MAST launches app to bring full-suite employee empowerment solutions to retail industry

RIAA - Retail Intelligence and Analytics App is aimed at empowering retail employees, whose performance and productivity are inextricably tied to brands’ customer experience and bottom lines.

Homegrown start-up Mast Consulting, part of the MAST Consulting Group, has announced the launch of its full-suite employee empowerment and retail experience solution — RIAA — Retail Intelligence and analytics app. This innovative solutions suite is designed to empower retail employees and unlock higher performance outcomes, by creating connected digital experiences, and developing strong digital trust with customers.

The launch of RIAA coincides with a juncture marked by increased digitalisation, which necessitates upskilling and high digital dexterity. For customer-facing brands, employee empowerment has become the first order of business to navigate the new normal, deliver superior CX, and differentiate their products and services.

Broadly, RIAA constitutes a web portal to manage teams, create and assign tasks; a mobile app called Agent Powerhouse, to proactively manage sales and operations, guide and support agents, and audit and evaluate instantly; and Web Data and Analytics, to derive actionable insights and create customer reports, among other critical functions.

“With RIAA, we are creating a robust retail ecosystem that not only empowers the frontline staff but back-office staff like marketers, UI designers, etc., as well. This feature-packed solution suite will give brands a holistic view of critical, employee-facing functions across the retail value chain. And in doing so, RIAA will help brands empower employees, and maximize their productivity,” said Abhay Pandey, founder and CEO of the Mast Consulting Group.

Various recent studies have substantiated the need for employee upskilling. A notable study found that 46 per cent of customers will abandon a brand, if employees are not knowledgeable. However, only 30 per cent of brands were found to be upskilling their employees. In response to this sub-optimal status quo, RIAA is gamifying front-office employees’ skilling and digital experiences, enabling them to effectively communicate with other teams, reduce silos, and take charge of customers’ retail journeys.

“Managers can utilise RIAA for effective scheduling and task management, deriving data-driven insights for subsequent strategsing, and creating a workplace culture of utmost accountability, transparency, and empowerment. This culture of employee empowerment translates to positive performances and successful implementation of CX strategies,” added Pandey.

The comprehensive features of the RIAA solution suite include, but are not limited to: FIELD Management, which optimizes all retail field functions; Market Intel, which captures daily activities, customer feedback, allows employees to transmit information, etc.; Task Manager engine to assign and manage duties, set targets, and get reports; SUPPLIER Management to manage inventory, instantly communicate with suppliers, place orders, etc.; Web Analytics to collect data and leverage employees’ direct experience to optimize routes, routine functions, etc.; and Media+ to instantly share and manage files and content.

In addition, RIAA harnesses AI and automation, to optimize repetitive work and a range of critical, internet-facing functions. The open API nature of the platform offers flexibility and seamless third-party integration, to accommodate future changes and strategies, in line with the ever-evolving digitalization and CX landscape, in the retail industry.

Unlike standalone solutions, which are geared towards certain departments and functions, MAST Consulting’s RIAA is poised to drive holistic efficiencies across the value chain, while empowering employees at every turn. At a time when the focus on employee experience (EX) is at par with, if not greater than, CX; the launch of RIAA is both timely and consequential, bearing the promise of a new data-driven growth phase in the retail industry. — sandhya@khaleejtimes.com