The retail industry perhaps more visibly than many other industries is perceived as being at a significant crossroads that has and will continue to result in changes to all aspects of the retail landscape. Significantly, the most important market influencer impacting the retail industry is technology innovation and the pace at which it is moving. The impact of the online revolution on retail, such as the enabling of commerce through the web, opened the floodgates for the growth of eCommerce. In fact, industry surveys indicate that 67% of US customers are multichannel shoppers, and this segment of shoppers generate 25% more profit than regular shoppers. As such, a majority of brick and mortar retailers have had little choice but to embrace the online medium. In fact, the introduction of mobile commerce and social commerce into the retail landscape has dramatically increased the number of channels used to increase revenue and, as a result, retailers are obliged to embrace and incorporate these technologies into their businesses. The retail industry’s challenge and opportunity in the next few years will be the degree to which they can successfully capitalize on the emergence of new markets, channels, products and customer groups. Many industry researchers have encapsulated this phenomenon as the advent of the era of maximum retail agility. Retail Agility?So, what is the relevance (or benefit) of labelling this phenomenon as retail agility? In reality, this term has little relevance on its own. But it does have the ability to encapsulate new and trending ideas and promote their importance within the industry. In fact, retail agility has gained relevance and credibility to the point that most retail businesses no longer question the need to adopt multichannel strategies. Retail businesses that wish to remain competitive and thrive in this technologically-dominant environment understand that clinging to restricted interpretations of doing business cannot be sustained. The message that retail agility is attempting to drive home is simple: high performing businesses can recognize and leverage the power of using multiple channels to complete a business transaction, while providing a seamless experience regardless of channel. It sounds straightforward, but it comes with a steep challenge: how to balance the process of implementing new technology alongside the necessity of upgrading capabilities for a successful integration. This is where retail agility comes in and begins to make sense. This fast-moving landscape requires an equally fast response time, so businesses can’t afford to struggle with IT architectures that can’t respond to these challenges. The Role for ERP in the Emerging Retail LandscapeThis new reality for the retail world couldn’t provide a better environment for the business case of installing software that addresses and provides solutions to the many challenges that are part of the changing landscape. And the software that most closely aligns itself and responds to these challenges is retail ERP Software. If you have ever considered investing in a comprehensive software system for your retail business, this is probably a good time to consider this investment. ERP was originally developed for manufacturing, but has since become an essential tool for many business sectors because of its wide-ranging capability to adapt to individual business needs. The management of a retail business stands to benefit greatly from a well-functioning ERP system. The bringing together of disparate pieces of software facilitates the movement of data quickly, easily, and accurately from one end of the retail process to the other. This enables decision makers to reach the best possible outcome for each individual circumstance. By examining some of the ways in which retail ERP can optimize the day-to-day running of a business, you begin the process of understanding how ERP can maximize those benefits to suit your specific business needs. Retail ERP – In GeneralThe role of ERP in retail has evolved from a system for conducting daily operational tasks to engaging with a business in a dynamic and integrated manner. Retail ERP helps executives sustain a strategic view of their retail business and, ultimately, bring that approach into action. Retail agility, as referenced above, stresses the need for the retail industry to respond directly and quickly to customer demands. In this case, leveraging the power of multiple channels while offering a seamless experience regardless of channel appears to be a winner. Consumers (especially younger shoppers) are comfortable with technology, ready to utilize every device and mechanism to connect and transact with retailers anywhere and anytime. Recent industry analysis continues to reinforce the evidence that customers remain committed to the internet as a primary means of shopping. How Can a “Typical” Retail ERP System Help Achieve These Goals?The first and perhaps most important characteristic of a retail ERP system is its ability to centralize data and the functions that manage and control finances, customer management, sourcing, demand forecasting, inventory, sales orders, invoices and other retail functions. The integration of the disparate pieces of software that support all these individual functions is extremely important because it directly addresses many of the serious challenges that retailers have experienced for several years across most enterprise systems — including ERP. Specifically, obsolete technology, lack of integration and high maintenance costs have all contributed to these challenges, rendering their operational systems less than adequate. In other words, all the benefits that would accrue as a result of running a streamlined, multichannel and seamless retail experience would be jeopardized by an outdated and siloed enterprise system. For example, in order for retailers to manage and optimize their operations both globally and locally, critical functions that move across different brands, channels, supply chains and potentially