Business Intelligence (BI)

MENLO PARK, Calif. — As mobile commerce grows in popularity, the need for IT professionals is rising, according to a new survey about IT risk factors for 2013 published by global consulting firm Protiviti. The 2013 IT Priorities Survey (www.protiviti.com/ITsurvey), designed to help IT departments classify areas in need of attention in order to better execute the function's strategic mandate, found that IT executives are struggling to manage the wide variety of technology risk, regulatory compliance and performance challenges that now face them.

SEATTLE — Sears' online marketplace will be the subject of a webinar on Feb. 26 hosted by Mercent, a technology company that enables retailers to profitably reach and convert more shoppers online.

Titled "Selling on Sears.com - Your Access to more than 15 Million Loyal Shoppers," the webinar will discuss Sears.com's role as the third largest online marketplace and how its expanding its reach and visibility against Amazon.com, eBay and Google.

One of the largest dividend increases in Walmart’s history helped shareholders look past, temporarily at least, yesterday’s release of sales results that show a disturbing trend at U.S. stores.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. said that its fourth-quarter net income rose 13% to $244 million, far ahead of expectations, helped by its customer loyalty program. Safeway said the program, which offers personalized discounts based on past purchases, is driving market share gains and profits.
 
Quarterly sales rose to $13.77 billion from $13.60 billion a year ago. Same-store sales, excluding fuel, inched up 0.8%.

 

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Managing and classifying enterprise data is the number one security and privacy area in need of improvement, and remains a major challenge for IT departments, according to a survey about IT risk factors for 2013 published by global consulting firm Protiviti.

The 2013 IT Priorities Survey found that IT executives are struggling to manage the wide variety of technology risk, regulatory compliance and performance challenges that now face them.

NORWALK, Conn. — Consumer goods manufacturer Unilever has implemented Terra Technology’s Demand Sensing and Multi-Enterprise Inventory Optimization solutions across Europe. These implementations are improving forecast accuracy and helping to create a more agile and efficient supply chain, contributing to significantly lower inventory and improved on-shelf availability.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -- Using social media to drive brand awareness and sales has to be a carefully thought out process, a new study by J.D. Power and Associates has found.

Austin, Texas -- Whole Foods Market reported that its first-quarter net income rose 24% to $146 million, exceeding expectations, on stronger revenue. But the grocer narrowed its revenue forecast and said its earnings growth may slow through the remainder of the year amid higher store-opening costs and plans to increase its selection of lower-priced products.

Total sales increased nearly 14% to $3.86 billion for the 16-week period that ended Jan. 20. Same-store sales were up 7.2% for the quarter.

New York -- J. C. Penney Co boosted its borrowing capacity under a bank credit facility by $100 million to $1.85 billion and expanded an option to borrow more at a later date.  

"As we enter the second year of our transformation, today's announcement reflects the confidence of our banking group in our long-term strategy and further strengthens our liquidity position as we continue to execute our plan," J.C. Penny CFO Ken Hannah said in a statement.

New York — Findings released Tuesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that top-performing companies typically have demonstrated strong collaboration between the corner office and the CIO.

According to PwC’s Digital IQ survey, companies with strong, collaborative relationships between the CIO and other c-suite executives are four times as likely to be top-performing companies as those with fragmented relationships.