Revitalize the Customer Experience.

Elective Session Schedule

Be sure to check back often, as we will be continually adding more exciting sessions!

Architecture/Infrastructure

Architectures For Future Retail Systems

This session provides a perspective for retail leaders on architecting information systems for efficiency, performance, flexibility, and long life. We will discuss today’s retail relevant IT environment along with tips and guidelines for successfully engaging it. Today’s economic downturn and future uncertainties make getting the most out of IT systems and infrastructure more important than ever to retailers. Systems must not only weather today’s economic storm but be positioned to respond rapidly to shifting consumer demands and expectations. Sound system architecture is essential for maintaining intellectual control in such times. Systems architecture is a fluid concept – often referenced but also often misunderstood and maligned. Every practitioner has a methodology and every working system has a demonstrable architecture. But not all architectures and methodologies are equal and not all are fit to purpose. This session will provide a framework for understanding best-fit retail information systems – a framework for making better technology decisions and implementing better systems whether you are creating your own or integrating a vendor’s.

This session will provide a framework for making better technology decisions and implementing better systems - whether creating your own or integrating a vendor.

Hollis Posey, Chairman and COO, Next Retail Group

Are You Using All of StoreGazer’s Potential?

A large number of 4690 OS users have installed StoreGazer, and some use StoreGazer for more than just systems management. This educational session will focus on the new functions added to StoreGazer and COPS in the last two years. Many retailers who installed these solutions in the past may not be aware of all of the new capabilities available. The presenter will discuss the functions and how they extend basic 4690 systems management into control and PCI compliance tools. Questions from the audience will be encouraged to make the session interactive and valuable.

David Wadsworth, Vice President, EDJ Enterprises, Inc.

 

Protecting Credit Card Data through Tokenization and Segregation

The best way to protect your customers’ credit card data is not to carry it at all. Understand how Pier 1 is using our credit switch to ‘tokenize’ credit card numbers, so they are not stored on the POS.

Lou Sterzenbach, Director of Applications, Pier 1 Imports

Lisa VanAmburgh, Sr. Manager, Applications, Pier 1 Imports

Reduce Costs of Managing Retail Systems with Improved Service Management

Learn how IBM Systems Management can reduce costs and provide the visibility, control and automation for store operation success:

• Deploy new store technologies rapidly with standard based infrastructure
• Monitor and manage infrastructure resources as well as all store devices
• Provide Asset Lifecycle Management through Datacenter class management tools
• Maintain services across operational boundaries through integrated processes and systems

Peter Harris, IBM

Customer Service

Self-Scanning: Customer Service at the Point of Decision

Self-scanning, where shoppers use small, mobile computers as shoppers’ assistants, has been used for years in Europe but only rarely in the United States. However, new initiatives, in hardware but even more so in software, make this an ideal initiative for improving customer service and establishing differentiation as a retailer. Learn how new apps, new technologies and new ideas are already helping give customers what they want, saving time and money, and retailers what they want, more revenue and customer loyalty.

Gregory R. Canda, Director, Solutions & Services, Datalogic Mobile

Winning the New Consumer

This presentation will discuss the current state of retailing and the need to revisit the approach retailers are taking to building and retaining a profitable customer base. The program will explore the people, process and technology changes taking place in customer service, marketing, merchandising and store operations; all in the effort to build an integrated platform enabling a direct link between Customer and Supplier Relationship Management. The result – a clear connection across the extended retail enterprise and in order to drive a better understanding of what it will take to “Win the New Consumer”.

Jim Nadler, Vice President – Marketing, afterBOT, Inc.

Why the CIO led a Multichannel Loyalty Implementation at Godiva

Godiva Chocolate Rewards Club, a multichannel Loyalty program was implemented this past year. A unique aspect of the implementation was Godiva’s CIO/VP; Mike Giresi was chosen to lead the project. Why an IT person? Come discover how IT, Marketing, Retail Operations and the consumer truly teamed up to design a loyalty program customer’s wanted. The results, as of January 1, speak for themselves. Godiva has signed up over 1.5 million customers versus the original goal of 400K. Also hear about how social media and in store training tools, used in conjunction with the loyalty program, is satisfying Godiva customer’s chocolate cravings.

Les Jones, Sr Project Manager - IT, Godiva Chocolatier

Customer Touch Points

Are You Ready for Mobile Bar Codes?

Your competitors just may be. Join this session, presented by the bar code solution experts at Honeywell, to learn all you need to launch a mobile bar code initiative to drive increased sales. This session will provide information on the state of the industry and the technology required to capitalize on this trend in mobile marketing.

