The CIO Retail Connect event is the one-stop shop for CxO’s and other senior retail IT executives from top UK retailers. Being an official sponsor meant we could fully immerse ourselves in all aspects of this forum. It was the perfect opportunity for both retailer’s and partners to engage in discussions around hot topics in the technology space.

“It was fantastic to be part of the CIO Retail Connect event this year and to see so many engaged attendees” – Steve Sharp, CEO at Searchlight

Setting the foundations

Both mornings kicked off with exciting keynotes with speakers from WEX, Sainsbury’s and The Restaurant Group followed by interactive discussions and interesting case studies throughout the day. It was great to hear leading retailer’s thoughts on how they have been effectively adapting to digital transformation and how technology can help to shape a successful business strategy.

From these talks, it was clear that the key to a successful business strategy is to realise the benefits of digital. Companies need to understand that in order to set the foundations to move to more efficient and complex capabilities, it is important to implement the basics first. More efficient capabilities will ensure that organisations have the means to innovatenew ways of providing their products and services to the end consumer.

Be more agile

As well as exhibiting our services in delivering successful innovation, digital and Omni-channel integration, we spent time meeting a variety of attendees. What came out of these conversations was the realisation that in order to adapt to the constant stream change within this industry, organisations are feeling the increasing pressure to be more agile.

It was clear that most organisations are in the early stages of agility, however many are starting to use agile for both IT and product/ service delivery.

Michael Barker, CTO of WEX said “to gain success, it’s important to get support in order to understand how to further leverage beyond these agile capabilities”.

Integration driving business benefits

Another key focus of the event was integration, in particular API. To show the success of digital to the wider business, organisations should be using integration to drive a view of interactions with vendors.

API integration is being leveraged to:

• Break down the transformation of the back and middle office into bite sizes aspects.
• Connect all points of contact with the customer, be it the till, store, loyalty card or other devices.

The benefits of API integrations include improving customer experienceand driving efficiency. These types of integrations allow the focus to be on the speed to benefitand increased pace to deliver change.

Searchlight’s customer success stories

We have worked on projects with a wide range of retail companies, such as Fat Face and Wiggle, to help them navigate their way through this challenging landscape. Different ways of thinking and guidance are needed to help drive the industry in the right direction. Hear what they have to say in our case study video.

Find out more

Digital transformation can empower as much as it can engulf retail organisations. If you would like to learn more get in touch, or download out ‘Is technology Clouding retailers’ vision’ whitepaper here.