SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Amid the growing complexity of technology solutions ranging from data analytics to home deliveries using driverless cars, retailers need to understand their opportunities and develop ways to prioritize projects, according to panelists at Winsight's Outlook Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Reviewing several aspects of a typical information technology platform, Greg Gilkerson, president and CEO of PDI, Temple, Texas, said that a basic IT infrastructure stands as a foundational hub, with additions such as fuel-supply automation and consumer-facing solutions such as mobile apps emerging from that core.
Lisa Stewart, president and managing partner for Impact 21, Lexington, Ky., said opportunities such as customer tracking and marketing via geofencing and beacons are within the grasp of organized and thoughtful retailers.
The problem for many businesses is staying focused, Stewart told about 75 people attending the technology-focused educational session. “[Retailers] have competing priorities,” she said. “Technology is getting faster, cheaper and better, but companies have no resources and often lack internal focus.”
She demonstrated several exercises retailers can work through with their internal teams, creating priorities that run across multiple departments and doing cost-assessment due diligence. In one case study of a client she kept anonymous, Stewart said only one-third of that company’s initial list of 61 prioritized projects made it through their initial prioritization and vetting phase.
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