Arnotts

SOA gives retailers a critical market advantage

There is no replacement for direct,  personal interaction with customers in stores.  The next best thing,  however , is to be able to view a single,  accurate picture of how the customer shops, what they buy, when and where.   Many retailers already capture such details but struggle with delivering a consistent set of customer information across channels, merchandising and business operations, in order to provide a consistent and compelling shopping experience.

This need for shared information systems is driving retailers to adopt service-oriented architecture (SOA).  SOA offers a flexible way to connect the many different silos of information throughout the retail organization, providing users with a single view of customers and inventory.

SOA provides the ability to develop enterprise applications as modular business services that retailers can easily integrate and re-use as needed to provide consistent business logic across their various platforms.

Arnotts, the Republic of Ireland’s oldest and largest independent department store,  is moving to SOA as part of a two-year IT overhaul.   The Arnotts team,  staff,  suppliers, distributors and management now all have visibility to,  and can co-ordinate activities using a single synchronized plan for inventory,  delivery,  execution, promotions,  events and more  -  helping to ensure the right amount of inventory is available in the right place and the right time.   In total,  about 90% of Arnotts’ business footprint has been affected by technology change and as the project heads towards completion,  Arnotts is already seeing the benefits of a more efficient organization,  with sales improving,  enhanced planning processes and more accurate forecasting of sales and seasonality.

Sept.  27,  2007