Chief Executive Officer

Nowadays, computer systems are critically important for every retail chain. They allow management to control the business and its remote branches.

Without a good computer system, your business will not have the right stock in the right place at the right time, and at the right price.

Without a good computer system, your business is guaranteed to consistently under-perform.

But what makes a computer system good?

A good system must be like an everyday appliance - like electricity in a power point, which is as simple to use as flicking the switch on and it always works when you need it. You should be able to take for granted that your computer system will always work too.

A good computer system is characterised by:

  • Reliability
  • Ease of installation
  • Ease of use
  • Value benefits that far exceed the price.

Your retail organization is about to deploy a new computer system. As the CEO, how can you make sure it really is a good one? That it will free you to focus on your business rather than on technology issues? That it will be used as freely and simply as an everyday appliance?

Drawing on our extensive experience, we offer you the key characteristics of not just a good computer system, but a 'great' computer system:

  • It must not be fragmented. You need a solid-state device, not a web of inter-connected boxes. Beware of the term 'Best of Breed'. A mess is still a mess even if the parts are okay.
  • It must be reliable. A piece of equipment may be good looking and functional but if it continually breaks, you will soon start to hate it. To be really reliable your system must be designed exclusively for retail - from the ground up.
  • It must be proven to work well in a similar organization. As an absolute minimum, it must be retail-specific. If you need a car then buy a car, not a foreign tank or a push bike. A tank will cost millions and will paralyze your movements. A bike may be cheap but it will only get you through the first 30 miles.
  • It must be affordable. When you hear reports that a medium-size retailer spent $90,000,000 on a computer system, you should shiver. No retail system in the world is worth this kind of money. $9,000,000 would have been too much, but $90,000,000 is just ridiculous.
  • Your system must be provided and supported by the right organization. If the vendor's organization is larger than yours, you will never get good service, you will be over-charged and you will be treated with contempt. If the vendor is too small, they will not be able to respond to your needs.

Retail Directions software is used by numerous retail chains, some of which are publicly listed. The systems from Retail Directions are retail-specific. They work well. They are fully integrated, highly reliable and are very cost effective.

From the CEO's perspective, if you want the right IT backbone to support your corporate objectives, if you want to optimise your IT and if you want to minimise risk, then the Retail Directions solution is perfect for you.