David E.

Proud that Sierra has partnered with Cedar to build Kora, an AI voice agent purpose-built for patient billing. Catch Cedar's Sumayah Rahman and Sierra's Miranda Zhao at ViVE later this month to hear how they built Kora and what they've learned from real patient interactions https://lnkd.in/gh2et3ss

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While customer acquisition often takes center stage during periods of growth, the true measure of success or failure emerges from the post-sale experience, particularly during times of market volatility. This article explains how enterprise leaders are shifting strategy to improve retention, cut costs, and reduce uncertainty through stronger digital engagement after the sale. If your team is rethinking how to support customers through change, this is a must-read. 👉

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Retail has crossed a threshold — and there’s no going back. As NRF takes over New York this week, one message is coming through loud and clear from conversations across SiliconANGLE & theCUBE, theCUBE Research, and NYSE Wired: AI is no longer a retail experiment. It’s becoming the operating system. We’re watching the shift happen in real time: • From chatbots to systems that take action • From one-size-fits-all tools to composable, open AI stacks • From dashboards to agentic AI that executes across merchandising, supply chain, stores, and commerce • From optimization to autonomy This isn’t about who is “doing AI.” That phase is over. The real competitive divide is emerging between retailers that adopt AI and those that operationalize it — architecting systems that move at machine speed, turn intent into action, and scale execution without scaling bureaucracy. In this piece, we break down: – Why AI is becoming retail’s operating system – How agentic systems are reshaping operations and commerce – Why smaller retailers suddenly have asymmetric advantage – Where inference economics and talent become board-level issues The next 12 months won’t decide who experiments with AI. They’ll decide who leads with it. 👇 Read the full analysis here in comments Jonathan Frankle — Chief Scientist, Databricks Tim Crawford — CIO Advisor Stephen Orban — Databricks Nitin Mangtani — GM, Retail Cloud, Salesforce Mike Micucci — CEO, Fabric Thea C. Myhrvold - at NRF — AI & retail technology leader National Retail Federation (NRF) #Retail #AI #AgenticAI #NRF #RetailTech #DigitalTransformation #SupplyChain #Commerce #Leadership

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𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙’𝙨 𝙗𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩. I recently finished reading "𝘚𝘢𝘮 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘰𝘯: 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢," and one chapter, "Thinking Small," stood out profoundly. Despite Walmart’s legendary reputation for its sophisticated systems, groundbreaking use of technology, and remarkable distribution capabilities, Sam Walton emphasized timeless, foundational principles that apply universally – not just in retail. Here are Walton’s key principles that continue to resonate: 🔹 1. Think One Store at a Time Every customer interaction matters. Whether you're managing one store or a global empire, success lies in understanding your individual markets, stores, departments, and most importantly, your customers. Decisions made closest to the customer are usually the best decisions. 🔹 2. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate Clear, rapid communication turns local successes into company-wide opportunities. Walton believed deeply in the power of sharing detailed insights across the entire organization swiftly, ensuring every team member was aligned and informed. 🔹 3. Keep Your Ear to the Ground Technology is vital, but nothing replaces firsthand knowledge. Leaders must regularly engage directly with frontline operations. The best strategies emerge from listening closely to customers and employees on the ground. 🔹 4. Push Responsibility – and Authority – Down Empowering those closest to the action creates genuine accountability and innovation. Walmart’s “Store Within a Store” approach, where department managers operate autonomously with full insight into sales and margins, cultivates entrepreneurial thinking at all levels. 🔹 5. Force Ideas to Bubble Up Encourage your people to surface their ideas. From Walmart’s famous “People Greeters” to inventory and logistical innovations, frontline associates consistently generated impactful improvements—saving millions and enhancing customer experience. 🔹 6. Stay Lean, Fight Bureaucracy Growth naturally invites complexity, but simplicity must be relentlessly pursued. Bureaucracy emerges subtly–often as solutions to minor issues–but unchecked, it multiplies, eroding efficiency and innovation. Staying lean ensures agility and focus on customer value. While Walmart remains iconic for its scale and technological prowess, these foundational principles from Sam Walton offer a universal blueprint. Any organization aiming for sustained success – regardless of industry – would benefit immensely from embracing these timeless guidelines. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱? #Leadership #SamWalton #RetailStrategy #BusinessLessons #Entrepreneurship #Operations #CustomerExperience #Walmart #StartupWisdom #ManagementTips #BusinessGrowth #LegacyLeadership

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In the rapidly evolving wearable tech landscape 🚀, Meta's partnership with EssilorLuxottica has catapulted smart glasses into mainstream adoption 📈, with over 7 million units sold in 2025 alone -- more than tripling 2024 figures and pushing cumulative sales to approximately 9 million since the Ray-Ban Meta launch in late 2023 -- driving EssilorLuxottica's Q4 revenue surge of 18% to €7.6 billion 💰 and establishing a dominant 73% market share in AI-integrated eyewear 👓. This exponential growth underscores a pivotal shift toward lighter, socially acceptable AR devices over bulkier headsets 🌟, fueled by features like Meta AI assistance 🤖, heads-up displays 📺, and seamless integration in models such as the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 and Oakley Meta series 🕶️, positioning the segment for a projected 27% CAGR and 10 million units in 2026 amid rising competition from Google and Samsung ⚔️. Complementing this momentum, UltraSense Systems' December 2025 launch of the UltraTouch™ AR2 interaction platform and USG4000 series (https://lnkd.in/gqXm_ZWd) addresses critical pain points in AR glasses 🔧, fusing ultrasound, capacitive, and force sensing to overcome capacitive limitations like false triggers from sweat or hair ❌, and gesture overload on cramped frames 🚫 -- enabling intuitive, zone-based 1D controls on magnesium, titanium, or plastic materials with sub-5mm thickness and ultra-low power ⚡. By delivering reliable taps, swipes, and presses for calls 📞, media navigation 🎵, and camera controls 📸, UltraSense facilitates thinner, more fashionable designs that enhance user experience for complex functions -- potentially accelerating adoption for leaders like Meta by reducing UI friction and supporting premium aesthetics in high-volume production 🏆. Investors should monitor this synergy closely 👀, as it could amplify market penetration and profitability in a sector poised to disrupt traditional computing paradigms 🌍 UltraSense Systems Mo Maghsoudnia

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Great Brands (and Innovators) Lead Communities of Shared Interest Today the YouTube recommender engine served up a nice piece of Content Marketing from HexClad Cookware. A short video documentary celebrating the restaurants, leadership and beautiful products of L.A. chef, Nancy Silverton (Pizzeria Mozza, Osteria Mozza, and Chi Spacca). Not a problem-solution construct, a call-to-action or a feature description in sight. Just a pure, beautifully made portrait of amazing food, the joy of cooking and convivial atmosphere. And the master of craft who makes it all happen. Many would describe this as Top-of-Funnel brand marketing in social media. But there's not a hint of transactionality about it. No conversion mechanism. Not even a URL on the video's YouTube page. Some would doubtlessly criticize it for lack of contribution to "results." For lack of accountability. But to me, this is a narrow and overly-tactical take. This is strategic. This is a brand that's living it's promise. Not just talking about it. Adding authenticity, credibility and trust to it. Not just hanging it on a wall while cracking the whip on this month's sales quotas. This is what I call Community Leadership. Not just for customers, but for an entire ecosystem. A core pillar in the Connected Brand Experience that is the basis of competition in today's network economy. What does community leadership mean for you, and your brands? What is your Community of Shared Interest? How might you use AI to codify it, cultivate it and lead it?

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