Business Intelligence (BI)

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings announced that Jeff Balagna will join the company as executive VP and CIO. In his new role, Balagna who most recently served as CIO at Eli Lilly, will be responsible for all technology and infrastructure initiatives for the company in its support centers and in-store.
   

Chicago -- Dillard's has selected OpinionLab to extend its omnichannel “Voice of Customer” program including its digital, mobile and in-store experiences, with precise insight into what its customers want and need.

CINCINNATI, Ohio — KSS Retail, a global provider of price optimization and shopper insight solutions for the grocery, convenience, chain drug, general and online retail industries, has launched a new product that will enable businesses to efficiently harness data for more accurate forcasting.

Called PriceStrat Analyzer, the advanced business intelligence solution is designed to help the retail industry identify trends and exceptions so they can make faster, more accurate decisions about pricing and promotions. 

CHICAGO — The Hillshire Brands Company has appointed David W. Stahl as its new CIO. Stahl will oversee all IT strategy and planning activities and will provide executive leadership and direction for IT. He will report to Maria Henry, CFO.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — JDA Software Group has launched six JDA Cloud Optimize services designed to enable customers to enhance and transform their supply chains.

Moving beyond simply organizing information, JDA Cloud Optimize teams work hand in hand with customers to generate concrete recommendations and offer contextually relevant insights into big data challenges facing every global enterprise today. 

Urban Outfitters' store operations and visual teams are benefitting from a cutting-edge solution that provides upstream visibility with regard to store-delivery shipments and more robust tools with which to plan receiving the goods.

The application, StoreTrac from Philadelphia-based PCSTrac, is a Web-based inventory control and management application that delivers a store-level snapshot of shipments. It has been deployed across all the company's retail brands, a total of approximately 430 stores.

Naperville, Ill. -- OfficeMax on Tuesday reported a lower-than-expected profit, for its first profit, hurt by declining technology sales. Prior to its earnings release, the company also announced a special dividend of $1.50 per share.

OfficeMax's first-quarter profit available to shareholders rose to $56.3 million, from $4.9 million a year earlier. Sales fell 5.65% to $1.77 billion, while analysts expected $1.83 billion.

Managing labor remains one of a retail company's biggest challenges — and most untapped opportunities. JDA Software's Scott Welty talks about workforce management trends with Chain Store Age.

What are some common mistakes retailers make when it comes to managing labor?