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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.

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Welcome to the inaugural episode of Rethinking CX, hosted by Simon Fraser & Simon Hedaux, where customer experience meets productivity at the intersection of emerging technology, operational strategy, and consumer behavior. In this episode, the hosts unpack the key macro forces shaping the modern business landscape—exploring how AI agents are transforming retail, why climate change is becoming an operational imperative, and how brands can avoid the trap of experience homogenization.

Key Topics Covered:

Moving Beyond Pure CX Metrics: Why organizations need to look past rigid NPS and employee experience (EX) scores to focus on genuine brand identity, employee behavior, and understanding the root "why" behind customer actions.

From SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): Understanding the consumer shift toward generative AI tools (Gemini, ChatGPT, Copilot) for recommendations, and why brands must provide deep product data and crawlable site infrastructure to enable frictionless, agentic AI transactions.

The Operational Impact of Climate & Weather: How rising temperatures and prolonged heatwaves affect labor productivity, supply chains, transport infrastructure, and store-level operations—and why resilient infrastructure investment is becoming essential for business continuity.

The Threat of Brand "Same-ness": Analyzing the risk of experience homogenization caused by over-reliance on algorithms, shared playbooks, and trend-chasing—drawing parallels from sports analytics, consumer goods, and entertainment.

Adam Mastroianni. The Decline of Deviance links:

https://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-decline-of-deviance

https://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-decline-of-deviance-2

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In this episode of Hedaux, Hogg & The Machines, Ed & Simon dive into seven chaotic weeks of AI developments and what they mean for the retail and hospitality sectors. From debunking extreme AI safety headlines to examining how autonomous agents are making purchases on behalf of consumers, this discussion breaks down the practical realities behind the hype.

Key Topics Covered:

Who Owns the Customer? The complex privacy, security, and margin-sharing challenges when orders pass through an AI agent, delivery platform, and retailer.

AI Safety vs. Practical Reality: Cutting through the noise of AI doom statistics to understand model guardrails, sandbox testing, and why current models are already more than powerful enough for retail needs.

The Rise of Autonomous Shopping Agents: How personal AI assistants with virtual "agentic cards" are booking cinema tickets, purchasing tech, and changing consumer buying habits.

Advertising to Algorithms: Why marketing is shifting away from traditional human-facing ads toward conversational and agentic advertising strategies.

Winning the "Agent Shelf": How brands and retailers must adapt their product listings, photographic evidence, and fulfillment speed to ensure AI agents pick their products.

Black Friday & Q4 AI Surge: Preparing for a massive increase in agent-assisted shopping and evaluating the impact on click-and-collect logistics.

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In this special recap episode of The Productivity Pulse, James, Sue, and Simon reflect on the key takeaways, sessions, and strategy insights from the recent Productivity Forum at the National Conference Centre in Birmingham.

Joined by over 160 clients, industry leaders, and partners, the team breaks down the core themes of the event—from rethinking efficiency to pragmatic technology deployment and peak capacity management.

Key Topics Covered:

• Retail & Footfall Insights: Hannah from MRI sets the stage with data on high street, retail park, and shopping center trends leading into peak trading periods.
• Rethinking Operational Efficiency: Why cost-saving is pivoting toward reinvestment, featuring Heart of England Co-op’s success in speeding up operations through stock simplification.
• Pragmatic Tech & AI Integration: Insights from Center Parcs, SSP, Simms & Associates, and Our Coop on why technology should amplify human capability—keeping humans in the loop rather than overcomplicating processes.
• Data Quality & Decision Making: The critical role of reliable data input and actionable analytics in driving operational changes.
• Managing Peak Capacity: Lessons from Greene King and hospitality leaders on handling demand surges, agile testing, and fast-failure learning mindsets.
• Fireside Chat with Sarah Willingham: Highlights from Sue’s stage interview with the investor and former Dragons' Den panelist.

Resources & Next Steps:

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

Download the Report: Access the full Productivity Benchmarking Report

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Why do operational bottlenecks persist even when you have access to performance data? In this episode of The Productivity Pulse, James, Sue, and Simon discuss how qualitative research bridges the gap between knowing what your workforce is doing and understanding why they do it.

The team shares real-world case studies from recent client projects—ranging from store managers stuck resolving minor issues to HR teams battling mismatched software systems.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• What vs. Why: The distinction between observational role studies and deep-dive qualitative interviews.
• The "Sock Drawer" Effect: Why disorganized systems waste energy and how employees describe their operational friction.
• Managerial Coaching Dynamics: How identifying "learned dependence" in underperforming stores creates clear pathways for sales growth.
• The Power of Anonymity: How structured, active-listening interviews give staff the confidence to share authentic, actionable insights.

Resources: To learn more about our qualitative research services, visit our website ReSearch or connect with the team on LinkedIn.

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In this episode of the Productivity Podcast, we speak with Kayleigh Fazan, founder of the International Retail Academy, to discuss why transforming the customer experience has to start behind the scenes. Kayleigh shares her insights from over 20 years in retail, explaining why true productivity is all about empowering leaders, building team confidence, and getting the basics right.

Here are the key takeaways from our conversation:

Behavior Over Metrics: Retail leaders often fixate on lagging indicators like conversion and ATV that only show what happened yesterday. To genuinely improve productivity, managers must focus on the daily behaviors that create those results.

The Power of Service: Delivering an exceptional, consistent customer experience is one of the most commercially productive activities a retail business can perform.

Targeted Training: Overwhelming part-time staff with massive libraries of learning materials is highly ineffective. Businesses should instead empower their leaders to separate critical, "must-do" training from optional "nice-to-have" learning.

Sustainable Growth: Retailers cannot simply cut costs to achieve growth. Adopting a bottom-up approach to customer service naturally boosts commercial numbers, which in turn allows for future budget growth.

📅 Save the Date! Join us live at the Productivity Forum on 10th September in Birmingham.

🎟️ Secure your spot: ReThink Forum 2026

Download a copy of our first ReThink Productivity Retail Report

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