Dive Brief:
- PDI Technologies is embedding AI into all of its technology services, including POS, loyalty and enterprise resource planning, the company announced Friday.
- The new AI foundation, PDIQ, will automate routine tasks, coordinate workflows across solutions and deliver personalized insights for convenience and fuel retailers.
- PDI’s update highlights the push within the convenience store industry to automate workflows, including running complex back-end technology, as their margins continue to come under pressure.
Dive Insight:
PDI said it is currently releasing PDIQ to a select group of customers as part of a phased rollout. It has already deployed the AI solution across its own internal operations, including in engineering, sales and customer support.
PDIQ will automatically appear inside PDI’s applications, with a separate portal providing insights and a PDIQ Agentic Studio providing turnkey, co-built or custom AI agents.
PDIQ is built to support “flexible multi-model architecture,” meaning the AI capabilities will evolve in step with the rapidly changing technology, the company said.
In its announcement, PDI played up the new tool’s automated capabilities while also noting that operators have the final word on how the technology gets deployed and used.
“Operators want to modernize, but they demand practical performance and clear governance from AI they can trust,” said Jimmy Frangis, CEO of PDI Technologies, in a statement. “With PDIQ, we’re bringing intelligence into the core workflows that run this industry and helping customers unlock tangible operational gains.”
C-store operators have been linking up with technology firms recently to deploy AI solutions to their back ends. Huck’s announced last month that it will deploy an AI-native point-of-sale system across its 135 Midwest locations. Also in February, the Strategic Alliance for Affiliated Store Owners of America said it plans to roll out an AI-powered tool that captures and analyzes interactions between customers and cashiers.
PDI also offers MyPDI, a tool it showcased at last year’s NACS Show that centralizes operations and offers AI-driven insights to users.
