The retail playbook has been fundamentally rewritten. Customer journeys are omnichannel by default, IoT sensors are now omnipresent in both warehouses and shop floors, and AI is moving from pilot to P&L at an unprecedented pace. And the results are already proving transformative:
But in the race to access all these potential benefits, the winners aren't the ones with the flashiest demos – they're the ones with a rock-solid digital foundation that lets AI and IoT platforms scale safely, securely, and intelligently, store by store.
So, from Exponential-e's vantage point across cloud, connectivity, cyber, and communications, and our ongoing conversations with top retailers across the UK, here's what "AI/IoT-ready" actually means for the sector, and how we can begin laying those all-important foundations…
IoT and AI thrive on low latency and high availability, particularly when Point of Sale (PoS), inventory, and computer-vision workloads are increasingly interconnected. That means the underling WAN stops being a cost line and becomes a growth platform. Frictionless shopping experiences, incorporating queue-free checkout, real-time offers, and dynamic pricing, depend on fast, reliable data flows at the edge.
Software-defined networking, built on a private VPLS core, makes this practical at scale, offering centralised control, application-aware routing, seamless use of diverse access (i.e. ethernet, 4G/5G), and integrated security. Beyond the immediate operational advantages of avoiding hairpinning over the public internet and low, predictable latency, such networks offer the scalability and agility needed for pop-ups, seasonal peaks, and new store openings, where day-one uptime and policy consistency are required.
This should be complemented with enterprise IoT/M2M SIMs that deliver multi-carrier access and centralised control for store sensors, handhelds, lockers, smart signage, and similar devices.
AI-assisted retail is a hybrid sport: heavy training and data engineering in the Cloud, instant inference and control at the edge. To this end, retailers pursuing "always-on", augmented stores are converging 5G, IoT, and AI with edge compute to deliver truly personalised experiences in the moment, not hours later. This next-gen local processing, with edge computing implemented in every store, delivers a seamless PoS for customers, while simultaneously optimising staff's efficiency and reducing backhaul costs.
In the longer term, centralised data platforms and AI services can crunch multi-store telemetry for demand forecasting, replenishment, and customer analytics, offering a rich stream of actionable insights that enable reduced energy usage, automated restocking tasks, and smoother labour scheduling - immediate, powerful operational wins.
These capabilities can be developed into a standardised model and then be deployed, managed, and scaled consistently across new sites as retailers expand their operations. It's no surprise that multiple European retailers are already doing exactly this to not only protect their immediate margin and availability, but also accelerate their future growth plans.
Retail IT estates increasingly span POS, e-commerce, click-and-collect, and IoT devices. However, more devices and more data mean an increased attack surface, particularly when it comes to customers' payment data. As a result, robust security must be embedded in the design of all systems, platform, and processes, not bolted on later. Forward-thinking retailers are already rolling out this 'secure by design' approach, building customer trust through multi-layered, PCI-DSS-ready security ecosystems that allow for continuous monitoring and intelligently automated policy enforcement.
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) has a key role to play here, converging network and security in the Cloud and offering numerous pathways to establishing identity-centric access, micro-segmentation of IoT devices, and uniform policies across stores and partners. Even with thousands of distributed end points, all this can be accessed through a single pane of glass - a "single source of truth" for all networks, devices, and workloads.
AI and IoT in retail aren't separate projects; they must be treated as fundamental parts of a single, software-defined platform that reaches every shelf, sensor, and checkout. Build the network and edge right, wrap it with zero-trust security, and connect it to a governed data and AI backbone, then scale and optimise what works.
If you'd like this distilled into a tailored blueprint for your own estate (i.e. current stores, formats, and use-case priorities), we can map the stack, identify quick wins, and sequence the roadmap to outcomes, with everything overlaid by a single SLA, as a fully integrated service. Get in touch to discuss your own AI and IoT goals and let's make sure you're building on the right digital foundation!
Working together to establish a new standard of excellence for IT service desk operations
In order to better support its analysts across the country, the decision was made to execute a full-scale digital transformation of the entire Virtual Contact Centre and Teams Dialling system, building on the existing investment in Microsoft Teams to establish a centralised platform through which end users could make contact via a range of channels, including voice, email, and chatbot. This would ultimately support the phasing out of legacy telephony in favour of more scalable, flexible omnichannel solutions, while providing team leaders with real-time visibility of the entire service desk operation. The quality of BDO's IT service desk improved as an outcome acknowledged by the Service Desk Institute, who awarded it a four-star rating in 2024.
