Take an enterprise view toward data synchronization, retail experts say
As the retail industry moves toward web-based product data synchronization, a trend is developing for retailers to start out by building connections for synchronization externally with their trading partners, Russell Coonrad, senior manager of the retail/wholesale practice for consulting firm BearingPoint Inc., tells Internet Retailer. But to be truly effective, he adds, retailers must face the more difficult challenge of building data synchronization internally among different departments and divisions.
The immediate gain for many retailers implementing web-based data synchronization under UCCnet standards is more accuracy and speed and less cost in the transfer of purchase orders, invoices and other business documents at the highest corporate levels, he says. But the greater long term benefit is in higher levels of collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment, or CPFR, that can improve inventory management and deliveries of particular products within specific time frames. But to be effective with CPFR, retailers will need to extend data synchronization to their internal departments and divisions, because otherwise store-level personnel and legacy computer systems will be working with different product codes, Coonrad says. “CPFR is a great concept, but first you have to fix up your own house,” he says. UCCnet is a non-profit unit of the Uniform Code Council Inc. dedicated to helping companies meet standard methods of synchronizing and transfer product data.
Internal data synchronization can be especially crucial in stores such as pharmacies that sell widely different products, including many items such as drugs or foodstuffs that must be sold within limited time periods, Coonrad says.
He adds that having at least some internal data synchronization and standardized business processes can help companies carry out more successful acquisitions of other companies. “If you already have your internal processes worked out, you can make them part of your extended organization faster and at less cost,” Coonrad says.
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