Published on 02, Mar 2023

With the use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices monitoring thousands of sensors on retail machinery such as freezers, coolers, refrigerated trucks that provide temperature information on the food being stored or shipped, there is an incredible need for human interaction as a way to extract and gather this data. Collecting, analyzing and acting upon this volume of data requires a wide range of technology as well as expertise.

As one of the largest retail chains in the world, based on their revenue, Walmart has been working with these data gathering technologies and finding issues within the sheer amount of information that needed to be processed. Almost one terabyte of data is analyzed and about 1.5 billion messages are received by Walmart each day. The largest problem has been established as connecting so many different devices from various suppliers, generations, and languages.

As a Director of Engineering at Walmart Labs USA, Sandeep Shekhawat has been furthering the IoT solutions and their applications at Walmart stores to help enable efficient store operations by collecting data from devices and machinery in the stores.

Sandeep takes on a valuable role by normalizing the data and taking control of the wide scope of information. This can be achieved by leveraging the cloud which has proven to be an advantage, enabling Sandeep to not only centralize the information Walmart devices are collecting in real time, but to also control it.

This direct use of Smart Retail works to communicate everything on a faster level, such as:

• Stock depletion on shelves
• Maintenance deadlines for machines
• Regular sensor notifications

Utilizing his mastery of the Smart Retail technology and advancements, Sandeep has worked with Walmart to build its own software, designed to connect, compile and analyze the data efficiently and quickly. With a total of 15 years of industry experience and expertise, Sandeep completed his Masters in Computer Science from Cornell University and has a substantial knowledge of IoT platforms. This has enabled him to maintain a steady foothold in the industry. 

Sandeep Shekhawat has also been a regular speaker and panelist at international conferences, IEEE conferences and also presented his past work in local IoT chapters, furthering an audience of like-minded tech experts to show off his skills and know-how.