7-Eleven Inc. is using modern workplace solutions, data services and devices from Microsoft to empower field employees and provide better business insight to its franchisees.
As it continues to invest in technology to fuel business growth and innovation, 7-Eleven — with more locations than any other convenience retailer in the world — relies on its field employees to serve as the connection between headquarters and its Franchisees.
Today, the company is arming this group with Microsoft Surface devices equipped with Microsoft 365 and Power BI to provide Franchisees with better insight from corporate into their store’s performance, purchase trends and other data to help them grow their business.
“Franchisees have a significant role to play in our transformation, and empowering them with the right information is critical. Our collaboration with Microsoft enables us to get data out to Franchisees through our field employees that they can use to make better business decisions,” said Gurmeet Singh, 7-Eleven EVP, chief digital, chief information and chief marketing officer.
Power BI dashboards help field employees to spot trends and visualize insights from point-of-sale data stored and analyzed by Azure Data Lake and Azure SQL Data Warehouse. This enables them to recommend actions to Franchisees, boosting sales and ensuring the right products are stocked to meet customer demand. They can also use the Surface camera to take a picture of the schematics of the store and quickly and easily identify differences from the planogram that Franchisees can use to analyze sales opportunities.
“Unlocking the power of data is the key to reinventing the future and delivering amazing customer experiences in the retail industry,” said Shelley Bransten, corporate vice president of Worldwide Retail and Consumer Goods Industries, Microsoft Corp. “We’re thrilled to empower 7-Eleven’s field and Franchisees with the services, knowledge and devices to innovate on behalf of their customers wherever they are in their shopper journey.”
With Surface as the field employees’ mobile office, Microsoft 365 ensures that this group of employees — which doesn’t often have the opportunity to connect to the corporate network — are empowered with an integrated, secure, AI-infused experience on any device.
Microsoft OneDrive also helps make sure that they have real-time access to the latest corporate assets, and Microsoft Intune provides the security capabilities needed for a mobile workforce, with the ability to remotely manage devices and protect data.
In addition to empowering employees with modern technologies, 7-Eleven is migrating its infrastructure to Azure and already leveraging advanced technologies like AI to power enhanced customer experiences. For example, by integrating Azure AI services into its popular 7NOW delivery app, 7-Eleven is providing personalized recommendations to customers based on a variety of factors, enhancing their experience and building loyalty to the brand.
Together, the two companies will continue to look toward future applications of their collaboration across intelligent and emerging technologies such as AI, data analytics and blockchain to drive even greater insight, efficiencies and customer experiences across its business.
Based in Irving, Texas, 7‑Eleven operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 69,000 stores in 17 countries, including 11,800 in North America.
