MONTREAL, Jan. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — WorkJam, the leading frontline operations platform, today announced a major release that enables retailers to verify execution, surface the right data to the right people, and put AI to work where it matters: inside workflows, not beside them.
The release includes visual merchandising with image annotation, custom dashboard widgets, a refreshed user experience, enhanced content planning and approval, and AI-powered workflow automation, along with a range of additional enhancements across the platform.
The new features build on a platform already trusted by leading retailers including TJX, Ulta Beauty, Marks & Spencer, Metro, American Eagle Outfitters, Shell, and BP.
Visual Merchandising with Image Annotation
WorkJam now enables store teams to document planogram compliance, display execution, and visual standards using photo-based workflows with image annotation directly in the app. Managers can review submissions in real time, close the loop on execution issues, and maintain brand consistency across locations. Combined with WorkJam’s existing forms and audit capabilities, retailers have a complete toolkit for visual execution, from task assignment to photo verification to corrective action.
Custom Widgets
Custom Widgets are configurable dashboard cards that display real-time KPIs, metrics, and operational data directly within the WorkJam app. Unlike approaches that require data duplication and rigid structures, Custom Widgets connect to existing business systems via API, displaying the information frontline employees and managers need without creating redundant data stores. Widgets can be targeted to specific individuals based on role, location, shift, tenure, and certification status, enabling personalized views such as individual performance metrics or location-specific inventory data.
For IT organizations, Custom Widgets open a new extensibility model. Developers can now build their own micro apps embedded directly into the WorkJam experience.
“Retailers want operational data in the hands of frontline employees without the complexity of building dashboards or duplicating data across systems,” said Steven Kramer, CEO and Co-founder of WorkJam. “Custom Widgets solve that. Your systems do the analysis. We deliver actionable insights to the right person, at the right time, so they can take action.”
Refreshed User Experience
A modernized interface across web and mobile makes it easier for headquarters teams to create content, manage approvals, and configure workflows, while frontline employees get a cleaner, more intuitive experience that helps them find what they need and take action.
Enhanced Content Planning and Approval
New content calendar capabilities give headquarters teams a holistic view of all content, historical and future, across the entire organization. Marketers and operations teams can manage complex internal communication initiatives with multiple digital assets in a single calendar view, simulate what specific job roles will see at any point in time, and balance content distribution against actual store capacity. This is a capability made possible by WorkJam’s deep integrations with workforce management systems.
“When you’re running frontline communications at scale, the volume of content going to different job roles is enormous,” said Kramer. “Without WorkJam, organizations default to generic messaging because everything else becomes impossible to manage. Now you can be precise at scale, stay organized, and maximize value to end users. This encompasses all types of communications such as messages, tasks, events, trainings, banners, and more.”
AI Built In, Not Bolted On
WorkJam’s AI is embedded directly into workflows. It triggers tasks, flags exceptions, enforces standard operating procedures, and connects to other systems to resolve issues automatically. When something needs to happen, it happens without waiting for someone to ask.
Because WorkJam’s AI is built into the platform and not bolted on, WorkJam is the only available frontline AI platform that ensures compliance and controls non-compensatory time. Moreover, it provides contextual agent experiences based on WorkJam’s native AI targeting engine and rules engines.
“There’s a difference between AI that answers questions and AI that drives action,” said Kramer. “WorkJam’s lives inside workflows. It’s not waiting to be asked something. It triggers tasks, flags issues, initiates follow-up. That’s what we mean when we say AI should be built in, not bolted on. More importantly, we built AI tools that respect compliance and non-compensatory time.”
WorkJam will extend these capabilities with agent-to-agent orchestration in Q1 2026, allowing WorkJam’s AI to work with the AI investments organizations have already made, rather than requiring them to adopt yet another tool.
Additional Enhancements
The release also includes offline mode for task completion in low-connectivity environments, a new event calendar for managing in-person and virtual events, communication engagement insights, smart deep linking for faster navigation, communities, embedded integration monitoring, and a dedicated forms page that streamlines audits and compliance workflows. WorkJam’s platform, already certified to ISO 27001, SOC II Type 2, and CSA Star, is now also certified as HIPAA compliant.
A Connected Platform
“When everything is connected, you can do things point solutions can’t,” said Kramer. “Comms connect frontline to headquarters. Tasks get assigned based on certifications. Completion generates insights. Insights trigger AI. AI initiates action. If a platform doesn’t connect all of this, it’s not really a platform. It’s a collection of tools. We’re inviting retailers to NRF to see what a complete frontline operations platform actually looks like.”
WorkJam will demonstrate the new capabilities at Booth 5821 during NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show, January 11-13 at the Javits Center in New York. On Monday, January 12 at 2:15 PM, WorkJam will also host an Exhibitor Big Ideas session featuring leaders from TravelCenters of America, Ford Motor Company, and Avis discussing how they are unifying frontline operations across complex, multi-brand environments.