different countries — such as merchandising, sourcing, and finance — require a robust integration process. Without such a system, a retailer could potentially face disparate system interfaces, disconnected data management, disconnected pricing systems between channels and inconsistent key performance indicators (KPI). It’s clear how this set of circumstances would make it very difficult for a retailer to achieve a uniform, well-functioning process that would lead to achieving a profitable business. Final ThoughtsOne of Forrester’s retail predictions for 2018 one that’s particularly resonant for this report is the following: “The key to successful retailing in 2018 is obsessing about the customer experience.” Further expanding this thought, they argue that retailers’ greatest hindrance to executing on this vision is the siloed organization structure that makes it next to impossible to get a holistic customer view or to craft the right products and services. This is the prediction that supports the premise of this buyer’s guide: the digitization of the retail industry has turned traditional measurements of success upside down. In this digital retail arena, customers engage with multiple devices in their lives, use various channels to make purchases and connect with as many competitors as they choose. A different set of skills and strengths are required to meet these challenges, and the urgency to meet them is apparent. Rarely has a set of circumstances been more ripe for the adoption of a unified, intelligent software system to assist in this significant challenge. Luckily, retail ERP systems are advanced enough to take on the challenge. The customer experience in retail has evolved from a poorly-defined understanding of customer service to a significant strategic priority, and businesses are spending millions of dollars addressing the question of how to improve the customer experience in stores and in digital channels. So you have to ask yourself, “How will I use retail ERP to answer that question?” The post Retail ERP: Maximizing the Value of ERP Software for an Industry at a Crossroads appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/retail-erp-maximizing-the-value-of-erp-software-for-an-industry-at-a-crossroads/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172519673017
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Aptean, a leading global provider of mission-critical, industry-specific enterprise software solutions, has formed a strategic partnership with TwinGroup in Milan, Italy. This partnership is another key milestone in Aptean’s continued growth strategy in the European market. TwinGroup will sell and support Aptean’s industry-leading manufacturing execution system, Aptean Factory. Process and discrete manufacturers use Factory to provide real-time visibility into production and quality operations, enabling the transition toward a paperless floor. TwinGroup serves its ERP customers in the manufacturing industry with a variety of cloud- and mobile-based solutions. “We are proud to be selected as an Aptean partner for the Factory MES solution. As a manufacturing ERP solution, Aptean Factory complements our existing offerings for our customers and will help drive inefficiencies out of current manufacturing and processing operations,” said Gherardo Maspero, managing partner for TwinGroup. “TwinGroup engages with turnkey projects while respecting the time and budget of projects, and with the Aptean product suite we are confident of delivering cost-effective and intelligent solutions that our customers demand. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with Aptean.” TwinGroup’s presence as a manufacturing ERP consultancy across Europe will help Aptean better serve its customers in Italy. In turn, Aptean will rely on TwinGroup’s expertise in addressing the key manufacturing industry challenges facing the Italian food and beverage market. “Across Europe there’s a demand for forward-thinking technology that gives manufacturers granular visibility into their processes,” said Alan Somerville, managing director of Aptean EMEA. “We’ve been focused on expanding Aptean Factory across Europe, and we wanted to partner with a trusted name in the manufacturing technology arena to give manufacturers peace of mind. TwinGroup’s support and expertise will be a great asset in bringing more factories into the Aptean Factory fold.” The post Partnership With TwinGroup Enables Aptean to Compete in Italian Market appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/partnership-with-twingroup-enables-aptean-to-compete-in-italian-market/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172517854062 Nvidia and Arm team up to make a wealth of IoT consumer devices substantially more intelligent, while the connected clothing market shows no signs of wearing out. The big news this week from an internet of things (IoT) perspective was China-based iPhone supplier Foxconn announcing it was to acquire Belkin – one of the largest IoT device providers globally – for $866m. Foxconn plans to establish a new smart home division combining Belkin’s Linksys and Wemo businesses with its own IoT assets. Nvidia and Arm pair up for smart IoTTwo of the biggest processor giants in the business – Nvidia and Arm – announced this week that they are to enter a partnership to make it easier for chipmakers to embed deep-learning capabilities into their hardware. According to TechCrunch, Arm will integrate Nvidia’s open source Deep Learning Accelerator (NVDLA) architecture into its recently announced Project Trillium hardware, allowing for artificial intelligence (AI) to be put into any smart device. “Accelerating AI at the edge is critical in enabling Arm’s vision of connecting a trillion IoT devices,” said Rene Haas, EVP and president of the IP Group at Arm. “Today we are one step closer to that vision by incorporating NVDLA into the Arm Project Trillium platform, as our entire ecosystem will immediately benefit from the expertise and capabilities our two companies bring in