Retail Pro International warns retailers against digital transformation ‘white elephants’

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Retail Pro International, provider of platform retail management software for mid- and top-tier specialty retailers, is warning retailers undertaking digital transformations that they may be left with white elephants if they fail to integrate with the existing ecosystem.

Having been a fixture on C-Suite agendas for the last few years, digital transformations are now beginning to be implemented by many organisations. Retailers can look to industry trailblazers such as Macy's and The Co-Op, which have acted on the need to transform digitally to drive sales and enhance customer centricity in today's omnichannel market. So how can retailers make turn these ideas into a reality? Thinking in strategic terms could hold the key to success: IDC predicts that by the end of the year, 70 per cent of the Global 500 will even create a dedicated team responsible for digital innovation.

"It's healthy to see a real sense of urgency to leave archaic manual processes behind; digital transformations represent a chance to push the boundaries of both in-store and online shopping experiences," said Kerry Lemos, CEO of Retail Pro International. "However, retailers must tread very carefully, because an incomplete job could do more harm than good. Using retail management systems that do not link with the rest of the digital ecosystem risks compounding existing problems by opening up new information siloes and slowing the whole operation down."

"A half-baked digital transformation would put a retailer at a significant disadvantage," Lemos warned. "The message is clear: retailers must ensure that all new systems integrate with the company's existing technology. That's why Retail Pro International has joined the SAP PartnerEdge® program: working closely with SAP will help us better serve our customers. Already, 130 brands such as Under Armour, Samsonite and Samsung are running on Retail Pro® and the SAP Business One® application. With the combined power of the integrated solutions, retailers can enjoy the benefits of optimized data use and increased visibility across all locations. This will enable better and more intelligent decision making, an increasingly key ingredient as retailers search for success in the digital era."

SAP Business One helps small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) and subsidiaries of larger businesses to instantly analyze growing volumes of data and gain the benefits of fast application performance while maintaining a streamlined IT landscape. It is available on premise or in the cloud hosted by SAP partners.