Geoff Gelay, Honeywell Scanning & Mobility

Enhancing the In-Store Shopping Experience with Self-Service

Learn how to focus your in-store self-service strategy and solutions to capture the projected $1 Trillion in consumer spend through self-service kiosks by 2011. Will you be ready? Learn why self-service -- through kiosk and self-checkout solutions -- should be a vital part of your future store strategy. Hear more about the innovative solutions that IBM and its Business Partners provide to enhance the shopping experience through customer-centric self-service solutions; seamlessly integrating store processes and data across multiple consumer touchpoints.

Norma Wolcott, IBM

 

Mobile Shopping for the Smarter Consume

With over 4 billion mobile phones worldwide, outnumbering PCs by a 3-1 margin, few will deny that mobile shopping is the way of the future. Although, as with any emerging market, there are often more questions than answers. In this session, our goal is to answer many of your questions around consumer mobility and how it will take shape in the retail industry. We will discuss mobile market trends, key challenges, emerging technologies, and the various mobile shopping models.

Craig Stevenson, IBM

 

Payment Security Strategies for Retailers

This session will present the current regulations and compliance retailers must meet in order to be truly PCI compliant. There will be discussions on PA-DSS, PCI-DSS, PCI PED, “end to end” encryption, and Remote Key Injection and the impact on the retailers Point of Sale environment.

Lloyd Baylard, Vice President, Hypercom

 

Top 10 Questions US Retailers are Asking About Retail Payments

This session will address the top 10 questions received from U.S. retailers over the past 12 months related to Retail Payments. Retail payments are undergoing a revolution both in the United States and internationally. Consumers are being presented with an increasing number payment options and merchants must stay up to date or risk losing business. This highly interactive session will include discussion around contact, contactless, EMV- Chip and PIN, and mobile payments. Merchants will learn how to approach their retail payments environment strategically rather than reactively.

Dave Mahr, V.P. Sales & Marketing, STJ Retail

 

Store Operations / Solutions

Automating Self-Checkout Management: A Case Study

This session will feature a case study and discussion with one of your retailer peers detailing their experience with managing the cash office and self-checkouts, how automation was able to make their processes streamlined and consistent and what role IBM-integrated technologies play in managing their cash offices. Learn how to achieve operational excellence in front end and cash office operations by implementing best practices in a variety of areas, including labor management, shrink management, and process improvement.

Brian Goedland, Business Solutions Director – Retail, Roundy’s Supermarkets

Greg Drees, EVP, Retail Innovations, Balance Innovations

Casey Lintner, EVP, Consulting Services, Balance Innovations

Building a Dynamic Infrastructure for Retail: The IBM Sure Operating Environment

The Sure Operating Environment (4690) strategy for Retail, unveiled during NRF last year, defines IBM's dynamic, business-aligned store infrastructure that improves service, reduces cost and manages risk. Hear about recent updates and upcoming enhancements that deliver lower TCO and a superior customer experience, including accelerated support for power management and virtualization, as well as application integration enabling customer data to be moved instantaneously on the display between legacy and new solutions.

Bill Noonan, IBM

Compliance and PCI:  A Burden or Can it Make Your Business More Efficient?

All retailers who process, store and or transmit payment card data are required to be compliant. Learn how you can leverage this requirement to increase efficiencies within our business and minimize risk.

Fabian Oliva, IBM

How to Automate the Retail Replenishment Process and Manage Inventory

When implementing automated store ordering, retailers face issues like processing considerable amounts of data, integration in complex IT-environments, long implementation cycles, operational risks, undefined TCO, etc. Integrating with InfoSphere Warehouse, SAF RetailSuite is a highly optimized, pre-configured and fully scalable software appliance which accurately predicts upcoming demand and replenishes inventory automatically. Scaling automated replenishment to their business needs, retailers consequently increase sales, reduce inventories and prevent out of stocks, all at once – at a fraction of the costs, streamlining operations and reaching fast-paced ROI. The experience shows: retailers having their inventories and replenishment processes under control are more profitable and competetive than those that don't.

Kevin Stadler, Vice President Sales and Marketing, SAF USA

How to Make Your Self Checkout Project Successful and Set Yourself Apart

With consumer demand for self-service checkout on the rise, many retailers worldwide have shifted focus from "Why self checkout?" to "How can self checkout help differentiate my business both today and in the future?" This session will cover IBM's perspective on all aspects of the solution, including hardware, software and services. We'll identify the critical factors for success and share how you can deploy self checkout to uniquely differentiate your retail chain. We'll drill down into the CHEC software environment so you can better understand how CHEC software can help drive higher lane availability and reduce TCO - all while providing you flexibility to take greater control of your own environment. Regardless of whether you are still considering self checkout or are well into your deployment, come find out how you can use self checkout successfully to deliver a smarter shopping experience for your consumers and gain their loyalty and business over the long-term.

