White Paper: HELIOS as the Foundation for Connected Commerce
The future of commerce isn’t digital or physical—it’s both. This white paper explores how HELIOS provides the foundation for connected commerce, enabling enterprises and agencies to unify customer journeys, embed intelligence where it matters, and create platforms they fully own. With HELIOS, organizations can transform AI from hype into long-term enterprise value.
Consumers no longer separate digital and in-store experiences. They expect personalization, convenience, and continuity wherever they shop. Yet many enterprises remain constrained by siloed systems: ecommerce platforms disconnected from POS, loyalty, and in-store engagement.
Research confirms the challenge:
MIT reports that 95% of generative AI pilots fail to deliver measurable ROI, with most stalling before they can scale.
McKinsey finds that while 80% of companies have adopted AI, most see little financial impact because AI is deployed as a side tool, not embedded into workflows.
HELIOS was designed to solve these challenges. As the first AI-native Audience Infrastructure Platform (AIP), HELIOS provides enterprises and agencies with the foundation to build fully owned, composable platforms that unify ecommerce and physical retail. HELIOS can shorten time-to-market for custom platforms, help brands and agencies escape vendor lock-in, and embed intelligence into workflows that shape customer outcomes.
One example is GardenIQ: a marketing intelligence platform built directly on HELIOS. GardenIQ demonstrates how enterprises and agencies can use HELIOS to build their own comprehensive, branded solutions quickly, fulfilling their tech stack ambitions while maintaining ownership and control.
The Challenge of Connected Commerce
Siloed Data: Online and in-store systems often do not connect, preventing a true single customer view.
Inconsistent Personalization: Ecommerce personalization rarely extends into physical retail, leaving gaps in the customer journey.
Vendor Lock-In: Black-box systems limit innovation and prevent enterprises from owning their platforms.
AI Without Outcomes: As MIT and McKinsey report, most AI investments do not translate into business impact because they are not tied to customer-facing outcomes.
The HELIOS Solution
HELIOS enables enterprises to own, unify, and activate customer intelligence across every channel. With HELIOS, organizations can create branded platforms that bridge digital and physical commerce, with AI embedded into workflows to support customer outcomes such as stronger loyalty, faster execution, and higher conversion potential.
Unified Audience Profiles
HELIOS can merge online behaviors (browses, carts, purchases) with in-store interactions (POS scans, loyalty usage, smart devices) into one dynamic profile.
Outcome Potential: A unified profile can enable more relevant personalization and engagement.
AI-Driven Decisioning in Workflow
HELIOS embeds intelligence into customer journeys.
Outcome Potential: Real-time recommendations may increase basket size.
Predictive journeys can reduce cart abandonment and shorten time-to-purchase.
Composable Infrastructure
HELIOS integrates easily with ecommerce platforms, loyalty programs, POS, and retail technologies.
Outcome Potential: Enterprises and agencies can accelerate development of proprietary solutions without starting from scratch.
Omnichannel Activation
HELIOS can support consistent campaigns across channels.
In-store: contextual prompts and loyalty rewards
Online: personalized follow-ups and retargeting
Post-visit: rewards and retention offers
Outcome Potential: Increased retention and stronger long-term loyalty
Enterprise & Agency Ownership
With HELIOS, enterprises and agencies can retain ownership of their data, workflows, and outcomes.
Outcome Potential: Full control of the customer experience and freedom from restrictive vendor ecosystems.
Case in Point: GardenIQ
GardenIQ was built as a marketing intelligence platform directly on HELIOS. Instead of spending years and heavy engineering effort to create a new product from scratch, GardenIQ was developed quickly by leveraging HELIOS’s architecture:
Comprehensive by Design: HELIOS’s built-in segmentation, AI decisioning, and campaign execution gave GardenIQ a complete intelligence layer out of the box.
Customizable: GardenIQ extended HELIOS with ecommerce-specific features to create a unique solution tailored to its market.
Fast to Build: HELIOS’s developer-light tools and composable design enabled GardenIQ to go to market quickly, reducing cost and complexity.
Independent: By building on HELIOS, GardenIQ retained full ownership of its platform — no lock-in, no restrictions.
Takeaway: GardenIQ demonstrates how enterprises and agencies can use HELIOS to transform service capabilities into branded platforms, building new revenue streams while enhancing market credibility.
Use Case: The Connected Shopper Journey
Online: A customer browses cookware online but abandons the cart.
In-Store: Later, the same profile is recognized via loyalty ID or device login, and a contextual offer may be delivered.
Real-Time Offer: HELIOS can suggest complementary items during the shopping trip.
Post-Visit: The customer may receive a personalized follow-up that encourages repeat engagement.
Result Potential: With HELIOS, brands and agencies can unify these touch points into seamless journeys that encourage higher conversions, larger baskets, and stronger loyalty.
HELIOS Advantage in the Context of MIT & McKinsey
MIT and McKinsey highlight the risks of investing in AI without tying it to business outcomes. HELIOS offers a different approach:
From Pilot to Platform (MIT): Where most AI efforts stall, HELIOS can enable enterprises and agencies to launch comprehensive platforms quickly.
Workflow Integration (McKinsey): Instead of AI sitting on the side, HELIOS can embed intelligence into the workflows that shape customer journeys.
Agentic by Design: HELIOS can adapt and act proactively across channels to support outcomes such as conversion, retention, and loyalty.
ROI Potential: By tying intelligence to the decisions that matter most, HELIOS can help organizations turn AI into measurable business impact.
Benefits for Enterprises and Agencies
Productivity: Streamline development and execution.
Scalability: Personalize journeys at enterprise scale.
Independence: Build differentiated platforms without relying on external vendors.
Value Creation: Use HELIOS to transform service expertise into proprietary solutions, as GardenIQ did.
Why HELIOS Stands Apart
Most AI initiatives fail to move beyond proof-of-concept. HELIOS provides infrastructure that can:
Support both SaaS-grade platforms (like GardenIQ) and retail innovations from a single foundation
Embed intelligence into workflows that support outcomes such as conversions, loyalty, and growth
Give enterprises and agencies the ability to build faster, own more, and innovate continuously
Conclusion
The future of commerce is not online or in-store, it is both. Brands and agencies that connect these experiences can build stronger loyalty, capture more wallet share, and increase enterprise value.
GardenIQ is living proof: built quickly and comprehensively on HELIOS, it shows how organizations can transform their ambitions into branded platforms. HELIOS gives enterprises and agencies the same opportunity to own their infrastructure, accelerate innovation, and achieve outcomes that matter.
AI will transform the enterprise, but the real winners will be platforms that build trust, not just headlines. HELIOS embeds intelligence directly into workflows, empowering brands and agencies to deliver measurable impact today while laying the foundation for tomorrow’s AI future.
GardenIQ demonstrates how HELIOS enables enterprises to capture rich customer data, build dynamic segments, and generate campaigns with AI—all in one streamlined platform. By extending HELIOS with ecommerce features, GardenIQ proved how composable infrastructure can evolve into a branded SaaS solution that scales without vendor lock-in.
