE ON OUR BUSINESS .
We know that stores are a vital touchpoint for many shoppers who want to come in and understand , test and buy technology that is often expensive and complicated ( AI products included !).
We ’ d like to be able to support our colleagues with AI – giving them quicker , more accurate access to product information , stock availability , relevant add-on services and bundling recommendations – so that we can supercharge the excellence of our colleagues to ultimately better serve our customers .
It goes beyond shopping in store too , AI can also help us improve the post-sale experience for customers , providing them with quicker and easier self-serve access to information on , for example , warranty services .
Microsoft are one of the biggest drivers of change in AI at the moment , and we believe they are well positioned to drive real value to Currys services and processes . Our migration of more applications and services to Azure underpins the above improvements to pre- and post-sales services , by allowing us to take advantage of OpenAI services , such as ChatGTP-4o . But , as we have said previously , we are very much at the beginning of this journey and remain incredibly excited to see what we can do together in the future .
As Group CIO , how do you envision the implementation of AI technologies transforming the colleague experience at Currys , particularly in terms of access to information and identifying cross-selling opportunities ? availability , relevant add-on services and bundling recommendations . We believe that being able to accelerate these recommendations will offer a better customer experience , and also help reach our commercial goals .
For supply chain , it could have a positive impact on how we are able to proactively forecast product demand and availability , empowering our colleagues to better interpret buying patterns .
Again , looking at our work in the circular economy with repairs , refurbishments and recycling . We have thousands of colleagues assessing millions of faulty / damaged products a year , before repairing them or stripping them for valuable component parts . These operations are finely balanced . For instance , repairs need to be carried out incredibly efficiently for them to be affordable for the customer , and profitable for us . So , there could be a role for AI to play in further finetuning our processes here .
And in a corporate sense , we ’ re carrying out a small range of trials across our marketing , HR , finance , legal and technology processes . As we all know , if AI is deployed effectively in these business areas , it could have a real effect on our colleagues ’ productivity . p
We ’ re still only at the beginning of this process , but we do hope that implementing a small number of AI tools will enhance our colleagues ’ experiences in-stores , across our supply chain and at a corporate level too .
We ’ re testing how we can provide our store colleagues – as well as those supporting customers online through our digital channels – with quicker and easier access to info such as product information , stock
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