ECMOD 2011 A Success

The revamped, reinvigorated ECMOD Direct Commerce Conference -- a London-based conference for "Every Channel: Maximised, Optimised, Delivered!" -- debuted on 30 Nov. in its new location at the Business Design Centre in Islington and was a huge success.

I spoke at the show on "Stop The Systems Insanity: Top 10 Mistakes in Acquiring and Managing Busines-Critical Solutions," and "Making Mobile Work for Multichannel." Attendance was better at these presentations than at any time in the last ten years! If you would like a copy of either or both presentations, please email me at ernie@schell.com.

Exhibitors uniformly reported good traffic both for quality and quantity. A partner show, Data-Driven Business Week, took place simultaneously in this very spacious venue. 

So we are already looking forward to next year's show -- at the Business Design Centre again -- 27-29 November, 2012. 

Sanderson Brings Portable ePOS to Hamley's

We don't generally cover Point of Sale solutions on this blog, but we are definitely interested in mobile commerce and tablet-based technology in the sales environment. 

Sanderson, the publicly owned UK provider of retail software and services, has won a contract to pilot a new Mobile Electronic Point of Sale (ePOS) solution at renowned toy retailer Hamleys during the busy Christmas trading period. 

Sanderson is delivering the innovative Mobile ePOS solution in partnership with Retail-J software author Torex to enable Hamleys to offer its customers a quick and easy way to purchase their goods during busy periods and cut queues at tils.

The solution, which is being piloted at the Regent Street store in London, uses an Apple iPad together with a handheld Bluetooth scanner, wireless Pin Entry Device (PED), and wireless printer. Hamleys has chosen a utility belt which allows the store assistant to "wear" the ePOS system and move around the store with the devices.

Mobile ePOS is a major new extension to the Retail-J solution which Hamleys use to run their retail business. Sanderson implemented Retail-J at Hamleys in 2010 and since then has delivered a number of significant business-enhancing projects, including customer preferred currency and tax-free shopping options. 

This is the first Mobile ePOS project of its kind within the Retail-J community and will no doubt strike interest across the user base, particularly among those with London stores as they plan to capitalise on increased visitor numbers during the Olympic Games in 2012.

Notes Richard Willis, Solutions Director at Torex:  “This extension of Torex Retail-J delivers the capability to run point of sale and back office functionality using Apple and Android browsers. It is part of our ongoing commitment to the development of Retail-J in consultation with our clients.”

Business Agility Adds Value

Michael Hugos, author of Business Agility, writes in the current issue of CIO that when he worked for a company that supplied Starbucks with paper cups they were not the lowest-cost provider. But they "found 20 things we could do to make our cups easier to order, easier to use, easier to pay for and easier to plan and budget for." When they kept enhancing these as Starbucks's business needs changed they "provided a compelling reason to buy from us. Because we delivered more value than Starbucks could have gotten from a plain, low-priced paper cup, and because we were agile and responsive to the evolving needs of a high-value customer, we earned 2 percent more than the market price on our cups. I call this extra profit the 'agility dividend.'” This is how CIOs have to think to truly add value to the systems they manage.