HORIZONS 17


IDENTIFYING NEW RETAIL IT VALUE


Retail Technology’s annual look at the vendors that are likely to be at the forefront of industry specifi c IT trends puts store systems integration and support, as well as mobile printing and networked video security under the spotlight


CONTENTS Pages 18 & 19


MICROSOFT DELIVERS INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS – industry giant fuels demand for integrated instore technology


Pages 20 & 21


NETWORK VIDEO: LEADING THE WAY FOR RETAILERS – Axis Communications and Genetec examine the retail business benefi ts


Pages 22 & 23


PRINTING IN THE NEW MOBILE WORLD – Star Micronics helps retailers make sense of what the latest print evolution means to retail


Pages 24 & 25


ONE-STOP RETAIL IT SERVICES – Retail Response outlines end-to-end IT systems implementation and support services and best practice


trends last year when it published its 2011-2012 IT in Retail report of the UK’s leading 100 retailers, in conjunction with BT Expedite. The report concluded that many retailers were struggling to keep pace with the rapidly changing requirements of multichannel operations with legacy systems slowing them down. In publishing the report Brian Hume,


U


Martec International managing director, stated: “Replacing these systems is vital for gaining competitive advantage. Consumers expect a seamless experience across all channels and retailers need to offer a single stock pool that can be accessed from all customer touchpoints, such as smartphones to check stock availability, pricing and product information.” For the fi rst time ever, the report found that top retailers’ priority for IT investment was e-commerce and mobile, suggesting that getting the balance right between innovation for competitive gain and cost cutting and productivity effi ciencies would be key requirements for any new IT investments. Richard Lowe, BT Expedite chief executive,


added: “There’s a positive indication of an increase of retailers planning to upgrade key business systems to keep pace with the continuing shift to multichannel retailing, as well as the growth of mobile internet access and m-commerce. If this happens IT spend [in 2012] is likely to increase, but is dependent on both local, and increasingly, international economic factors.”


K analyst fi rm Martec International set the backdrop for the development of these retail IT


Star Micronics and Microsoft – two 2012


Horizons contributors – both highlight how retailers can offer cost-effective seamless customer service and experiences instore by integrating with online and mobile channel technologies. Taking a broader industry-wide


perspective, Gartner recently said IT organisations will have to deliver on multiple priorities without an increase in their IT budget. Its global Executive Programmes survey of 2,335 chief information offi cers (CIOs) found IT budgets were under pressure in North America and Europe. “The 2012 Gartner CIO Agenda survey


results show that CIOs believe that the customer experience is the greatest opportunity for IT-enabled innovation,” said Dave Aron, Gartner vice president and fellow. “As business executives see the potential of technology to transform customer channels and the customer experience, their view of technology has leapfrogged conventional ideas of IT.” As evidenced by Axis Communications, Genetec and Retail Response – the other 2012 Horizons contributors – Gartner endorsed the fact that the defi nition of IT now incorporates new combinations of traditional IT systems, consumer devices and their respective services across industries. Mark McDonald, Gartner Executive


Programmes group vice president and fellow, advised: “Mobility, social media, information and analytics can be used to re-imagine the customer experience, as well as sales and service channels. These technologies do more than automate or administer processes; they are the processes and the sources of value.”


JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 RETAIL TECHNOLOGY


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