14
PROCESSES&POWER
PROCESS AND POWER BECOME
STRATEGIC RETAIL ISSUES
As businesses of all kinds look to rationalise costs to mitigate the
impact of recession, retailers must consider key operational systems
from a process-centric and power-driven point of view.
“
T
here is no doubt that the poor
economic climate is forcing companies
to examine their business processes
to see how they can operate even more
ef½ ciently,” said Mark Thompson, managing
director of document management specialist,
COA Solutions.
Recent research by the National
Computing Centre in partnership with
COA Solutions has identi½ ed that only 3%
of UK organisations have a fully-automated
source-to-pay process and yet, he added,
“this is an area which can bring about some
of the greatest cost savings and ef½ ciency
improvements in an organisation”.
“By having a fully-automated source-to-
pay process, retailers can reduce transaction
costs and maverick purchasing. They can also “Standardisation in retail is vital in a world solutions are often the last to be reviewed
eliminate late payment penalties and be in the of virtualisation with exponential growth and upgraded, subject to the business
position to negotiate improved terms with in the number of instances of databases, operational needs of ef½ cient point-of-sale
suppliers, extending days payable outstanding, operating systems and applications – the only (PoS) and merchandising solutions.
as well as ensure customers pay for goods way to get control is through BPM,” added And Sarah Taylor, Oracle’s UK retail
and services in a timely manner,” Thompson Crean. “Without a standard, that is agreed, industry director added that standardisation
told Retail Technology. implemented, managed and owned, you on retail system platforms was becoming
Taking a ‘joined-up’ approach to IT systems cannot be ¾ exible.” popular with the likes of recent wins, New
and resources that re¾ ects the processes His comments tally with recent research Look and Morrisons. “Retailers know better
a retailer relies on to do business can be that suggests retailers lack end-to-end visibility than any business that processes don’t stay
bene½ cial in every technology area. Mike of process performance. Only half (51%) the same, so having an infrastructure that can
Bielinski, Vodat International chief executive of 192 retailers questioned by specialist support rapid operational change is key.”
said: “Astute retailers are implementing retail intelligence provider, Manthan systems Alan Luscombe, sales and marketing director
tools on their networks that allow them were satis½ ed with the speed of reporting at Uninterruptible Power Supplies Ltd (UPSL)
to target, deliver and track messages, tasks or response times of their current business was quick to also point out that retailers’
and content across their enterprise. This can intelligence (BI) reporting solutions, while increasing dependence on IT to provide
mean anything from the simple management 45% are also unhappy with the quality of services such as online shopping, EPoS systems
of store tasks and diaries to the delivery information that they receive. and data processing brings with it rapidly rising
of promotional, and compliance material Steve Barker, Manthan Systems head power demands and increased costs.
through to e-learning, with online interactive of UK operations said: “This research is “The personal relationship nurtured
assessment sessions.” extremely important as it clearly identi½ es with customers means that the retail sector
Alan Crean, chief executive of business that speed of processing and response times experiences higher expectations of its
process management (BPM) solutions are vital attributes that can enable retailers to environmental performance than many other
provider, Process Master took a purist’s stay ahead of the competition.” industries. While this is met on the shop ¾ oor
process-centric view. “Everything, from Integration is often a seen as dif½ cult, with low-energy store design, eco-friendly
strategic inventory management to tactical but necessary part of streamlining business sourcing of produce and recycling initiatives
pricing diplomacy, should be done to establish processes and the technology supporting for example, energy and emissions targets are
the company’s standardised work through the them. Nigel Stephenson, marketing manager a major challenge for upstream parts of the
use of BPM technology. at K3 suggested that back-of½ ce point business,” he said.
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY APRIL/MAY 2009
14-19 Processes & Power.indd 14 6/5/09 9:50:52 am
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