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Conference Highlights The 32nd Annual Conference of the IBM Retail User Group was held in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 17-20 at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa. The conference, attended by more than 360 retailers, solution providers and IBM retail experts delivered the latest education and information on solutions and challenges facing the retail industry. “We believe this year’s conference addressed the key issues that all retailers are facing in these challenging economic times,” said Kelly Hewitt, President, IBM Retail User Group, who served as conference host. “Our conference, with the theme, SHARE-LEARN-SUCCEED, Turning Challenges into Wins, delivered the latest ideas, solutions and IT strategies inside and outside the walls of the store to retail executives and solution providers around the world.”
One of the key benefits, based on attendee feedback, was the opportunity to network with key retail executives and their peers, which makes this conference unique among retail events . New this year was a “SpeakEasy” networking opportunity for attendees to communicate and network in a casual setting after Tuesday’s events concluded.
The annual event brought together an impressive group of retail professionals to discuss ideas, trends, and technology shaping the future of retail. Keynote speakers featured in the main tent included: Dr. Robert Genetski, a prominent economist and financial researcher and Chris Schroeder, EVP of Lowe’s Home Improvement, who gave his insights on information security.
A main tent panel discussed the topic of how retailers are surviving and thriving in today’s challenging climate, entitled: The Three E's of Retailing: Economy, Efficiency and the Environment”. The panel featured Joe Rosolanko from Toys R Us and Marc Windahl from Scheels, Inc. who discussed initiatives their companies are employing today to adjust to the current economic downturn. As part of the panel, Leon Milnes from IBM offered his insights into “green” initiatives retailers are implementing now that can help both the environment and their companies. A second main tent panel, "Mobile Phones the Next Retail Revolution", featured Richard Mader, Executive Director, ARTS, John Rohland, AVP, Sales Operations Solutions, BJ's Wholesale Club, Mohammad Khan, President, ViVOtech, Inc. and Kristian Gjerding, CEO, CellPoint Mobile, Inc. Retail speakers were on hand from Godiva Chocolatier, Inc, Pier 1 Imports, Safeway, Inc, IT Sure, InVision Software, Inc, IBM Corporation, Bealls Department Stores, Lowe's, SofTechnics, Inc, Motorola, AirDefense, Inc, Verisign, Microsoft, INX and RSR Research LLC and Next Retail Group to offer their insights at super session and elective sessions, providing insight and meaningful experiences addressing today’s challenges.
This year, the conference introduced “super sessions”, which offered the opportunity to share in-depth information in a panel-discussion format comprising of retailers, industry experts, business associates and IBM professionals on four major topics:
Elective sessions offer in-depth information
In addition, 26 elective sessions were offered by retail members, IBM and their retail solution partners. The sessions addressed Loss Prevention, Mobile Commerce, POS Functionality, Front-End Efficiencies, The Next Wave of Self Service Innovations, PCI Compliance, and much more.
Conference Highlights
31st Annual IBM Retail User Group Conference May 18-21, 2008 in Orlando, Florida by Tina L. Horne, Ph.D. IBM Retail Store Solutions The 31st Annual Conference of the IBM Retail User Group was held in Orlando, Florida on May 18-21 at the beautiful Renaissance Resort at SeaWorld. Based on attendee feedback, the conference delivered on all expectations particularly in areas of education, networking and information. “We believe that we addressed the key issues that all of us are facing in the competitive world of retail,” said Kelly Hewitt, President of the User Group. “Our theme of “get connected, stay connected” really resonated this year with the conference delivering the latest ideas, solutions and IT strategies inside and outside the walls of the store to retail executives and IBM solution partners around the world.” This annual event brought together retailers, and IBM solution partners to discuss ideas, trends, and the technology shaping the future of retail solutions. The recent expansion of the association’s focus beyond the four walls of the store brought participation from all areas of retail management. Over 350 participants learned from their peers and networked with some of the most influential names in the retailing industry. The conference featured presentations by prominent retailers including Office Depot, CVS, Bloom Grocery, Giant Eagle and Bob Evans restaurants. Attendees also got to hear from Irish Senator Feargal Quinn, founder of Dublin based Superquinn Markets about the challenge of providing customer service in the 21st century. Jim Stickley, co-founder of TraceSecurity offered insights into the important issue of PCI DSS security. In addition, 37 elective sessions were offered by retail members, IBM and their retail solution partners. The sessions addressed Retail Green Initiatives, Loss Prevention, Mobile Commerce, POS Functionality, Front-End Efficiencies, The Next Wave of Self