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In this episode of Hedaux, Hogg & The Machines, Ed & Simon catch up on the last five to six weeks in AI and what it means for productivity, workforce management and retail.

Payroll and scheduling: Would anyone trust AI to check payroll before payday? Managers will still need to sense-check the output.

Forecasting models: Ed warns that some published accuracy gains use data you wouldn't have at forecast time, such as actual weather.

Walmart's Agent Gateway: Walmart opens its shop to AI shopping agents while Amazon tightens its rules. What does that mean for liability and click and collect?

Driverless cars: Simon shares his first Waymo ride, and they ask why the US is moving faster than the UK.

Measuring AI productivity: Saving a manager two hours a week only counts if the time is reinvested well.

Area managers in 2027: How AI could help them plan visits and cut through comms overload.

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In this episode of The Productivity Pulse, James, Sue, and Simon talk about recent project insights, ReSearch developments and team milestones and the 2027 Productivity Forum

The Self-Checkout Dilemma: The team examines the evolving role of self-checkouts in retail, the customer frustration caused when peak times cause queues, and how businesses can balance assisted checkouts with self-service tills

Risks in Advice-Led Retail: An exploration of why self-checkouts can undermine customer value in service-driven environments, alongside the growing complexity of front-end operations handling click-and-collect, refunds, and exchanges

Uncovering the "Why" with ReSearch: A deep dive into how pairing quantitative time-and-motion studies with in-depth employee interviews and interactive, post-it-driven workshops reveals why staff spend their time the way they do

Team Milestones & Upcoming Events: An update on achieving Cyber Essentials certification and details on the Productivity Forum scheduled for September 8, 2027, at the National Conference Centre in Birmingham

Resources:

Save the Date: Register now for the next Productivity Forum on September 8th, 2027, at the National Conference Centre, Birmingham

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Physical stores aren't dying—they're evolving. In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Simon sits down with Bradley Capon, VP at Yoobic, to dissect the future of frontline retail operations and why human-led stores remain the heart of the industry.

AI-Powered Store Support: How instant AI assistants and automated visual compliance (processing millions of photos) are solving frontline issues in real time.

The "Retail Apocalypse" Fallacy: Why 75% of retail revenue still comes from physical stores and why human staff remain non-negotiable.

Data-Driven Operations: Shifting from generic task dumping to hyper-targeted, store-specific action plans that prioritize high-impact sales opportunities.

BYOD on the Rise: How Bring Your Own Device policies are successfully connecting frontline teams directly to central operations without overwhelming them.

#theproductivityexperts
Download a copy of the ReThink Productivity Retail Report
Connect to Simon on LinkedIn
Follow ReThink on LinkedIn