AI and IoT.” Nanosatellite start-up secures $15m in Series A fundingMyriota, a spin-out of the University of South Australia, has big plans to bring IoT into space, and now is one step closer to achieving its dream. The company announced that it has secured $15m in Series A funding led by Australian VC firms Main Sequence Ventures and Blue Sky Venture Capital, and including Boeing HorizonX Ventures, Singtel Innov8 and Right Click Capital. The lucrative deal makes it one of the largest made in the IoT-in-space sector so far. Myriota plans to accelerate its growth by launching more satellites, delivering large-scale IoT deployments and expanding its global operations. Article Credit: Silicon Republic Share this:The post Nvidia and Arm partner to meld AI and IoT in major evolutionary step appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/nvidia-and-arm-partner-to-meld-ai-and-iot-in-major-evolutionary-step/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172517105702 Adoption of the technologies in corporates across the world has increased in a bid to increase efficiency and make businesses more customer-friendly Sherlock Holmes, in his debut appearance in A Study in Scarlet, quipped: “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.” The popular discourse surrounding technology trends is dominated by buzzwords and a promise to change the world. In this scenario, decision makers find themselves struggling to differentiate between hype and reality. Acknowledging this environment, we decided to conduct a study to identify the tech innovations that enterprises should watch out for and why. We began with a list of 12 technologies, going deeper to identify the major trends. We chose to keep things simple by using two axes to classify each trend. First, there should be vibrant research activity happening in the technology, including but not limited to intellectual horsepower invested in patents and scientific papers. Second, the technology should have potential commercial momentum and use cases that provide end users with value. We used the number and the size of commercial vitality events (initial public offerings, mergers, coin offerings in case of blockchain) witnessed in each tech as a surrogate for commercial value. Using this combination of intellectual and commercial measurement, our study has filtered out the hype while sticking to the reality. Three broad clusters emerged as we evaluated the technologies along the two dimensions of research vibrancy and commercial vitality. Plotting each technology threw up interesting results. For example, Big Data continues to drive far greater research, patents and intellectual property, compared to its bedfellows Cloud and Mobility. Going deeper, it appears that innovation is actually being spurred by artificial intelligence (AI) and that its urgent need for data is fuelling a growth spurt for Big Data. Similarly, Voice is still in its nascent stages but clearly on its way to becoming a trend if and when it reaches the Android era. The explosion of Android (and some would argue consequently smartphones) was driven by the twin flexibilities of both platform and the apps open for developers to tinker with. Share this:The post The power of three: AI, IoT and blockchain appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/the-power-of-three-ai-iot-and-blockchain/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172516601527 Businesses and smart homes can now afford a smile after the announcement of the IoT Chain (ITC) blockchain. Blockchain technology has offered quite a lot of practical solutions to a number of challenges and IoT Chain solves the problems experienced with the interconnection of IoT devices is a major boost. Nowadays, the majority of homes and businesses depend too much on the internet of Things and therefore require a good way of storing data as well as security for the data. IoT Chain (ITC) being a blockchain network, developed as a lite Operating System and using SPV, PBFT, CPS and DAG technologies provides the perfect solution for data storage and security. IoT Chain makes it possible to store data in a layered decentralized form. Even with the short lifespan, having been announced a couple of months ago, IoT Chain (ITC) was awarded with the prestigious Blockchain Excellence Award at The Davos World Economic Forum (2018). This was a great achievement considering that it was competing with lots of blockchain networks some of which have been in the market for decades and have also proved to be crypto giants by amercing quite a huge number of users. This year’s economic forum was looking at the blockchain and distributed ledger technology used by blockchain technologies and IoT Chain proved to be best of them all. Advantages of using the IoT ChainBy combining IoT Chain (ICT) blockchain technology with DAG technology, IoT Chain helps to tackle the major problems of security and transfer speeds experienced when using the Internet of Things. This is quite an achievement in the Internet of Things since one of the greatest concerns with internet users is hacking and also slow data transfer speeds. With IoT Chian your data is very secure and at the same you enjoy fast transfer of data among your devices. With IoT Chain, you are guaranteed of operating IoT devices with low computing power. This in turn drastically reduces the cost of running and operating interconnected IoT devices. IoT Chain is also known to be very scalable due to its vast note network system around the globe. This enables the network to handle the increasing demand for data storage and transactions. With IoT Chain scalability, users are entitled to transactions speed of above 10,000 transactions per second. Share this:The post IoT Chain (ITC) is a breakthrough for the Internet of Things users appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/iot-chain-itc-is-a-breakthrough-for-the-internet-of-things-users/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172515995617 What is the key to a consistent user experience across multiple IoT products? Designing a great user experience for IoT products is easier said than done. Building intuitive user experience for one new app alone is a challenge, whereas IoT systems often consist of a couple of devices, a number of applications and interfaces with diverse functionality, input-output data streams and user rights distribution. Designing user experience for something so complex is an entirely other level of difficulty. Here’s why:
