Only about one in five survey respondents indicated that an ERP package implementation was one of their top three near-term investment priorities. Not surprisingly, Year 2000 compliance has taken the lead and is diverting resources from other IS enterprise investment initiatives. ERP vendors have failed to achieve significant penetration of the retail industry serving just 10 percent of the market. However, the legacy systems ERP vendors seek to replace are not viewed as value creating systems in the retail organization. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents felt that ERP vendors had yet to demonstrate a value proposition that justified the investment.
Retailers are however, showing a strong willingness to adopt kiosk technology at the store level.
Some 58 percent of survey respondents are either considering applications for kiosks or have kiosks already implemented. Interestingly, a growing use of kiosk technology is providing HR services such as benefits enrollment, to store associates. Driving the growth in kiosk deployment is the proliferation of Internet technology. A related priority is upgrade of the data communications infrastructure used to support in-store systems. Drawing on the knowledge and skills of 155,000 people in 150 countries, we help our clients solve complex business problems and measurably enhance their ability to build value, manage risk and improve performance.