Oracle and MNOs can give bricks and mortar peak agility
Oracle partner OLR Retail claims it has created a business service opportunity for all mobile operators with their top tier retail partners.
As department stores and big grocery chains struggle to compete with online retailers, OLR Retail and its mobile systems integration partner Peak Technologies claim they can create liquidity out of bricks and mortar assets. They want to be able to be more responsive to events and open pop-up shops, one day stores for festivals and instant warehouses for supply chain emergences. That requires perfect information management and, while many IT systems can meet this challenge, the backbone and central nervous systems of many bricks and mortar stars need to be more pliable.
Mobility service
The raw material for this empowerment is a simple mobile network, which is transformed into an activating agent by a cloud apps from OLR and integration from Peak, according to Stephen Godman, Sales Director, EMEA, OLR Retail. With a readily available mobile network and staff handsets, a supermarket or department store can set up a ‘pop up shop’ in order to try out new concepts or react to a crisis. “We’re [using consumer mobile] taking the lead in accelerating the end-to-end automation of the retail supply chain for improved flow of intelligence to every worker on the shop floor, the warehouse, and the back office,” said René Schrama, UK MD for Peak Technologies.
ERP is controlling
All enterprise retailers, such as supermarket chains and department stores, use enterprise resource planning systems, but ERPs can have the effect of pouring quick drying concrete into an engine. Modern enterprises don’t want their sinews stiffened – they want the opposite quality, agility, according to Schrama. Oracle’s Retail ERP system is one of the most popular and the two integrators claim they have made it more amenable without neutralising its omniscience. System integrator Peak and Oracle specialist OLR Retail claim to have reconfigured and retrained the ERP system to work around the user’s preferred business processes, through the use of its own M-Netics system. Peak Technologies provides the comms integration. The upshot is an application that can be run cheaply on staff smart phones, which can be deployed easily.
Pop up at festivals
One department store opened pop up shop at a festival and one well known discount supermarket was able to use a car park as a temporary shop floor when its indoor retail space was flooded. The phones, the ‘resource planning’ system and the mobile network make information on the entire supply chain available. This means staff can use their phone to instantly find anything for customer, whether in another shop, in the warehouse or in transit, according to OLR’s Godman. The use of a smartphone and a smartphone app and a mobile network makes it makes everything easier.
New steps
“This partnership brings a step change for retailers,” said Godman. “The ease and speed of integration of M-Netic’s functionality with Oracle Retail will empower retail organisations with the latest intelligence on products and pricing, clicks and collections with complete visibility over stock, whether the goods are in the warehouse, in transit or on display.”