| | December 20158CIOReviewA Unified Customer BaseTo control its business, an organization has to control its data at all touch points, distinguishing the data, shoppers generate at each of the touch points. This is important because the same shopper can interact with both online and traditional brick and mortar channels, so identifying them as a single persona is the key. This requires the enablement of foundational technology capabilities and the gritty process of analyzing structured and unstructured data in order to create a single, integrated view of all shopper activity, tracking all respective interactions across channels and touchpoints highlighting behavior patterns. For example, compiling, organizing and conducting data analysis on areas such as, via CRM, e-commerce, social media, and EDI, and across all channels, creates a comprehensive, integrated view of shopper activity so that behavior patterns become meaningful to the business. Ultimately, a focus around building mastery in analytics competencies will enable businesses to make informed decisions and enhance shoppers' experiences at each touch point, providing them with relevant offers in the channels the shoppers prefer. Reshaping the face of CommerceI am enabling my business through amplified talent competencies and architected technology capabilities that are fast and flexible. Data now feels as the world's new natural resource, enabled by technology that is infusing into almost everything and every process as evidenced by the proliferation of mobile devices, social media and overall changing expectations from digitally empowered shoppers. Our approach is centered on reimagining and reinventing our productivity capabilities, simplifying our operational foundation and amplifying our capabilities thru the power of the cloud. We are aggregating data sources of all types so we can be quick and flexible in conducting analytics and adapt to consumers' changing needs and buying practices. We have pursued IT supplier relationships that enhance our workforce capabilities and allow us to gain depth on new technology stacks that complement our business objectives, enabling nimble response to demand for our services.A Retail Revolution Reporting and Analytics (social, mobile, reporting) We all know that the volume of data is rising inexorably as point of sale transaction data, online customer behaviors, sentiments etc., are being recorded by retailers. As such, retailers across the board are amassing and evaluating data from social and mobile interactions through scale-out platforms and techniques that enable both contemporaneous and predictive analytics designed to process large amounts of data in an effort to anticipate shoppers' wishes. This effort encompasses harnessing unstructured data from social and or mobile interactions to derive insight on top of their present information management capabilities so that retailers can get an edge in the market, predicting how shoppers may act Laying a Foundation for the New-Age Retail IndustryBy Paul Karras, SVP and CIO, Wilton BrandsPaul KarrasIN MY OPINION
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