Have Your Say.....

We at LogisticsIT.com hope you are enjoying our recently introduced blog zone. A number of interesting and topical themes have already been discussed; including: the importance of improved communication with supply partners within the world of retail, involving not only harmonisation of technology and process but also a common culture and the free flow of information (for more detail, see the blog posted by Nigel Illingworth of Retail Assist). Jon Donchey, COO at Exotrac, argues that Android is the platform of choice for business growth and a more streamlined operation in the world of transportation and yard management. Lisa Taylor of Clydebuilt considers whether we should be using wireless or 3g processes for activities such as barcode scanning in the warehouse environment. Karin L. Bursa is a vice president with Logility, argues that all wholesale distributors should think in terms of supply chain optimisation, in view of growing costs, demanding customers and narrower profit margins.

There is much to talk about in the world of manufacturing, logistics & distribution and retail from an IT perspective. Although many system and solution areas – such as mobile computing, automatic data capture, RFID, supply chain management, warehouse management and Voice-directed picking – are now well established, solutions brought to market within these technology verticals are being constantly enhanced. Maybe you would like to have your say about these developments and trends, and whether you have any suggestions of your own as to the direction they should be taking.

On the other hand, maybe you have a view on the trend towards increasing system/device convergence, or on the growing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend that seems to be gaining greater traction within the logistics and retail space. And I'm sure the topic of Cloud/Software as a Service (SaaS) versus on-premise is still able to stimulate heated debate (what about the benefits of the Hybrid model?). Also, we would love to hear your views surrounding one of the big, relatively new, talking points – Big Data. What is your experience or involvement with this technology trend? Let us know. Maybe even provide us with your insights as to what might be the next major trends within manufacturing, logistics and retail IT...just a few thoughts to get the cerebral cortex primed and ready. We look forward to hearing from you. Happy blogging.

http://www.logisticsit.com/blog

Ed Holden
Editor