Collaboration Control Tower

The control tower framework is perfect for the many interactions supporting the supply chain from manufacturer to the the end consumer and this same framework concept can be used to support the demands of the retail collaboration efforts.  Retail omni market collaboration also crosses over from the retail supply chain through the retailer and then out to the consumer and this collaboration requires the same ability to connect across disparate networks including social and commercial and in the case of the retail omni market support the objective of developing and building out the consumer to business relationship.  This is especially critical in the retail omni market because of the reduced, or non-existent, human interaction between consumer and the retail omni market. A collaboration control tower framework should be developed to support the consumer relationship in place of the human interaction.

In the past the collaboration across and between consumers and the retail supply chain was obscured because the human interaction between consumer and retail sales associate made this unnecessary.  The human interaction allowed the retailer the outlet and direct communication between retailer and consumer to provide the information and most importantly, the planning and coordination to ensure the product was delivered to the consumer in the event of an out of stock position.  This human relationship came as second nature because of the sales associate interaction with the consumer. On the negative side of this relationship from the current technology perspective is that this interaction was never really codified into a process that could be used to develop the virtual relationships.

This collaboration control tower would provide the means to define and support the connections across the participants in the collaboration network to allow them to communicate and develop the relationships that will both help the relationship grow and also allow non-linear interactions between the participants based on the needs at the time.  Both the connection and the participants can, and will, change based on the need at the time and the social network concept supported through the collaboration control tower framework would need to support these relatively random type of connections and interactions. The collaboration control tower framework must be flexible to support the social communication to support, and grow, the virtual relationship between consumers and the retail omni market.  

The communications and actions resulting from the collaboration can be complicated and require a great deal of thought to develop a process flow for each type of communication or action.  This is why it is critical for the business relationship to develop the collaboration control tower framework that will provide the framework to support the connectivity and collaboration process flow based upon the need at the time in a fluid, robust and more social type of handling and process.  A social network such as Facebook is a good example of the compelling power of the retail omni market collaboration control tower. Facebook has extended the social network platform to include methods to both sell and advertise products. They have done this through a continuous delivery process and the large retailers must begin to develop their own social network methods to enhance the relationship with consumers.  These must be done over time through a continuous delivery method that is supported through a collaboration control tower framework.