IBM Watson to provide a digital commerce platform for Indian footwear brand, Metro Shoes

Global tech firm **IBM** on Monday teamed up with India’s footwear brand Metro Shoes Ltd to provide a digital commerce platform powered by ‘Watson Customer Engagement’ hosted on Cloud. [caption id=“attachment_2008753” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image: AFP[/caption] The services will include IBM ‘Watson Order Management and Commerce’ which will help the footwear chain personalise online experiences of customers as they navigate through the site. “We are happy to be part of Metro Shoes’ digital transformation journey by delivering superior digital commerce experience, leveraging the stores by merging them with online, and finally driving brand advocacy,” said Nishant Kalra, Business unit leader, IBM Watson Customer Engagement India/South Asia, in a statement. The partnership is aimed at overcoming challenges Metro Shoes was facing in managing orders coming from multiple online platforms which used unreliable software. “With IBM’s knowledge in the omni-channel commerce and retail space, we are confident that these changes help accelerate the execution of our strategy,” added Alisha Malik, Vice President, Digital, Metro Shoes. The IBM platform will create a bridge between the company’s online and offline business to provide visibility of real-time data of sales, inventory location and returns. Working with IBM Business Partner CEBS Worldwide, IBM solutions will not only help drive superior customer experiences and new levels of convenience but bring efficiencies to Metro’s supply chain. “With over 15 years of experience in developing e-business tools, CEBS has been a trusted Solutions Provider and partner for organizations across the globe. Our effective and flexible software solutions paired with IBM’s deep technology expertise will provide Metro Shoes a real-time, centralized system for customer management.” said Satish Swaroop, President, CEBS Worldwide. IBM Watson is an intelligent cognitive system. With it, people can analyse and interpret data, including unstructured text, images, audio and video and develop personalised solutions.