Most retailers have a forecasting problem they have been solving the same way since 2010. The data has changed. The signals have multiplied. The planning systems have not caught up. Somewhere underneath the dashboards and the spreadsheets, a 2026 business is still running on 2010 logic.

Season 1 of AI Afterhours, Signals & Noise, is about how organizations cut through noise, find the signals that matter, and turn them into better decisions. In Episode 3, Demand Forecasting in Retail, I sat down with Bob and Varun for the final episode in our three-part retail arc. Harsha was out sick this week. Get well soon, Harsha.

Bob opened with the frame that carried the whole conversation. The signal-to-noise ratio has flipped. Historical data used to get planners most of the way there. No ...