5 Keys in Creating Efficient User Experience for IoT Products1. Simplified OnboardingThe first step of introducing a new system to users can also be the hardest. In the case of multi-device interaction, it often implies repeated authentications, gateway processes that differs from device to device, and switching to additional services like Gmail for verification. Simplified onboarding – secure, but effortless authentication with code verification instead of passwords – is a promising beginning. Considering the use of IoT systems often implies switching devices, say between iPhone, Apple Watch or embedded software, easy, but safe and smart, authentication is a real catch. Let’s take Nest for home automation as an example. This family of products includes many types of connected goods, from smart security cameras to doorbells. Share this:The post 5 Keys to Designing User Experience for IoT Products appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/5-keys-to-designing-user-experience-for-iot-products/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172515462957 Fort Wainwright is comprised of 1.6 million diverse and beautiful acres in Alaska. It includes a U.S. Army cantonment, seven major training areas, and smaller satellite locations. Originally established in 1939 as Ladd Field and designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1985, it is now home to more than 15,000 Soldiers, family members, and civilian employees. Despite shrinking budgets, the Fort Wainwright Cultural Resources Management (CRM) Program has provided successful stewardship of 700 known archaeological sites, plus managed consultation and partnerships with state regulators, neighboring governments, federally recognized tribes, and local stakeholders. The CRM Program team is small. Five full-time workers, along with seasonal partners, monitor 127 archaeological sites and ensure compliance for 42 historic structures listed (or eligible) for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Their responsibilities include tracking 72 archaeological sites and 530 more sites with eligibility still undetermined. “Fort Wainwright accomplishes this by working with many others,” said Elizabeth A. Cook, USAG Fort Wainwright Cultural Resources manager/Native Liaison. “For example, they collaborate with Range Control staff, installation engineers, the State Historic Preservation Officer, the National Park Service, installation tenants, land management partners, tribes, and military units; and integrate CRM into planning, design, and maintenance to ensure the best outcomes while mitigating costs.” One example is the 2016 Arctic Anvil training exercise, Fort Wainwright’s first in more than a decade with nearly 8,000 participants from Air Force, Army, and National Guard forces. The event placed numerous archaeological sites in harm’s way, but minimal damage occurred thanks to the CRM educational component. Soldiers received an environmental handbook that contained information about identifying cultural resources and handling inadvertent discovery. Signage at 184 sites prohibited vehicle traffic or digging. Only two sites received minimal damage, requiring nominal mitigation following the six-week exercise. Educating troops was less costly and actually enhanced their training. Archaeologists at Fort Wainwright survey approximately 10,000 acres annually, finding creative ways to meet demand for training ground. In recent years, for example, University of Alaska Fairbanks excavated in Donnelly Training Area–a site people inhabited intermittently between 12,000 and 2,000 years ago; Colorado State University and Texas A&M University worked at another site using non-Army dollars. Professors and graduate students gain academic research experience, while the Army benefits from valuable scientific data gathered during such projects. Share this:The post Fort Wainwright CRM Program preserves history on a budget appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/fort-wainwright-crm-program-preserves-history-on-a-budget/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172514859077
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Privacy & Cookies Policy Go to Source The post Meet Natterbox: The British tech company linking phone systems with your CRM appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/meet-natterbox-the-british-tech-company-linking-phone-systems-with-your-crm/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172514460027 A CRM (customer relationship management) system is often thought of as one of the most under-utilised resources in most businesses. While most will have some kind of structure in place, is it time to start rethinking its role and placing it at the heart of operations? Businesses of all shapes and sizes are discovering the influential role CRM can play in a growth strategy – helping with reporting, customer experience and productivity. Office and design fit-out company Area, which was founded in 1999, found it provided a wealth of new insights. Justin Bass, special projects director at Forefront Group, which owns Area, said: “We’ve seen a sea change in how we report. Previously this was a manual process and often subjective but it is now entirely based on facts being driven by CRM data. “Previously, our directors would spend several hours every month updating our finance team about the timings for on-site work delivered. All this data is now available to finance in real-time and this alone has saved in excess of 20 hours each month across our companies. For cost management consultancy BCR