Shopping centre transformation in the digital era – how to choose the right WiFi.
Technology Strategy
Retail Technology Strategy & Transformation
Javelin Group develops a three to five year retail technology strategy derived from your business strategy, providing a clear view of priorities to address in your application portfolio, core infrastructure, technology skills and IT operating model.
There are many competing pressures on a retailer’s technology function – for example, enabling greater digital engagement with customers, improving efficiency in basic retail functions such as merchandising, and ensuring rock solid reliability of critical services such as POS. Often technology departments are managing some applications that are out-dated, with limited resources to deliver improvements.
Our structured approach helps define your priorities in a formal technology strategy. You will gain insight into the strength of your existing application portfolio, team and processes, assess the impact of making changes and finally deliver a fully costed transformation programme, focused on your business priorities and aligned to your budget expectations.
A strategic approach to retail systems architecture
Many retailers of scale have at least one ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution covering key back office functionality and often a wider footprint supporting, for example, merchandise planning, merchandise management and supply chain functions such as demand forecasting and warehouse management.
Alongside the ERP is a mix of in-house developed applications and a wide range of best-of-breed packages and legacy solutions. Introducing change into this complex mix of applications, with their critical interdependencies, can be time-consuming and expensive, both to design and develop as well as to test and deploy.
For this reason, significant change in retail systems architecture is best approached strategically, a process on which we are extremely well-positioned to advise.
Retail technology planning questions we address
Over many years of successful retail technology planning we have developed a very effective approach to answering the following questions:
- Will our applications support the business in 3-5 years’ time?
- Scale and growth
- New function and services needed
- Rapidly changing business needs
- What changes are needed, and by when?
- Should we enhance or replace?
- If replace, should it be with an ERP or best of breed packages?
- Should we consider custom software development and the use of microservice architecture?
- Which specific solutions should we select and how should we integrate them?
- How will we resource and manage the programme?
- What effect will our strategy have on IT operating costs?
- What skills will I need?
- How should the IT organisation change to suit the future world?
- How do I gain agility and speed of delivery while preserving application stability and performance?
Testimonials
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Retail plays an important part in the Ben & Jerry’s success story. Our stores are where the brand is brought to life, encouraging consumers to join us in support of our social mission. Javelin Group understands retail and retail technology thoroughly; the team was able to grasp quickly the Ben & Jerry’s brand and identify the technology that would best support the customer experience that we aim to deliver.
Debra Heintz, Global Director of Retail Scoop Shops, Ben & Jerry’s. -
Krispy Kreme is growing and evolving rapidly and our technology has not always kept up this pace. Javelin Group provided us with a rapid, thorough and professional top-to-bottom review of our applications and technology costs. They provided deep retail technology insight and recommendations on how to move towards best practice. Their comprehensive financial benchmarks will be particularly helpful as we challenge our suppliers to deliver best value. I recommend them.
Robert Ledger, Finance Director, Krispy Kreme. -
Javelin Group’s team delivered clear strategic options and very practical recommendations to drive our international, omni-channel, and marketing technology strategies. They gave ongoing high quality support to our international team, more than rose to the brief in the omni-channel area, and gave us great understanding of the right technology for us. We are pleased with their results and found them a pleasure to work with.
Keith Nesbitt, Chief Operating Officer, T. M. Lewin. -
With most of New Zealand’s population being an active customer of The Warehouse Group, our ability to better understand and serve our customers relies heavily on advanced customer data processing and marketing. We engaged Javelin Group to help us review and refine our customer data strategy. They brought experience from work with their European and US clients and the Javelin Group consultants had both a strategic outlook and a practical mindset. They helped us identify further opportunities in our strategy and developed a clear vision and process to help us move forward. I am very pleased with their work and recommend them highly.
Simon Turner, CEO, The Warehouse (New Zealand).
Further Reading
Technology & Systems Integration
Contact Practice Director
Anthony Farrow
Director, Technology & Systems Integration
Anthony Farrow runs our Systems Integration practice. He joined Javelin Group in 2001 and has many years of experience advising the world’s leading retailers, brands and B2Bs on retail and digital technology strategies. Anthony specialises in both consulting and delivery of complex global technology solutions including ecommerce, order management and product information management systems.