Using Machine Learning to Meet Customer Demand

How often do you focus your efforts solely on retaining your Accurate forecasting has always been necessary for success, every business needs an idea of how much they’re likely to sell for that month or quarter, how many customers they’re likely to see in-store and online etc. Yet in an age of macroeconomic uncertainty and cautious spending, precise demand forecasting has become more challenging.

So what can you be doing to refine the way you predict demand?

Many proactive companies are now taking advantage of Machine Learning, and seeing huge uplifts to their margins through both increased revenue and reduced cost. In sales and retail, ML-driven forecasting is already helping brands and retailers gain greater control over their inventory: products are on shelves when they’re needed, fewer perishable goods are going to waste, and they aren’t overspending on storage.

The results aren’t going unnoticed - PwC highlighted demand forecasting as one of the three key areas where Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence have significant potential. 

Machine Learning can also help manage your workforce in the same way. Having the right people in the right place at the right time, or smart scheduling, means employees can be used more effectively and drive productivity.

In order to get the full picture of your projected performance, your finance department needs as accurate information about your workforce and inventory management as possible. Obviously, the forecasting process is an impossible art to perfect. Countless external variables will always affect your bottom line, both positively and negatively - for instance, it would’ve been impossible to predict a global pandemic in 2020. 

That said, these automated solutions can take into account a huge range of factors to produce demand forecasts with a greater degree of accuracy than anything else currently in existence and are already future-proofing the companies ambitious enough to adopt them.

Want to learn how Machine Learning can help you hone your demand forecasting capabilities? Read our complimentary e-Book!