Service Innovations, PCI Compliance, and many more. Numerous “Birds of a Feather” and roundtable sessions were available which provided lively discussions among attendees on some of the more pressing and pertinent issues facing retailers today. Innovation and technology remains a key driver of the powerful trends that are shaping the way the consumer shops and will be served in the future. To recognize technology innovation leaders, the User Group established the “IBM Retail User Group – Innovation Award” in 2007. This year’s winner was, CVS/Caremark; “PhotoTouch, In-store Photo System”, and received the 2008 award at a ceremony during this year’s conference. The 32nd annual conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the popular JW Marriott Resort. Mark the dates of May 17-20, 2009 on your calendar now, and look for more details about this exciting event in upcoming issues of the POST. Innovation in the Store and Beyond Held in Las Vegas, Nevada, the 30th Annual Conference of the IBM Retail User Group brought together retailers, IBM solution partners and IBM to discuss ideas, trends, and the technology shaping the future of retail solutions. An overwhelming success, this year’s conference, “Innovation in the Store and Beyond” exceeded all expectations according to attendees. The conference delivered the retail industry’s latest ideas and strategies through 45 elective sessions to a gathering of almost 400 retail executives, IBM business partners, and IBM personnel. In addition, over 50 associate members participated in the exhibits showing products and services that support the IBM retail solution environment. This year’s event was even more popular than last year, seeing a 15% increase in attendance, with more retailers attending than ever before. And, the feedback was very positive. The recent expansion of the association’s focus beyond the four walls of the store brought participation from all areas of retail management, with participants learning from and networking with some of the most influential names in retailing. Feedback from attendees gave the conference an overall 4.4 rating out of a possible 5, the highest rating ever and almost unheard of for a Business Conference. A comment from one of the attendees was indicative of the overall response; “I liked it a lot and plan to attend next year.” Bob L. Martin, Independent Business Executive and former President and CEO of Wal-Mart International, delivered the keynote address and also received a Lifetime Innovation Award from the User Group. Mr. Martin is one of the founders of the IBM Retail User Group and is a globally recognized retail industry leader, influential in the development of many of the retail industry’s most advanced technologies and retail strategies. Mr. Martin spoke about the challenge for retailers of “Chasing Change”, but argued that innovation must be a part of the corporate fabric for companies to survive and win, and that technology remains the “key driver” of the powerful trends that are shaping the way consumers will be served in the future. Other main tent attractions were presentations from prominent retailers including Metro/real, Caribou Coffee, Home Depot, G.I. Joe’s, Belk Stores, Pathmark Stores, The Sharper Image, Safeway, Ahold and John Lewis, UK. Dan Clark, who is a world-renowned speaker as well as the primary contributing author to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series and author of twenty of his own books, wowed the audience with his master storytelling ability and inspirational message. Steve Ladwig, General Manager of IBM’s Retail Store Solutions, delivered the IBM executive perspective on the revolution taking place in retail and how that is driving IBM’s global retail strategy. John Gaydac, Executive Advocate for the User Group and VP of Sales of the Americas Group for IBM Retail Store Solutions offered insights into IBM’s retail strategy – to deliver solutions that create customer value, improve store operations and overcome technology constraints. An additional 40 sessions were offered by IBM and their retail solution partners. The sessions addressed Technology Direction, IBM Hardware Updates, Store Architecture, Store Integration Framework, Enhancing the Shopping Experience, Platform Migration, Front End Optimization, CISP Card Data Security, Data Governance, and many more. Numerous brainstorming and “share the experience” roundtable sessions were also available. Innovation in the use of technology remains a key driver of the powerful trends that are shaping the way the consumer shops and will be served in the future. This year, to recognize technology innovation leaders, the User Group established the annual “Retail Innovation Award”. The 2007 winner was Safeway Inc. working with Balance Innovations for their “VeriCash” project, which was created to customize and install cash office software and hardware at all Safeway locations. As one of three finalists, Safeway was selected as the winner by the User Group’s retail membership at the conference. Dan Hopping received a special award for his twenty-seven years of service and commitment to the User Group. The 31st annual conference will be held in Orlando, FL. Reserve May 18 -21, 2008 on your calendar now, and look for more details about this exciting event in upcoming issues of the POST.
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