SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Creating efficiency with technology, finding out about new developments and meeting as a "family" that uses the same internal software solution were all reasons behind the 2011 PDI Users Conference.
Attracting about 340 retailers and more than 400 guests overall--a record number after a recession-influenced dip in 2007--the four-day conference in San Antonio, Texas, featured classes on a number of topics including pricebook, labor scheduling and report building.
"Retail and enterprise automation is really a journey," said Greg Gilkerson, president of Temple, Texas-based PDI. "It's about networking, sharing ideas and increasing efficiency so that information can be more timely and accurate."
In sessions involving employee tracking, retailers saw developments the software company was making in creating better labor-scheduling and payroll tools.
A session on report-building took retailers through software that allowed them to populate tables with sales, product I.D. and pricing information. "Drag and drop" options helped retailers build reports needed by managers and executives. They also learned tips on how to avoid slowing down the process of pulling information into a report from a database.
In a session on pricebook, retailers worked through how to create blanket exceptions to a category of items, allowing for general rules like target margins to apply. Then they discussed how to negate the rule when specific cases arose.
During a general lunch session, memory expert Bob Gray amused the crowd with feats of memory and the ability to write and say words backwards. The Canadian speaker noted several different systems of memory including association and phonetic methods.
Ultimately, the industry is moving toward a higher level of technical sophistication, said Gilkerson. "The industry is now hiring more IT people, and we're seeing that here."
Temple, Texas-based PDI provides software, hardware and professional services to convenience retailers and wholesale petroleum marketers. Worldwide, approximately 350 companies and more than 24,000 retail locations rely on PDI's systems for retail automation, fuel and warehouse management, business intelligence and financial management. PDI/Enterprise is a complete network-centric software system that enables convenience, foodservice and wholesale petroleum operators to do business electronically. Built using decades of industry experience, design input from more than 250 customers, and Microsoft.NET technology, PDI/Enterprise spans the home office, warehouses, backoffice and mobile applications.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.