Critical priorities for the project were simplifying the management of Microsoft Teams licences, which needed to be purchased on an individual basis with the incumbent solution, and streamlining and optimising the user journey wherever possible, taking full advantage of the latest innovations in AI-powered automation and analytics.
A rigorous tender process was conducted, with a key priority being the ability to design and deliver a solution within four months, avoiding any operational disruption. At the end of this process, Exponential-e were selected as the sole technology partner for the project, building on an already strong partnership with BDO, and began working closely with their contact centre and back-office teams to determine the ideal specifications for the new platform.
Based on this findings of this assessment process, Exponential-e's Teams Calling as-a-Service platform, integrated with the industry-leading Five9 Intelligent CX suite and the ServiceNow® ITSM solution, was identified as the perfect fit for BDO's requirements, providing users with the Teams functionality they had come to depend on, while also opening the door to a wide range of potential enhancements.
The tools Exponential-e have provided have contributed towards the digital transformation journey BDO have been on. Our mutual passion for the user experience has helped us reshape our whole approach to the service desk, and we're very much looking forward to building on these successes in the years ahead.
Lee Trimmer, Head of Service Delivery, BDO
The first phase of the deployment involved managing a seamless transition for all analysts and end users by replicating their existing Teams functionality in the new platform, allowing them to start making use of it straight away. This meant the migration process was completely invisible to the 6,000 employees already using Teams.
With this foundation in place, BDO began working with their dedicated account team to identify potential opportunities for automation, the first of which involved the onboarding process for new joiners, who would automatically receive an email with the details of the Teams dial pad, with no manual intervention required. At the same time, should an end user leave the company, their account would automatically be closed and their number made available again. This pay-as-you-go model immediately resulted in tangible cost savings by ensuring BDO would only ever pay for the licences in active use.
Building on this, the Five9 platform was heavily customised to suit BDO's specific goals for its overall user journey. Key to this was the integration of the platform's chatbot with BDO's own Azure LLM and ServiceNow®, allowing it full access to an evolving knowledge library. This bespoke chatbot (dubbed ELSA!) is now able to automatically direct users to the article most likely to lead to a successful resolution. If it is unable to do so, they are automatically put through to the appropriate analyst.
ELSA's intuitive, conversational interface and broad range of insights meant the initial uptake was high, averaging more than 200 interactions per month, of which around 50% are resolved with no need for human intervention. The chatbot's capabilities have since been extended to run automated routine fixes with BDO's primary audit tool, saving service desk analysts time and offering the users faster resolutions.
As a result of these improvements, BDO have significantly reduced their service desk's dependence on traditional telephony and email, with most end users now preferring the inherent flexibility and ease of the new chat and self-service options, allowing analysts to more efficiently manage their cases.
With the implementation of Five9's workforce engagement tool, BDO are looking to automate further quality control checks to focus directly on problem areas rather than relying on dip sampling calls. Through the application of intelligent analytics, this identifies which interactions team leaders should listen to in order to support their analysts, identify gaps in the user experience, and act on new opportunities for improvement as they emerge. When combined with the technical data collected by ServiceNow®, this will provide BDO with a holistic, real-time view of its entire service desk operation.
The transformation of BDO's service desk was later recognised at the Service Desk Institute's 2025 awards ceremony, where it was named as 'Service Desk of the Year – Large Team'. It is also now eligible to be certified as a five-star service desk, of which there are only four in the world at the time of writing.
BDO have long led the charge for service desk excellence, and the success of this project is testament to that. When people and technology come together in this way, a seamless, interconnected user experience becomes possible across every channel, which I fully expect to become the new standard for service desk operations.
Gareth Hayes, Head of UC & CX Solutions, Exponential-e
Solution Benefits
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is rapidly establishing itself as the solution of choice for the next generation of enterprise networks, where optimal control, visibility, and scalability are essential. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, the SASE market experienced a 23% surge, as more and more organisations began taking advantage of its capabilities.
On the morning of 12th September 2024, the UK Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, pinpointed three 'big shifts' that would be required to transform the NHS:
In the space of just a few short years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone from being a somewhat niche field, to front and centre in the public consciousness. With the rise of ChatGPT and similar platforms, there is much speculation about where this technology is heading, and what its impact will be on our personal and professional lives. Indeed, organisations across numerous sectors are already exploring the different ways it can be utilised to reduce costs, optimise efficiency, and improve service quality.