TechBytes – Five SPECS Sessions for IT Pros

Chain Store Age’s 52nd annual SPECS conference starts March 13 at Hotel Anatole in Dallas. Although the conference focuses on store planning/design, equipment, construction and facility services, it offers several sessions that are of great potential interest to retail IT professionals. Here is a brief overview of five technology-themed SPECS conferences.

Innovation Spotlight: Target Open House

Part retail space, part lab, part meeting venue for the connected home tech community, Target Open House opened last July in San Francisco’s Metreon shopping center. The center offers visitors experience vignettes that demonstrate how multiple connected devices can work together to create real-life solutions. As well, innovative products are showcased in custom displays.

In a Monday afternoon session, Target describes how this non-conventional retail environment provides a testing ground for future in-store innovations on a broader scale.

Tablets Unlocked

Tablets and other mobile or remote technology are changing how consumers live their lives, and are having just as large an impact on how retailers design, build, manage and maintain stores. In this Tuesday afternoon session, experts will explain how retailers are using tablets to provide seamless enterprise access to cloud-hosted applications for tasks such as site selection, regional demographic analysis and RFP management.

Attendees will also discover how tablets enable real-time project management, as well as promote collaboration on project plans, specs and photos.

Drones, Sensors and Integrated Apps

This Monday afternoon session examines how mobile, drone and wearable devices are causing an evolution in construction projects. Topics covered include virtual reality, augmented reality, how drones are impacting building projects, the integration of cutting-edge mobile applications, sensors and Web-based solutions into the office and on the job site, and how innovative technology is inspiring collaboration and design.

Amazon Can’t Do That

The question that retailers must be able to answer in order to survive: On Monday morning, attendees will find out how the physical store can rival the best tools and conveniences of the online shopping model? Or, simply put, what can’t Amazon do?

Must-See Innovations – A 2016 Watch List

Retail is undergoing a momentous shift right before our very eyes. New innovations are coming to market every day, and technologies have upended the retail experience. This Tuesday morning session brings attendees up to speed on the latest and greatest trends in retail innovation – and offers up a watch list for must-see in-store innovations in 2016.

Hopefully we will see you at SPECS this year and if you happen to attend the “Tablets Unlocked” session please stick around till the end and say hello. I will be moderating.