NRF Unveils Line-Up for NRFtech 2004

This year's NRFtech 2004 sessions will include:

Opening Keynote Address: Bruce Nelson, Chairman and CEO, Office Depot, Inc.
Monday, August 9, 9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.

Merchandise Optimization Experiences: Retail CIO Panel Monday, August 9, 10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

Hear a prominent line-up of retailers discuss how they are leveraging Merchandise Optimization technology to help make better merchandising decisions based on customer demand information and advanced analytics. The panelists will discuss the importance of an underlying demand intelligence framework that enables better decision-making throughout the merchandising process, such as buying, allocation/replenishment, promotions and pricing. They will share their experiences with this new technology that delivers a quick return on investment, increases margins, and improves sell-throughs.

Panel Participants: Ed Wong, SVP Supply Chain & Systems, Charlotte Russe; Wolly Morin, Retired CIO, Ann Taylor and NRF CIO Council alumnus and Scott Friend, Co-founder and President, ProfitLogic

Moderator: Dale Achabal, Director, Retail Management Institute, Santa Clara University and NRF CIO Council Member

Creating World-Class Store Systems Monday, August 9, 1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.

Hear the unique approach on how Limited Brands is utilizing technology to further build a family of world-class brands such as Victoria's Secret, Express, Bath & Body Works and Limited Stores. To achieve a consistent, high quality "in-store" customer experience, this specialty retailer developed world-class store systems that supported their various store operations initiatives.

Speaker: Jeannine Ralston, VP Application Development, Limited Brands and ARTS (Association Retail Technology Standards) Board Member

Offshoring: Getting it Right Monday, August 9, 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Driven by economics, retailers are turning to foreign providers to augment or replace IT staff and support needs. While there are clear advantages to such an initiative, there are serious legal and business issues to consider, loss of jobs, physical security, the impact of U.S. and foreign laws, data privacy and confidentiality, as well as appropriate ways to mitigate those risks. How should retailers handle the high-profile offshoring backlash and communicate effectively to internal and external stakeholders, as well as the public? What are the lessons learned and best practices? This provocative session will articulate the retailer benefits, risks, processes and perspectives.

Panelists: Terry Morgan, SVP IT & CIO, Food Lion; Mike Jones, VP, Director Corporate Systems, JC Penney Company; Basab Pradhan, Infosys Technologies ; Scott Langdoc, AMR Research

Moderator: Brian Kilcourse, Director of Strategy, Retail Systems Alert Group, and former CIO, Long's Drugs

How Sears Information Technology is Breathing New Life into the 118-year old Retailer Tuesday, August 10, 9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.

Over the past three years, Sears has undergone a remarkable transformation from a retail and credit/financial services business to a multi-channel retail and related services company. This session will highlight how technology enhancements and improved efficiencies will lead to better customer service, a stronger bottom line and will position the company as a leader, not only in retailing, but also in the synergies created between IT and the its business partners.

Speaker: Garry Kelly, SVP & CIO, Sears, Roebuck and Co. and NRF CIO Council Member

Nobody Does RFID like Sara Lee Tuesday, August 10, 10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

As an $18+ billion supplier of consumer goods, Sara Lee has been very aggressive in embracing RFID and recently completed two RFID pilot initiatives in its Apparel and Frozen Foods businesses. Hear the value proposition challenges, the approach they have taken, the lessons learned along the way, and how one of Wal-Mart's top suppliers is managing RFID activities globally.

Speaker: Ray Hagedorn, VP of IT Business Solutions, Sara Lee

RFID: The next big thing? Tuesday, August 10, 11:15 AM - 11:45 AM

IDC's Christopher Boone will discuss the promise and the reality of RFID for the retail supply chain, analyze current retailer mandates, present the evolving RFID ecosystem, evaluate consumer privacy concerns, and reveal an updated spending forecast on this emerging use of this technology.

The National Retail Federation CIO Council is the voice of retail technology, keeping track of trends and speaking for the industry on strategic IT matters. Council members represent over six countries and its proactive efforts help shape the retail technology environment and provide valuable information that is transformed into best practices. NRF CIO Council accomplishments this year includes joint collaboration with AMR Research that resulted in the first comprehensive, line-item level IT budget analysis seen in the U.S. retail industry, enabling more accurate benchmarking for the retail industry as well as the improved reporting of retail IT statistics. The Council also successfully collaborated with its standards division, ARTS (Association for Retail Technology Standards) to produce the ARTS-NRF Standard RFP Program, the industryâ€(tm)s first library of standard RFPs that will help retailers improve processes, reduce costs and provide contract guidance.

The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet and independent stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.4 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 20 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2003 sales of $3.8 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations.