First and foremost, Keith Taylor understands that, “Retailers demand an ROI from their investments; they are constantly looking at doing things more effectively to help improve their margins and reduce costs.” 4Retail fulfils all these criteria because it “provides an inexpensive system to retailers which provides 80% of the benefits of larger, more traditional, much more expensive on-premise behemoths."
4Retail differentiates itself from other software available on the market because it bases its business model on Software as a Service. The term Software as a Service has become the new buzz phrase of the software industry and many software companies have jumped on the bandwagon and declared their products as falling into the SaaS category but as Keith Taylor suggests, this is not the true story. In reality, all they really have is a hosted model. 4Retail leverages SaaS as a business model and this runs through the entire organisation. Taylor explains that “because SaaS companies only have one platform and no overheads related to the need to support multiple versions of different databases and operating systems, we (4Retail) can release new software more frequently and because we run the platform, we can deploy it on behalf of the customer.” 4Retail can save retailers both money and time.
Retailers now recognise the need to focus on having value added IT departments rather than departments that focus on hardware and system maintenance and they may start to see Software as a Service as a lasting solution, “Technology has gone from playing a primarily back office function to being a new channel and enabling processes and functions downstream,” says Keith. The SaaS business model complements this changing attitude towards technology because the IT department do not have to install or update software across the infrastructure of a company. 4Retail works across one platform and can be accessed simply and easily via the internet.
With the aim to help and support retailers, as Keith states, “4Retail is passionate about helping retailers and seeks close partnerships. We are staffed by ex retailers and understand the requirements of the sector.” Whether this means improving communication between retailers and suppliers or enhancing collaboration, 4Retail can lend a hand to all these areas. “Other Retail solutions are too focused on data capture and are typically based on feeding a relational database and seek to obsessively capture data driven by a process,” says Taylor. “Retailers need more than this, particularly for upstream processes and communication. They need systems that genuinely support their business models and this is where 4Retail comes in. Processes are not just about capturing data but about communication and 4Retail understands this.”
The concept of working together and implementing push and pull rather than simply ‘push’ communication is something that can be harnessed by Retailers. For as Taylor asserts, “Analysts and industry commentators seem pretty unanimous in recognizing that real savings and productivity gains will come now not simply through one-sided pressure but more collaborative approaches.”
From Facebook to LinkedIn, there is no denying how advances in technology and social network sites have transformed our methods of communication. It is this concept of creating a network of communication that the CEO of 4Retail is keen to draw upon. “The single biggest application on the internet remains email but social networks now have over 300m users. We choose to use these networks because research shows they are better at building and fostering relationships than emails.” In the same way, 4Retail allows retailers to address specific retail collaborative business processes more effectively and reinforces relationships. This means that users of 4Retail spend less time searching through emails and more time working on non administrative tasks. “4Retail could revolutionize the working day for the better,” says Taylor.
When it comes to the deployment of 4Retail, Keith Taylor is of the mantra slow and steady wins the race, “My experience suggests that the most effective deployments start simple and then evolve. A lot of studies show that users only actually use a fraction of the capabilities of some of the systems they purchase. It is important to remember to focus on the key benefits and not allow something to overdevelop into something way too sophisticated that becomes difficult for people to adopt. The evolution of the system over time into something more sophisticated is far more preferable than presenting something intimidating to the users.” Retailers do not have to purchase an all-encompassing system because 4Retail can be used to help in different areas of the business. The email to folder function aides the global sourcing team, 4Retail can be set up to improve supplier management and the view and mark up tool can enhance collaboration within the design team. Adaptable and tailored to the Retailers needs, 4Retail offers a variety of different retail solutions.
With his sights set on continuing to deliver new capabilities on a quarterly basis in terms of functionality and content, Keith Taylor is certain that, “2010 is going to be a very exciting year for us.”
Keith Taylor will be attending the NRF 99th Annual Convention & EXPO Convention: January 10-13, 2010. To request an appointment, click here
For more information on how 4Retail can help you click here
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