Retail
Digital transformation and efficient data management to boost your margin and agility

Changes in consumer behaviour and the emergence of disruptive competition have had a devastating impact since the internet era began. This upheaval has directly accelerated retailers’ digital transformations, not only in terms of customer relationships, but across the entire value chain. Margins are a critical issue in retail, so ignoring this vast area ripe for optimisation was never really an option.

Opening information systems to the outside world is increasingly common. Suppliers are obviously one aspect to this, to optimise sourcing and computer-assisted management generally, but new partners are another, as shown by connections between long-standing retailers and new digital firms.

Consequently, retailers are implementing comprehensive transformation plans, at enterprise architecture level. These plans involve many dimensions, including the organisation and its people, IT, governance and so on, and must deliver a coherent, comprehensive and non-fragmented response.

01THE PITFALLS

The challenges posed by changes
in retail and its digitalisation

Practices are changing at every level, be it brand image, disruptive competition, omni-channel processes, the explosion in product portfolios, or anything else. While omni-channel distribution is often viewed through the lens of the customer journey, the cross-functional aspect, and information and process continuity internally between all departments and the ecosystem, are also vital.

La transformation digitale du retail avec l’ESB

De-silo your best-of-breed applications

With custom developments and applications falling into disuse, you run a multitude of business software and you plan to stop being dependent on legacy IT systems.

This is the ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) aspect

Le MDM pour transformer le retail

onsolidate
your master data repositories

With code conversion, PIM, reliability, multi-lingual requirements, etc., your product portfolio is simultaneously going global yet demands adjustments to meet specific local needs. You need to structure all your master data repositories.

This is the MDM (Master Data Management) aspect

Comment le BPM transforment les processus retail ?

Structure your business processes

ERP, WMS, CRM, PIM and more… Beyond vertically-integrated applications, you want to generate value from business processes.

They need to be cross-departmental and cross-application to forge closer collaboration across the whole organisation.

This is the BPM (Business Process Management) aspect

Ouverture du SI dans la grande distribution

Build jointly with
your ecosystem

Interchanges with your ecosystem are expanding and helping to improve your competitiveness.
You also want to do more with less and shift data entry onto suppliers while ensuring that data is still accurate.

This is the API Management aspect

02METHODS AND SOLUTIONS

What methods and solutions deliver the best response for digital transformation in retail ?

Vertically-integrated systems (PIM, PLM, ERP, WMS, CRM, CMS etc.) provide a specific response to a particular need. However, it is information systems re-engineering, both in-house and with your ecosystem, that forms the foundation underpinning your business strategy and your transformation plans.

Each functional brick has its assigned place in your information system. One mistake often seen is an attempt to enlarge the functional scope of some bricks beyond their real capacity. A PIM system can never play an MDM role.

You need to address your issues pragmatically, while implementing a strategy and solutions that will give you a long-term view and allow you to adapt to new challenges and changes in your organisation.

The fundamental question is “How can I make my information system the cornerstone of the transformation of my organisation and my business governance ?

At this point, the Blueway platform is meeting two vital needs enabling us to continue to grow with complete peace of mind.

Christophe TourteHead of IT at CMP PARIS

03THE BLUEWAY SOLUTION

The Blueway solution for digital transformation in retail

Since Blueway was formed, we have seen super- and hypermarkets, and DIY and other specialist superstores all face the challenges of re-engineering and standardising their information systems and processes. While we offer IT solutions, we have always firmly believed in doing so to meet the needs of businesses and their people:

Finding new areas to generate margin, through process automation and optimisation;
Regaining agility in your business process and the flows of information between departments and subsidiaries;
Ensuring the accuracy and uniqueness of product portfolio data, while supporting its international spread;
Optimising your sourcing and the opening of your IS to suppliers through portals. Your information system then becomes a joint value creator.

Our customers in Retail include

Blueway delivers an appropriate solution, scaled for retail. Our platform includes every aspect needed to achieve a re-engineered and suitably open information system, with BPM, MDM and API Management. A seamless fit between these four dimensions is the only way to ensure an agile, application-agnostic information system.

Our modular platform will manage your master data repositories, model your function-spanning processes, and interconnect your information system. Over and above internal streamlining, API Management delivers huge time savings by giving suppliers greater autonomy, plus joint value creation and innovation building, better anticipation, supervision and analytics, etc.

Serving your needs Serving your Information System