A guide to Quantum’s new AI reporting features
Retail and hospitality businesses generate a huge amount of useful data every day. Sales, products, departments, discounts and payment methods can all tell you something about how your business is performing.
The challenge is getting to the information you need quickly.
That’s where Quantum Insights comes in. Our new AI reporting functionality helps Quantum users explore their sales data, ask questions and get useful answers without spending time building complicated reports.
From a quick check of your best sellers to a more detailed look at sales trends, you can simply ask what you want to know in plain English.
Here’s a closer look at how it works and what it could mean for your business…
What is AI reporting?
AI reporting uses artificial intelligence to make business data easier to access and understand.
With Quantum Insights, you can ask questions about your Quantum sales data using everyday language. The system interprets your question, creates the relevant query and presents the results using your live Quantum data.
For example, you could ask:
“What were my top 10 selling products last month?”
“Compare this week’s sales with last week.”
“Which products have had zero sales in the last 30 days?”
“Show discount usage by department for the last three months.”
How does Quantum Insights work?
Quantum Insights is built directly into Quantum Back Office and has been designed around the questions retail and hospitality businesses need to answer.
When you enter a question, the AI works out which data you need and creates the appropriate query against your Quantum database. Results are presented in a clear grid, with the advanced model also providing explanations and suggested next steps.
There is no need to understand SQL or other technical reporting languages. You can focus on the business question and use the results to help inform your decisions.
Ask questions in your own words
With Quantum Insights, you can type a question just as you might ask a colleague.
You might want to know:
“Which products sold the most this week?” or “Which day of the week generates the most sales on average?”
You can explore sales, department performance, products, discounts, payment methods and longer-term trends. This makes it easier to investigate something you have spotted within the business or carry out regular performance checks.
Choose the right model for your question
Quantum Insights gives you a choice of two AI models, depending on what you want to find out.
For everyday questions, such as top sellers or this week’s sales, the standard model provides a quick answer. For more complex queries, you can switch to the advanced model, which is designed for deeper analysis.
This is useful when you want to compare several time periods, look at departments alongside discounts or investigate trends over time.
For example, you could ask:
“Which departments grew the most compared with the same quarter last year, and how much of that came from discounted sales?”
“Show me products whose sales have dropped for three months in a row.”
These are the kinds of questions that would normally take more time to build into a report.
More than just numbers
The advanced model also helps you understand the results. Alongside the figures, it explains what they mean, highlights anything unusual and suggests areas to investigate.
In one example, it was asked to identify products whose sales had declined for three months in a row. It highlighted the sharpest drops, noted that falling hot drink sales were unusual heading into autumn and suggested checking whether those products had been delisted or replaced.
This gives you a useful starting point for further investigation, with your own knowledge of the business helping you decide what to do next.
How could Quantum Insights work for your business?
The value of Quantum Insights comes from being able to ask questions that are specific to the way your business operates.
A farm shop might use it to understand which departments are performing best or how seasonal sales compare with last year. A butcher could identify best-selling meat products and slower-moving lines, while a bakery might look at its most popular pastries and quieter trading days.
For a coffee shop, it could be as simple as comparing weekend sales or seeing which hot drinks customers are ordering most often.
The questions can reflect what matters to your business, whether you are checking day-to-day performance or looking at the bigger picture.
Not sure what to ask? Use the guided question builder
You don’t have to start with a blank box. Quantum Insights includes a guided question builder that helps you create a query using simple clickable options.
Choose what you want to analyse, such as departments, products or discounts, select the metric you are interested in and pick a time period.
Quantum Insights then turns your selections into a question. You can run it straight away or adjust the wording first.
Save and re-run useful reports
Some questions naturally come up repeatedly. Quantum Insights allows useful queries to be saved as Favourites, so you don’t need to recreate them each time.
Run a saved query again to return updated information from your Quantum data.
This is useful for regular sales reports, weekly checks or management reviews.
You can also refine a saved query using a follow-up question, helping you build on an existing report without starting from scratch.
Export your results when you need them
Need to take the data outside Quantum? Query results can be exported to CSV with a single click.
You can then open them in Excel, share them with colleagues or use the information elsewhere in your reporting process.
Making reporting quicker and more accessible
Business owners and managers don’t necessarily need more data. Often, they need an easier way to get useful information from the data they already have.
Quantum Insights brings everyday reporting and deeper analysis into one place, helping you review performance, investigate trends and follow up on questions while they are still relevant.
Whether you run a farm shop, butcher, bakery, coffee shop or another retail or hospitality business, it helps you get closer to the information that matters most.
Your data stays yours
Quantum Insights runs in a secure, sealed environment. When you ask a question, the AI works only with your own Quantum data.
Your information isn’t shared with other businesses or used to train AI models outside your system, so you can explore your data with confidence, knowing your confidential business information is protected.
Try Quantum Insights free
Quantum Insights is available to all customers on the latest version of Quantum.
Want to see what it can do with your own data before committing? You can try it free of charge for 30 days, with full access to the features covered in this guide.
The trial uses your own live sales data, so you can see exactly how it could work for your business.
If you need a different trial period, speak to your account manager to discuss what would work best for you.
To start your free trial, or to find out more about how Quantum Insights could help you ask smarter questions and get more from your business data, get in touch with our team.