Associates, it’s been a case of using CRM to look at its data more closely. “We have an incredible amount of payment detail coming in,” IT administer Jenny Bicket said. “I use [our CRM]on a daily basis and this is giving us new insights to forecast sales, analyse renewals, and even predict when contracts will be signed. “Our main goal was to help us build and maintain profitable long-term relationships and grow the business. We can see from our data that we are working with more clients, we are billing higher values and our customer satisfaction levels are higher.” The ability for business leaders to have, in real-time, a better understanding of performance is a common thread. Sebastian Stungo, CRM administrator at conferencing services company In Communication, explained: “Our coordinator team need to react quickly when we receive new instructions and enquiries for conferencing events. Improving the monitoring of our service level agreements was an immediate priority. [Our CRM provider] identified and implemented a series of services that manage these performance indicators as we require. “The main impact of this is that we’re now able to dynamically show real-time performance on a big screen in the office using our CRM data. This flashes up our key metrics to show us what is successful and highlight any areas for attention.” Flagging potential problem areas has been a big benefit for In Communication, but for Drax UK a CRM system has meant it can better handle prospects, quotes and contracts. Colin Smith, sales and marketing director at fire alarm technology and maintenance company, Drax UK, commented: “Our sales team have immediate access to all the information they need via their mobile devices. “For example, wherever our people are I can have a timely commercial discussion with them about an individual opportunity and we can decide on a strategy. “Previously our marketing activities were not consistently focused but by aligning our email marketing and social engagements we are discovering new insights about our audience which is helping us segment our lists and better personalise our messages.” It may well be that your business already has a CRM system in place, but legacy technology means it is struggling to keep pace with growth efforts. That may mean it is time to consider a new offering with better services and tools. The post Are you undervaluing the importance of CRM? appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/are-you-undervaluing-the-importance-of-crm/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172513894762 The agency industry has had an identity crisis in recent years in the wake of digital media’s disruption. The separation of media from creative has been increasingly questioned. Global brands have begun demanding that holding companies stock their agency teams with media and creative groups and dedicated data and analytics teams. Holding companies are calling for radical change to become more collaborative, integrated and data-driven organizations because their clients expect it now. But what if this agency of the future already existed but was just ahead of its time? CRM agencies may be the model future agency but they’ve been around for some time. Originally known as direct-marketing agencies, they focused on performance advertising by delivering targeted mail and other media and measured the efficacy of the buy. Now they manage email databases, customer loyalty programs and anything tied to the customer record. They provide creative and media practices based on the CRM. What is behind their resurgence? If digital media ate traditional media, people-based marketing is now eating traditional digital marketing. All marketing, including digital, had been largely channel-based in planning and execution. A channel represented audience reach, and agencies and brands organized themselves around it in email teams, for example, or TV teams. Media planning was largely a channel- and placement-based exercise. But the advent of programmatic has ushered in server-to-server matching of audiences across media like display, video and social, which is the basis of people-based marketing. It was only a matter of time before we went from whole audience segment precision to user-level accuracy to get to maximum efficiency and targeting. People-based marketing is about planning media and creative experiences based on known individuals and their multiple identities across platforms. Agencies are moving from media-based planning to audience-based planning as a result. Under increased pressure to prove performance, agencies are also turning to people-based marketing for measurement. Agencies previously demonstrated their value through cheaper media rates via scale and negotiations or through inspiring creative works. The problem has become that cheaper media hasn’t always equated to better media in digital, which had suffered from questions around transparency and quality. Creative work that doesn’t have a quantifiable impact has also had a hard time standing up to procurement and the CFO. People-based marketing has been about tying together the creative and media on an individual basis, and well as the result. This allows a quantifiable impact in a way previous marketing practices couldn’t. Sophisticated agencies and brands have always had a way to measure advertising impact: media-mix modeling, a top-down model that looked at channel spend over time to compare against changes in sales. Holding back advertising in a region or channel and then looking at the sales impact was a blunt but effective instrument. However, that strategy required not spending money on advertising to figure out the impact of advertising, which is not the most appealing option for anyone whose livelihood is built around advertising. Share this:The post Is CRM The Future Of Agencies? appeared first on Statii News. from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/is-crm-the-future-of-agencies/ from https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/172513584107 |