2018 CRN Impact Awards: Cohesio Group

The winds of disruption have not blown kindly through Australia’s retail sector, with numerous chains falling in the face of consumer preference for digital upstarts. For traditional retailers, one of the key barriers to competition in the new digital environment is reliance on out-of-date systems and processes, which often lead to an incomplete view of the business for managers.

This drove Cohesio Group – which began life as system integrator VoiceID four years ago – to develop its own intellectual property. The solution brings workflow optimisation and task automation into retail stores.

One of the first users is pharmacy chain My Chemist, which had a particular problem of needing to improve the replenishment of its shelf stock to ensure high product visibility for customers and a better customer experience.

The Ignito software delivers a new level of visibility that helps store teams replenish stock on shelf faster, to maintain a high level of product presentation, with a "pick up and use" solution that consolidates information from multiple different entry points into one simple process.

Store team members can replenish faster and more accurately by directing the work based on company-defined criteria, such as replenishing fast sellers first or replenishing specific front-of-store locations first.

Based on a software-as-a-service model hosted on Amazon Web Services, Ignito simplifies complex workflows by using real-time data gathered through APIs.

Cohesio says even the smallest retailers can take advantage of the digitisation of traditional retail space and achieve significant savings to the bottom line, while enhancing both the store associates and consumers experience.

Ignito improves staff utilisation and customer service and engagement, and generates actionable insights, leading to productivity improvements of between 30 and 40 per cent.

The solution also enables value-added services, such as click-and-collect services with email and SMS notification, and the SaaS model makes information easily accessible to staff via handheld devices.

Cohesio Group is a privately owned company with growth coming organically via word-of-mouth amongst retail clients including My Chemist, Cotton On, Kmart, Reece Plumbing, and many more.

Cohesio Group is currently engaged with multiple Australian retailers, and has run demonstrations for retailers in South East Asia.

According to My Chemist Group’s managing partner and director, Mark Finocchiaro, Ignito is digitally enhancing his company’s customer experience, not only by ensuring the stock is replenished quickly, but by allowing staff to fulfill ‘click and collect’ orders more efficiently.

‘Click and collect’ demand is growing and the Ignito software automates the workflow across the entire process, from the customer order right through to fulfilling that order by individual staff members,” Finocchiaro said.

“It provides inventory visibility and automates tasks such as customer notifications and proof of collection. Ignito also enables us to analyse purchasing patterns and demographic reporting to really get to know our customers’ buying behaviour and requirements, serving them better.”

Cohesio Group is a finalist in the 'Evolving Innovator' category in the 2018 CRN Impact Awards. For a list of all finalists and further details on the awards, please head to the CRN Impact Awards hub. The awards take place during the CRN Pipeline conference. You can get more information and purchase tickets here.