Presentation at Retail Technology Summit 2006

Mike Eaton, Managing Director of  Retail Answers contributed by presenting “EPoS as a Managed Service – Widening the Perspective” which explained the benefits and challenges of delivering EPoS software as a shared managed service.  A managed service can generate a significant cost saving which, together with other benefits such as automatic upgrades and minimum capital outlay, results in a solution that needs to be counted for EPOS implementations. Drawing on his experience of implementing EPoS as a managed service at Thresher, he re-enforced these benefits while highlighting the challenges of accommodating the requirements of multiple retailers using a shared service. Other speakers on EPoS also included Paul Kaye, Technical Director at PCMS and Jerry Rightmer, VP of Store Solutions, Oracle Retail.

Another topic of interest were kiosks, which have allowed Virgin USA to increase product previewing opportunities in addition to tapping into consumer listening habits. Kiosks are also playing a crucial role in providing a unique customer experience and ensuring customer queries are responded to in a fast yet fun way. Other retailer insights were also provided by Alan French of Boots who claimed that differentiating IT through bespoke applications delivers revenue and margin benefit. Harrods shared their vision for IT and Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) and the benefits of flexibility the retailer has gained through adopting SOA.

Gartner wrapped up the day by disclosing its findings of an interesting consumer study that advocates stock availability and knowledgeable staff as the two most important consumer requirements. The research firm also evaluated store technologies against increasing store productivity and customer experience together with ease (and difficulty!) of achieving ROI. Although RFID is plotted most favourably, the research concluded that gaining a return for task management and labour scheduling applications is less challenging.

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