Ken Duffy and Brian Taylor, IBM

 

IBM Loss Prevention - Dramatically Impact Shrink at the Point of Sale and Self Checkout

The costs of shrink in this economy are steadily climbing for retailers, despite an increase in technology solutions and process changes in the store. An alarming fact is that both employee fraud and front end operational losses represent a growing percentage of the losses. Using IBM Loss Prevention solutions, retailers can enhance their existing environment to effect dramatic reductions in shrink and loss prevention at Point of Sale and Self Checkout.

Wayne Truhan, IBM

 

IBM SurePOS Hardware Update - NDA

IBM is focused on providing leading POS and next generation point of service solutions while implementing more sustainable “green” technology. Come to this session to understand IBM’s current POS product lines and solutions offerings, including printers.

Derek Franks, IBM

 

Lessons Learned – PCI DSS 1.2 Compliance Project

Is your company a retail merchant intending to become and remain PCI DSS 1.2 compliant? If you are a project manager, information technology professional or executive responsible for the achieving PCI certification, this presentation is for you! This presentation describes approaches and real-world experiences from a recent PCI project run by a global merchant. Presenter will share project “lessons learned” including getting executive commitment, communication, risk management, execution challenges, techniques for overcoming obstacles, what worked well, and what could have been done better. Content of this presentation is intended to help guide attendees with PCI project management so the project ends with a success story—not a post-mortem.

Michael Hoehl, CISO, Godiva Chocolatier

 

Mobile Point of Sale - are you ready for it?

In this session we will explore the customer benefits of deploying a mobile point of sale / Line busting solution in your store environment. This session covers examples of features and functions, sample deployments (pro’s/con’), and review of “how it is done” to make such projects successful. This session also covers future trends of specific hardware (ex: iPhone/Android devices) and how/why they make sense in-store.

Sandeep Bhanote, CEO, Global Bay Mobile

 

New Generation Retail Systems for Smarter Planet

With the value of excess merchandise in the supply chain for Retail Stores hitting $1.2 Trillion, Retailers are more pressed than ever to build a foundation that will deliver a shopping experience that builds sales and generates customer advocacy. The complexities of leveraging and deploying new technology quickly and smoothly to the store environment can be a challenge to manage, especially in a low skill environment. This session will discuss the values of simplification of the store architecture with the latest IBM Store solutions designed for Retail.

Sai Chan and Boyd Dimmock, IBM

 

Point of Contact Services: The Future of Point of Sale

Point of Sale is changing, and Wal-Mart is positioning itself as an agent of collaborative change. Come hear how Wal-Mart is partnering with IBM to reinvent Point of Sale into a platform for revenue-generating and cost-saving services for associates and customers.

Jason Todd, Technical Expert, Wal-Mart

Tim Webb, Technical Expert, Wal-Mart

 

 

Plan With Ease – Maximize Return On Your Promotions

SAP will discuss challenges the numerous challenges retailers face when planning and executing promotions, as well as strategies and tools for surmounting these challenges. This includes aligning to strategy, understanding effectiveness of different offers/tactics, localizing offers via versioning, and eliminating redundant, error-prone, manual tasks that cost time and money, and can cause shoppers to have a negative experience.

Wayne Neale, SAP

 

Profit from Cash-Room Automation and IBM POS Integration with Safe

Learn the modern way to utilize current technology to automate the cash room, eliminate cash room employees, eliminate cash shrinkage and get immediate over/short reports by integrating the POS to the Intelligent Safe. No more manual money counting. You will gain a tremendous profit by implementing the latest in cash room technology.

Michael F. Hudson, Executive Vice President, Tidel Engineering, LP

 

Retail Sales Tax Automation – A Key Element of Your Technology RoadMap

This session will present examples of Retailers who have successfully utilized Vertex Technology in combination with IBM Systems to replace manual elements of sales tax management and enhance their bottom-line performance. Most companies hold reserves for sales tax penalties - often the result of a breakdown in manual processes used to generate standard and exception rules within more than 7,000 taxing jurisdictions. Vertex’s Retail Solution is the centralized tax platform in your enterprise technology strategy to integrate and drive the benefit of Vertex’s tax rate, rule, and holiday updates directly into your IBM POS systems. This IBM and Vertex partnership boosts your organizations bottom-line by reducing cash outlays and reserves for needless penalties.

John Cowan, Director of Retail Solutions Practice, Vertex Inc.

 

 

TCO and ROI: How IBM Helps Quantify the Business Value of Store-based Technology

Every dollar of IT investment faces increasing scrutiny from non-IT managers and C-level executives. A proper understanding of TCO and ROI for their store-based technologies help retailers make the best use of scarce capital and maximize long-term business value versus merely selecting the least-cost option. This session will touch on TCO/ROI-drivers and specific technology applications, and will offer the opportunity to explore examples in real-time during and after the session.

Tadd Wilson, IBM