It was great to highlight the Aldata agreement that we signed recently so time to continue with the retail theme some more here on The Edge. With the GA of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail in 16 countries worldwide not far away, I found a recently published report from research house Retail Systems Research (RSR) pretty good reading. I say pretty good for a number of reasons and it is not just because I enjoy reading new research studies (GEEK!) There is really more to it than that - let me explain briefly:
When I opened up the email from RSR the first thing that popped out was the following sub-title:
"Tech-enabled Employees Critical to Much Needed In-Store Customer Experience Overhaul, New Study Finds"
Why did this pop out? Well technology is clearly positioned as a key driver of customer experience. The email went on....
RSR Research's latest report, "The Customer-centric Store 2010: How Retailers Engage Technology-enabled Customers" finds the need for an improved customer experience to be a critical business challenge in 2010; the number one opportunity in the current market is to refine the customer’s in-store experience.
In a nutshell we (Microsoft and Microsoft Dynamics) provide technology solutions (oh really!) and customer experience or "centricity", as we often refer to it as, are themes that we have been talking about for quite some time now - so basically good to see that other people agree with what we are saying (admittedly we did co-sponsor this research but still.) As recently as NRF 2010 in January we launched some specific thought leadership pieces for Microsoft Dynamics ERP that outlined our strategic vision, Connected Experiences for Retail with Microsoft Dynamics, that focused very much on the role of technology and the customer-centric retail organization. If you have not done so yet, I encourage you to take a look at the items below to learn more about our vision in retail:
If you read the materials above you will see that we focus on three key pillars
Ok so back to the report very quickly and why I liked it....the next extract below gives you taste of things to come in the report and importantly (for me at least) how it relates to the 3x pillars above - again just good to see alignment in the vision we have.
"Consumers’ access to mobile technology is transforming the dynamic of the in-store experience. Price and product features and comparisons are now completely transparent to the shopper. Social networks, product reviews and mobile applets are ubiquitous. For the first time, the consumer has more technology in her hands than most store managers or employees have in their entire arsenal.
How are retailers responding to the challenge and how does the store fit into the new era of transparent retailing? What techniques and practices are working best? Which cultural environments lead to the fastest progress? And just as importantly, what technologies are retailers budgeting for to maintain their edge?"
You can download the RSR report on the link below - worth a read if you have some time.
The Customer-centric Store 2010: How Retailers Engage Tech-enabled Customers
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Want to know more about Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail? Here are a couple of videos you can watch:
You may also find the following of interest.
Best Regards
Luke Shave
ERP Industry Marketing Manager
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