Understand how real-time 3D is changing the retail store planning process to improve stakeholder alignment with informed decision making

ADAM FAROOQ: Hi, my name is Adam Farooq. I'm a manager, store planner, and I'm also a product manager of virtual experiences for Walgreens. Today, I work with many talented, caring, and spirited team members of Walgreens to help our customers live happier and healthier lives. I'd like to talk to you about understanding how real-time 3D is changing the retail store planning process to improve alignment with informed decision making.

So what we're going to talk about today is a quick overview of who I am and what industries I serve, planning intelligence in the 3D world, key takeaways, and what does this all mean together. Quick overview, so throughout my career I've helped research, design, develop, and market businesses by delivering strategic solutions that connect with their clients customers and people.

What I mean by that is I leverage my designer my marketing and developer background to leverage those solutions for those customers and clients. So let me briefly show you what that looks like. So what I'm talking about here is digital services. We're talking about user research and analytics, interaction design, information architecture, visual design, accessibility, usability testing. And then have this whole different set of digital art development, UI/UX design, website development, app development, VR and AR, and IoT solutions.

So if you don't know what any of that looks like, here's an example of what that looks like. So for me, a lot of these digital services are what I help businesses provide for their clients' and customers' needs. But most recently, I've been really into AR and VR technologies, from buying and selling real estate virtually, to recreating skylines from Denver in augmented reality, to smaller projects like client-, customer-focused AR experiences for the AEC industry.

So what I mean really is that I just sit at the intersection of the built and the virtual environment. So let's talk about how this world is really changing because it is. Our industry, our why, is that the AEC and retail industry today is more interconnected, diverse, and changing very rapidly. So this is a universal truth that we all know to be true. In our industry, how is that is changing with advancements in technology, processes, people, and services.

So we're really kind of talking about managing that change as a 1.0. In our industry, who? Well, it's businesses of all sizes and shapes that are adapting to the next generation of those changes. So we're talking about managing that change as a 2.0. So here are some examples of other industries, large and small, that are adapting to those changes and managing them. So we have Perkins&Will, Shop Architects, Gensler, KPF, Kieran Timberlake, and IA.

OK, so let's talk about planning intelligence. Let's start off with what is planning intelligence. Well, it really talks about the 3D. Traditionally, it talks about the 2D, but these days, it's about 3D project automation and insights that adapts to changes in real time on any device. That's as simply as I can say it. And what is planning intelligence, exactly? Well, it involves automatic planning, smart projects, smart estimation, smart tracking, intelligent insights.

Let's talk about review flow with planning intelligence. One of the things that we're missing is something that can stitch together all of these different systems. So with Unity Reflect, we're able to pick it up at BIM360, at Revit, in our teams review. It doesn't matter where we pick up these disparate systems. So some of the things that we're challenged with today in store planning are people in planning, they want to make quick decisions from drawings, Excel spreadsheets, and coordination meetings, but these all have their limitations.

They're all different from each other, and they all require supplementary tools to help them communicate with each other. Another challenge is accessibility to the data that we're trying to access is limited in these systems. It could be because of their large file size, their slow load times. Could be even the heavy hardware requirements, and most often, it's always about their siloed standards. So how is planning intelligence changing the way that we think?

And so the world is changing, like I said previously, but it's changing from real-time 2D workflows to real-time 3D ones. And this is about the convergence of those 2D workflows and 3D workflows together. And therefore, we're entering into something that is called the experience economy, and what we're really kind of getting at is these AR and VR type experiences that are cross-platform with our mobile and PC experiences.

So how does Unity Reflect really fit into planning intelligence? Well by nature, Unity Reflect is already fitting into planning intelligence. It's able to use third-party plugins to import and ingest that information from BIM information, and then it's able to push that information into a viewer so that other people can see that information in real time. We're also able to develop custom applications for digital twins, for example, or construction sequencing and BIM coordination, and so forth.

So the custom viewer for Unity Reflect is very much relevant to planning intelligence as we know it today. So what can Unity Reflect really address that other platforms cannot do as well? Well for one thing, safety and security is a big one. So we're talking about the quality assurance and quality control process. You can also decrease design and construction time. We can also talk about smart estimation efficiencies, as well. What's really powerful about Unity Reflect is also it can communicate complex challenges to our team members.

And one of the most important things about Unity Reflect is that it's integrated into the software that we already use, and it's very much collaborative. OK, so a little bit deeper, what can Unity Reflect really address that is deeper than the whole picture that I mentioned previously? So we're talking about like in-the-moment changes during those meetings. Well, we're talking about tight tolerances on sites, and when we're talking about re-work work after we've already executed these drawing sets.

We're also talking about on-site site verification. Did the vendor do what they said that they were going to do? What else? So a lot of people forget that Unity Reflect can also help with understanding the empathy that we all know to be true on-site and off-site. We want to have intelligent communication with each other in real-time 3D because that gives us enhanced and expanded insights to what's going on.

Oftentimes, we want to move away from the traditional communication methods that are not in 3D, or in real time. So overall, it's really about being united by design and technology, with balanced purpose built solutions, and having that better design, development, and planning experience. So here's a use case of me in a store, but what's interesting here is that this is an augmented reality experience that is also on my mobile device.

So I can turn on and turn off this experience. I can see my peers and my teammates that are sitting virtually at home on their computers or other mobile devices. But what's really great is that I can anchor this Revit model, in real time, to the store and see exactly where we're at in this process. So some key takeaways that I'd like to discuss, high level. Number one, the industry knows that everything will be digital. So even the things that won't, so we're talking our 2D drawing sets and things like that, our communication methods, our annotations, our on-site verifications, everything.

Everything will transform into more and more real-time 3D digital experiences. Another key takeaway is that Unity Reflect can combat 3D model isolation. It can also improve our communication and provide planning intelligence. And the third one is you can enable professionals on- and off-site site in truly innovative ways that foster real engagement. And what I mean by that is professionals, often on-site and off-site, have difficulty communicating with each other, but that's no longer the case when you have everything in real time. That's it. I'm Adam Farooq, store planning manager, product manager of virtual experiences, at Walgreens. Thank you. Bye-bye.