Business Intelligence (BI)

San Luis Obispo, Calif. — Shopatron, a provider of cloud-based distributed order management solutions, is releasing a free inventory visibility API. Shopatron Retailer Inventory Lookup is a cloud-based solution that offers enterprise-wide inventory visibility and also provides retailers with actionable analytics to improve in-store operations, stocking, merchandising and product marketing.

The solution enables retailers to instantly connect customers with local, available inventory.

Mindshare Technologies acquired Empathica last year, rebranded the company as InMoment and launched a new customer experience optimization platform called the Experience Hub.

Target has bolstered its digital security efforts with the appointment of former General Motors and General Electric executive Brad Maiorino to the newly created role of SVP and chief information security officer.

Boston — Three in four (75%) retailers can or intend to identify customers when they walk in the store, including 3% who already do so and 72% who are planning to do so within five years. According to the new 2014 CRM/Unified Commerce Benchmark Survey of top North American retailers from Boston Retail Partners, 95% of respondents indicated customer experience/ customer engagement is one of their top three current initiatives.

Irvine, Calif. — Sage North America is releasing the new Sage Exchange Payment Management System to consolidate all of retail small-to-mid-sized business (SMB) payment activity onto one platform. SMBs can use Sage Exchange to monitor and manage the payments from all their sales environments: on the web, over the phone, through mobile devices, or at their storefront, on a 24/7 basis.

While the mantra of “keep it simple, stupid” has long been a staple in the world of business, the message of the recent SAP Sapphire 2014 conference in Orlando could be summed up as “keep it simple, smart.” Speakers throughout the three-day event stressed how leading-edge technology allows enterprises to operate with a previously unavailable simplicity and flexibility, providing new and exciting capabilities.  Here are a few examples.

Mooresville, N.C. — Paul D. Ramsay has been promoted to CIO of Lowe’s Companies Inc., effective immediately. He has been serving as acting CIO since March.  

Los Angeles — PriceGrabber has partnered with Channel IQ, to power "Buy Online", Channel IQ's latest product that will be available to consumers early this summer. Powered by PriceGrabber's shopping content, Channel IQ's "Buy Online" solution allows manufacturers to offer consumers a way to find and purchase their desired product from authorized retailers and ecommerce sites.

Lowe's has named Paul D. Ramsay as chief information officer, effective immediately. Ramsay, who has been serving as acting CIO since March, will report to Richard D. Maltsbarger, who was himself appointed chief development officer. 

Ramsay is responsible for day-to-day operations of Lowe's IT organization, including the continued development of a technology portfolio designed to seamlessly support the operations of the company's stores, distribution network, e-commerce platforms and future business technology needs. 

Shopzilla, a leading platform that connects 50 million retail shoppers monthly with online marketers, has consolidated three marketing-centric business units — Audience Discovery and Activation Services — under the Connexity brand name.

“Connexity will uniquely combine consumer insights and media buying within the same programmatic platform, helping marketers to learn more about their customers, discover valuable audiences, and activate new consumers at scale,” the company said in a statement.