Qopius delivers innovative digital inventory insights with Google Cloud
Qopius is a provider of AI-based in-store technology solutions in Europe. The company’s customers include leading retailers, such as Carrefour, Casino, Metro and MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group, which it helps to monitor on-shelf inventory for stock shortages, compliance, inventory levels and price integrity at scale and in real time.
Qopius’ platform leverages advanced retail data integration and analytics, which empowers store managers and staff to take the right action at the right time for streamlined store operations and higher sales which helps to reduce operational costs and provides retailers with the digital tools they need to improve efficiency and optimise margins.
"Our solution can detect stock that is out-of-date, or misplaced," explained Bedeir Rizk, CMO at Qopius. "It empowers the store managers and staff with the knowledge they need to improve their operations, and offers suggestions on what needs to be done."
Qopius uses GPUs to process large volumes of image data and to achieve greater stability for its customers. The company turned to Google Cloud and has implemented Compute Engine to improve system reliability and BigQuery to deliver customer insights in seconds.
"One of our differentiators is that we see things from the retailers' perspective: our product has to answer their needs and be easy to use. Real-time analysis is key, so we need a cloud provider that's reliable and available,” added Rizk.
"It took around six months to build the new architecture on Google Cloud," explained Rizk. "We wanted to migrate quickly, and add new clients and projects once we were up and running."
"We use BigQuery to generate the KPIs we offer to our clients, helping them to improve their margins. We can transform shelves into actionable insights in seconds. As it offers such fast processing, we can integrate and visualise more data for the client, ultimately reducing their end cost."
One of the major advantages of Google Cloud for Qopius is that it encourages an efficient workflow for its developers. "As all the Google Cloud components are part of one environment, they communicate seamlessly," said Rizk. "All the services are packaged together, without having to switch between interfaces, which speeds up the workflow for our developers. Managed services like Cloud Functions and Cloud Build help save time on the operations side, and all you need to connect to a virtual machine is your email address. A few seconds saved here and there all add up to a significant gain in overall efficiency."
Since migrating to Google Cloud, Qopius has not only improved its system reliability by deploying GPUs on Google Compute Engine for a more stable infrastructure, but it can now deliver customer insights in seconds by processing and visualising data using Google BigQuery and Google Data Studio and enables agile development with a more efficient workflow, thanks to a unified work environment.
