Omni Channel Integration Layer

I believe the concept of ‘plug and play’ is a type of Holy Grail search in the technology and business world for  the ability to simply add functionality by installing a plug-in that will immediately begin to work.  Granted, there are some areas where this concept works, or at least comes very close to working, especially in the mobile app and printer areas.  Even in the consumer world, many times there are unanticipated reactions that occur after the plug-in is installed.  These consequences range from the relatively benign such as installing drivers for a printer to the worst case of corrupting some configuration that supports another process or app.  The ‘plug and play’ concept in the business framework though has a much lower rate of success and requires a minimum of regression testing to a maximum of thorough end-to-end testing.

This is where the integration layer framework comes into play to allow the business to isolate business applications and networks from each other to limit the potential impact of problems with a change.  The integration layer also supports and enforces a standard process to follow for implementing changed and new functionality.  The omni channel sales and shopping channels is where this integration layer will really shine and more than pay for the effort and time to implement.  As a result of the volume and velocity of change being driven into the omni channel market, and especially from the mobile technology perspective, retailers must accept and implement a framework and a strategy that allows for quick modifications to the omni channel capabilities without impacting the operational and financial business functionality.

The integration layer framework institutionalizes the capabilities and tools necessary to support a robust continuous improvement program to support the discontinuous change driven by the omni channel and especially mobile market.  While either the integration layer or a continuous improvement program can work for a business separately, the combination of the two into a cohesive and robust framework that can easily support the requirements of the business.  The continuous improvement process provides a method and procedures to evaluate and implement modifications and the integration layer provides the framework and the technology to support the efficient and effective delivery of changes while limiting the impact to other business functionality.   

This struction of an integration layer supporting the continuous improvement program provides the structure and the methods necessary for a retailer to quickly implement and modify functionality and features without the almost overwhelming impact of changes to their underlying legacy technology infrastructure.  Retailers cannot afford to swap out their operational and financial applications and systems in the same frequency as modifications are required for omni channel shopping applications and they should not be required to take on these overwhelming projects.   

And now for the audience participation portion of the show…

ECommerce will have wide ranging impacts on both the retail and manufacturing sectors.  How can you focus these abilities to improve the consumer's experience?  Improving the consumer’s experience will require a re-evaluation of the sales channels, the manufacturing channels and practices and the supply chain channels and practices from the raw materials to the consumers’ homes.  In order to ensure and maintain success in this new reality you must harness the tools and capabilities in many new areas.  How can you support these continuously changing requirements?

Omni Channel Flexibility

Flexibility in the omni channel platform and especially in the customer facing platform and applications has become extremely important due to the rate of discontinuous change driven by the technology and also the consumer acceptance and embracing the new technology.  The rate and breadth of change demanded by the consumer can easily leave any retailer behind, leading to the inability to support the consumer demands without a focus and a process that supports a flexible omni channel sales and shopping platform.  These new demands must then be layered on top of the legacy business applications such as inventory and financial applications that support the key business operational functionality.

The flexibility required to support the changing consumer demands requires the implementation of an integration layer that supports the changing consumer and applications demands to quickly add and swap out technology.  The integration layer will isolate the business operational applications and functionality from the customer facing shopping and sales applications.  This separation allows and supports the each of the key business platforms to be managed as separate entities, allowing them to be changed and maintained separately to meet the different demands of each platform.  Think of this integration layer as and API that allows the communication and integration of different platforms to support the business in a similar manner as SAP, or a WMS software package is implemented and integrated to existing business applications.   

As a result of the changing business and customer applications along with the speed with which the customer demands change, this integration layer has become an integral requirement to maintaining a stable and robust business application platform. Customer demands and customer applications are changing at an ever increasing pace that will most definitely disrupt the business without a robust platform to support these changing demands. This robust integration platform requires an equally robust continuous improvement and management process to ensure the successful integration and implementation of changes without impacting the underlying business operational functionality and applications.  

This integration layer provides a platform that supports the concept of ‘plug and play’ improvements and new features and functionality.  I call this a ‘plug and play’ concept because any change requires careful planning and a clear understanding of the change impact and requirements.  This also requires robust validation testing to ensure the stability of the business and customer facing platforms. This continuous improvement process is a key to the success of the integration platform to support the quickening discontinuous change without dramatic impact to the business or the customer.  In business you do not have the luxury to simply uninstall an app, there can be consequences from the implementation to the business.  The objective of the integration layer is to limit the impact and the change introduced across platforms and allow changes to be made to one platform without impact to the other platforms.

And now for the audience participation portion of the show…

ECommerce will have wide ranging impacts on both the retail and manufacturing sectors.  How can you focus these abilities to improve the consumer's experience?  Improving the consumer’s experience will require a re-evaluation of the sales channels, the manufacturing channels and practices and the supply chain channels and practices from the raw materials to the consumers’ homes.  In order to ensure and maintain success in this new reality you must harness the tools and capabilities in many new areas.  How can you support these continuously changing requirements?

Omni Channel Resolutions

Retailers must resolve to address the challenges and opportunities that have been presented this year from the consumer use of mobile technology in order to prepare and take advantage of the coming demands.  We all know that technology does not stand still and this is doubly true of consumer embraced technology.  I see the retail industry on the cusp of a major upheaval from mobile technology and the expansion of Internet connectivity and wireless network capabilities (the Internet of Things).  This will require retailers to define and implement a strategy that provide a flexible foundation and the framework to experiment with technologies and capabilities at an increasing rate.

This in not an impossible or overwhelming requirement if taken in steps that focus on flexibility and collaboration across technology, partners, platforms and networks.  In other words, the retailers must implement a flexible and robust continuous improvement program that is build on a flexible foundation of collaborative technology.  That is quite a mouthful of multi-syllable words however it simply comes down to a strategy of continuous improvement building on a technical foundation that is easy to modify through configuration and bolt-on tools.  While this is a simple concept to discuss and agree upon, it is also very difficult to implement for many retailers due to the level of legacy technology and applications supporting their business.  This is especially difficult for large brick and mortar based retailers that have expanded into eCommerce in the last five to ten years.  

It is not reasonable to expect retailers to replace their legacy systems and implement new state-of-the-art technology for two reason;

1. The first is the prohibitive nature of the cost a major overhaul or replacement initiative.
2. The second is the futility of replacing your business management ERP every time there is an improvement.  This is especially true in older and more established retailers that may have heavily customized their legacy ERP software.

The winning strategy is one that manages utilizing a continuous improvement strategy that will support incremental improvements and software implementations on a regular basis to support new requirements.  This requires implementing an integration layer that insulates the foundation business supporting ERP from the externally facing customer and eCommerce platforms.  This strategy of insulating the base ERP and continuous improvement of the customer and eCommerce facing platforms will allow for the retailer to improve flexibility and capabilities to take advantage of new mobile and eCommerce technology as it develops.

It is important to develop this flexibility in the customer facing platforms because of the rate of change and the quickening of this change.  Without this layer of flexibility allowing the retailer to turn on a dime, they would quickly be left behind as a result of the rate of change currently being driven by the technology.

And now for the audience participation portion of the show…

ECommerce will have wide ranging impacts on both the retail and manufacturing sectors.  How can you focus these abilities to improve the consumer's experience?  Improving the consumer’s experience will require a re-evaluation of the sales channels, the manufacturing channels and practices and the supply chain channels and practices from the raw materials to the consumers’ homes.  In order to ensure and maintain success in this new reality you must harness the tools and capabilities in many new areas.  How can you support these continuously changing requirements?