Happy Holidays from noHold

As the year is coming to an end, everyone here at noHold wishes you and your family Season's Greetings and a prosperous New Year. Cheers!

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Trusted Retailers Innovate the Traditional Customer Service Approach by Adding Robots as Staff

Photo Credit: newsroom.cisco.com

Over the past few years, online sales have increased tremendously and are expected to continue to rise to 10% of all US retail sales (Fitting Room Robots and Smart Mirrors: Can Retail Tech Save Stores?) Brick and mortar stores are trying to pull shoppers into the store, and are using advanced technologies to entice them to do so. 

As everyone is in the middle of holiday shopping, companies have been incorporating new technologies to accommodate the increased volume of shoppers, while still being able to provide excellent customer service. Orchard Supply Hardware is one of the companies focusing on customer service and innovation, and plans to appeal to customers by integrating OSHbots with staff. OSHbots are robotic customer assistants that help customers locate products in the store and provide them with information on the product and current promotions. Not only can they find products, but they can connect with employees from other Orchard stores when human intervention is needed. Check out this video to see OSHbots in action: 

Amazon is also utilizing robots to make sure packages get delivered on time this holiday season. Kiva's [company Amazon purchased in 2012] robots bring shelves of goods out of storage and carry them to employees, allowing Amazon to retrieve more items for more customers simultaneously. Amazon began using these robots in July of this year, and there are now more than 15,000 of them in 10 of the company's warehouses." (Robots Shipping Your Order this Holiday Season)

Artificial Intelligence and robotics are working together to revolutionize how we look at customer service. Do you think other retailers are going to adopt robotic sales associates? If so, how do you think customers will react?
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Throwback Thursday: Happy Independence Day!

With the Fourth of July right around the corner, people are getting in the holiday spirit: Grills are heating up, swimming pools are crystal clear, and fireworks are in place (with safety precautions taken, of course!). 

But before we start leaving the office for this three day weekend, I wanted to share a quick blog about how technology/computers are being used this Fourth of July to keep the public a little bit more safe. For example, an audio monitoring network will be used to regulate celebratory gunfire. What shooters think to be an innocent act of honor/celebration can turn to be very dangerous and law enforcement is preparing for the high volume of shots this year for Fourth of July. "To help deter this gunfire, several police departments across the U.S. will be using a high-tech gunshot detection system to pinpoint the location and moment a firearm is discharged" (US Police Go High Tech to Tackle Fourth of July Celebratory Gunfire). By utilizing this technology, police are able to differentiate between gunfire and fireworks more accurately, and respond to the scene quicker than if a bystander called it in. 

Some other notable moments in tech history this month

1. MIT's Whirlwind allows keyboard input to the machine. "MIT's Whirlwind which has been completed five years earlier, becomes the first computer in the world to allow its users to enter commands through a keyboard. Previously, all input was accomplished through dials, switches, and/or punch cards" (Keyboards and Computers, Together at Last).
2. IBM introduces their first desktop computer to the world, Datamaster. Intended for small business use, and for end-users to be able to set it up without the need for a computer specialist. Soon after, they released the IBM PC recycling much of the knowledge they used to create the Datamaster (IBM's First Desktop Computer).

All-in-all, there have been some major milestones in tech history this month, but more importantly, major moments in US history. We hope you all have a fun and safe holiday weekend. Happy Fourth of July!

Photo Credit: www.smartertravel.com