Leading industry analyst research predicts that "IT spending in retail will increase from $109 billion in 2003 to $136 billion in 2009. For wholesale, IT spending will increase from $67 billion to $76 billion." (Gartner, 2005)
In response, EOH Technology Consulting, a Certified Professional Services Provider of Technology Evaluation Centres (TEC) - the first Web-native technology research enterprise software evaluation firm, has announced the local availability of a Retail Research Centre (http://retail.technologyevaluation.com) and a Point of Sale Systems Evaluation Centre (http://pos.technologyevaluation.com) to help companies with the challenging process of researching, evaluating and selecting a point of sale (POS) software solution.
Keith Fairhurst, Director, EOH Technology Consulting, asserts: "As technology becomes crucial to retailers` survival, POS solutions automate transactions which will allow them to concentrate on their customer to increase revenues and prevent loss."
Before approaching vendors for a request for proposal (RFP), EOH Technology Consulting suggests companies engage in an online comparison of the leading solutions under consideration, in order to save time, money and staffing resources during the selection process.
Gartner points out that 70% of IT projects fail or fall short of expectations. Organisations are losing millions of rands each year because they select the wrong hardware, middleware and software, as a result of inadequate vendor information and evaluation processes. Such losses are increasingly apparent within price-sensitive small and medium enterprises, which require accurate IT information to be collected quickly and cost-effectively during software evaluation processes.
Fairhurst says that according to TEC, selections for POS, ERP, ECM, CRM, or SCM solutions may fail to accomplish what customers want, because customers did not begin their selection processes with a good understanding of their requirements.
"We believe that problems arise when customers do not prepare a proper request for information (RFI) to evaluate the pertinent responses from their short-listed vendors. However, TEC`s sophisticated means for performing requirements analysis will ease customers` selection burdens."
For more information, contact EOH Technology Consulting on (011) 607-8100 or visit www.eoh.co.za.
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EOH is a business and technology solutions provider creating lifelong partnerships by developing business and IT strategies, supplying and implementing solutions and managing enterprise-wide business systems and processes for medium to large clients.
EOH operates in the following three clusters of business units as a fully integrated business:
Consulting - Concentrated under the EOH KPMG Consulting brand are business units offering services ranging from strategic and business process consulting, project services, change management, supply chain optimisation and education.
Technology - Through a number of subsidiary companies, EOH is able to sell, implement and support a range of world-class business applications including ERP, CRM, business intelligence, advanced planning and scheduling, e-commerce and manufacturing execution systems.
Outsourcing - EOH offers comprehensive maintenance and support of client`s IT infrastructure and applications through the rendering of full IT outsourcing, application hosting and managed services. In addition, EOH offers full business process outsourcing services.
EOH has a presence in all major centres in South Africa and Botswana, and operates in the rest of Africa.
Technology Evaluation Centres
Technology Evaluation Centres (TEC) (http://www.TechnologyEvaluation.Com/press) is a leading online source for impartial technology and consulting evaluations. TEC has been aiding software selection since 1993 to reduce the cost, risk, and time associated with software selection. It has 24 online technology evaluation centres, ranging from ERP, CRM and SCM, to business intelligence, that contain thousands of detailed criteria on over 500 technology solutions. TEC receives over 1.7 million visitors per month to its sites, and millions of page views per month are generated by a global audience of senior c-level and VP executives, technology and functional managers, consultants and IT professionals.
For more information, see the company`s Web site at http://www.TechnologyEvaluation.com/press.
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