Technology Trends at That Time
In the early 2000s, many of the technical advances we take for granted today were still very new. Enterprise personal computing had been around for about a decade, but enterprise networking was still maturing and the internet was still an infant. Most retailers were still using proprietary cash registers and integrated peripherals with dial-up connectivity. Using PC’s in stores was considered revolutionary, and the internet was still the Wild West back then. Topics deemed futuristic to retail at the time included broadband internet connectivity, virtual private networks, kiosks, wireless point-of-sale, and Bluetooth connectivity.
The Internet Was Still New
In January of 2000, the internet was still relatively new to most people. Many retailers still didn’t have a web presence but most were rapidly exploring how they could utilize it as a new retail channel and customer experience conduit. In my presentation I provided some examples of innovative retailers who were ahead of their time:
- dELiA*s: their website was experimenting with social communities and the concept of crowd-sourcing. It would be five more years before Facebook hit the scene.
- Eddie Bauer: was an early retail pioneer on the web and provided wish lists, FAQs, and an attempt at frictionless returns, all of which were revolutionary web concepts in retail at the time.
The Digital Nervous System
The core thrust of the presentation was a concept called the “digital nervous system”. Digital nervous system is a phrase, popularly associated with Bill Gates of Microsoft, used to describe a vision for how the IT infrastructure of an enterprise could be analogous to the autonomic nervous system of a biological organism. Gates made extensive use of the term in his 1999 book Business @ the Speed of Thought. This book greatly inspired me and was instrumental in convincing me that I should join the company in June of that year. The idea is that companies need a technology foundation that works constantly and autonomously to benefit the organization. It should automatically do things that need to get done or prevent things from happening that shouldn’t, without the company having to focus on them. I like the analogy to our own digital nervous system because it made a lot of sense. There are critical things our body just automatically does that we never have to think about, like a beating heart, breathing, and blinking our eyes. If I had to consciously focus on these things I’d have less time to focus on the things I want to do like blogging, playing the drums, and devouring a good steak. This concept still exists today and is now called an Intelligent Enterprise. But it was revolutionary thinking in early 2000. The key benefits of an Enterprise Digital Nervous System include:
- allowing a company’s internal processes to operate smoothly and quickly
- enabling an organization to respond to customer feedback quickly
- enabling an organization to react to competitive threats in a timely manner
- empowering employees with critical knowledge
- enabling an organization to focus on business, not technology
This presentation was my first attempt at helping retail’s leading technology executives see Microsoft’s potential for their enterprise computing needs. My credibility as a former retail Chief Information Officer lured some big industry names to this conference, including executives from Nordstrom, London Drugs, McDonalds and Starbucks.
It’s an interesting look at retail’s “hot” technology topics at the turn of the century and, for me at least, was a fun stroll back through time in my career.
Presentation Topics:
02:30Â The Rapid Evolution of Retail Technology
03:45Â An Exciting Time to Be in Retail
06:15Â The Internet’s Potential for Retail
08:40Â How the Internet is Empowering Consumers
09:48Â The Internet’s Potential for Brand Identity
10:20Â A Early Glimpse of Social Networking & Crowd-sourcing
11:43Â A Early Glimpse of Customer Experience in Retail
12:10Â Early Examples of Internet Retailing
13:20Â Using the Internet to Connect With Customers
15:00Â An Early Glimpse of Connecting Physical & Digital Shopping
15:30Â Primary Forces Impacting Retail
16:05Â Examples of Why Retailers Need a Digital Nervous System
19:48Â Enterprise Digital Nervous System (DNS)
22:22Â Retail Specific DNS Example
24:00Â How a DNS Transforms Your Business
25:22Â Microsoft’s Retail DNS Strategy
28:10Â Microsoft’s End-to-End System Strategy
28:55Â The Bombay Company Store Intranet on Windows
33:45Â Predictions for Retail IT investment Going Forward