Understanding the difference among Multi-Channel, Cross Channel and Omni Channel

 

Lately  I have faced many customer asking questions about what really means Omni-Channel..  And sometimes it takes a period of time before we can deliver the right message. Because of that, I decided to explain my understanding of each term:

Before, I want to say that all retailers interact with their customers using different channels from Warehouses, Stores, Catalogs, Websites, Mobile Apps, etc.   So the challenge has been how to have a single Inventory system to all channels.  Retailers do not want to loose the opportunity to sell a product through a website if the product is located in a store, warehouse or vice versa.

Thus,  three different definitions have emerged to describe the evolution of  how retailers sell to customers.

Multi-Channel: Generally speaking, we can say it is the first term emerged when retailers decide to sell their products through different channels. It is a retailer selling products in different channels (Internet, catalog, Stores, etc.)  but using different inventory for each channel. That means if you product is not available in the retail webpage, maybe is available in the store.  Here the retail has the inability to unify the inventory system and is loosing the opportunity to sell just because the the inventory systems are not integrated or unified. In fact sometimes products available in one channel are not available in other channel. That makes sometimes impossible found a product in a retail website, print the page and go to the retail store and buy it.

Cross-Channel:  Cross channel is a evolution from Multi-Channel in this case customers will be able to see same products across all channels, allowing  them to see a product in a website a going to the store to buy it. Or even buy a product in the website and picking up it in the store. Here retailers have different inventory for each channels but allow integration between them giving to the customer more flexibility when they buy products, but the retailer have difficult to difficult to have unified measure metrics about sells and customer patterns.

Omni-Channel: This is the new term and the evolution from Cross-Channel. Here Retailers have a single Inventory system, Product data and customer information  that is used in all channels,  allowing the retailer to provide a better customer experience. Here customer have access to retail inventory regardless of the store, website, warehouse or mobile apps and perform a purchase order fulfilled from whichever location is the fastest, most economical or convenient to the customer.  As example for the customer just imagine to start your purchase process at home in the website retailer, select 10 items and save this purchase process and go to the store and talk with the retail employee and customer say I already selected 10 Items I want but the last two I want to touch them before to buy it. Can I add these additional items to the purchase process I already started. Answer: Yes off course you can finish you buying process at the store and you wont loose your time at home.  Here is where most biggest retailer are pointing out. We can describe this as Commerce Anywhere.

I would like to point some good additional information on this Youtube video with a nice description from EMEA Logistics & industrial research Jones Lang Lasalle.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VeIjVhXAWw

    Oracle has delivery Commerce Anywhere solutions that help retailer to achieve that Omni- Channel goal

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5bV04Q0o38

BI Publisher trial Edition can be used for test new functionality

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My experience Understanding SAP HANA

 

I have been trying to understand what SAP HANA Means And what difference it has with Oracle Exadata. Here are my two cents in the controversy.

What is HANA?  (Information Giving by SAP)

SAP HANA is a preconfigured out of the box Appliance

· In-Memory software bundled with hardware delivered from the hardware partner (HP, IBM, CISCO, Fujitsu)

· In-Memory Computing Engine (“IMCE”)

· Tools for data modeling, data and life cycle management, security, operations, etc.

· Real-time Data replication via Sybase Replication Server

· Support for multiple interfaces

· Content packages (Extractors and Data Models) introduced over time

Did you get it????? Mmm To be honest I don't,,, Well in others words HANA is a bunch or bundle of current SAP technologies that include:

-> ETL( Sybase replication Server, Business Object Data Services), Data Base, Modeling Tools, Repository Exchange (ICE ), BI Reporting Tools….

Mmmm a little confuse for me, given that I’m not a SAP expert… Now the question is, What if have to present the same scenario with Oracle technology . Well In Oracle Technology HANA would be equal to:

-> Oracle Exadata,Oracle Database,  Oracle Golden Gate, Oracle AIA, Oracle BPEL And/or SOA, and off course The Oracle Business Intelligence.. Well I have to say that Oracle Database include many additional options that  HANA does not. As partitioning, Compression, Real Application Testing.. Those make a huge difference in my humble opinion.  Another point is that if you are using Oracle Apps and Technology we can say that Oracle In memory Database formerly TimesTen + oracle Database could be fit HANA in oracle World, Off course if additionally we add the others tools (Not the database) Don’t you think?

Another Question show up to me.. Will HANA replace Oracle Database and Exadata Opportunities in Current SAP customers. My answer is yes and not.

First, HANA does not support the current SAP Business Warehouse (BW) , but reading its roadmap they will . Currently a customer who implement HANA today will have SAP BW and HANA at the same time.. Not worthy on my point of view. For Now HANA has In memory capability and Sybase replication server. That means the data is replicated and stored in memory , so then BW ETL tool is connected to HANA, making the extraction fast and the ECC which is connected to HANA sends the data on real-time or nearest to real time.

Secondly Will HANA Support the SAP Business Application (BA), Yes but is not available yet.. They are planning to support BW first and later in a future the BA.

Now If you have SAP BW and performances issues.. What is the best approach to fix them?

Option 1. HANA (Another Server, a new implementation , a lot new licenses and and more more money)

Option 2. EXADATA (Replace its current Oracle DB Server, it means move your current Oracle Database Supporting the SAP BW to EXADATA Machine, some additional licenses and no implementation project, and yes some additional money.

In my Opinion Option 2 give us better ROI and can be in production faster. 

Well As soon I got more inputs I will share with the community.

Information that can be important when your are trying to understand Enterprise Architects

 

This was taken from a website.. Is just a glossary of common words that everybody need to keep in mind

 

Glossary

• ADM (Architecture Development Method)—A process for creating an enterprise architecture that is part of the TOGAF standard.
• application architecture—The architecture of a specific application.
• architect—One whose responsibility is the design of an architecture and the creation of an architectural description.
• architectural artifact—A specific document, report, analysis, model, or other tangible that contributes to an architectural description.
• architectural description—A collection of products (artifacts) to document an architecture.
• architectural framework—A skeletal structure that defines suggested architectural artifacts, describes how those artifacts are related to each other, and provides generic definitions for what those artifacts might look like.
• architectural methodology—A generic term that can describe any structured approach to solving some or all of the problems related to architecture.
• architectural process—A defined series of actions directed to the goal of producing either an architecture or an architectural description.
• architectural taxonomy—A methodology for organizing and categorizing architectural artifacts.
• architecture—The fundamental organization of a system embodied in its components, their relationships to each other, and to the environment, and the principles guiding its design and evolution (from IEEE-1471-2000).
• business architecture—An architecture that deals specifically with business processes and business flow.
• business reference model (BRM)—An FEA term that gives a business view of the various functions of the federal government.
• business services segment—An FEA term that refers to a segment that is foundational to most, if not all, political organizations, such as financial management.
• CIO—Chief Information Officer, the executive in charge of information technology in a corporation.
• CIO Council—A council consisting of CIOs from each of the federal governmental agencies that coordinates work related to common interests.
• Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996—See Information Technology Management Reform Act.
• common-systems architectures—A TOGAF term referring to an architecture that is common to many (but not all) types of enterprises, in contrast to foundation architectures and industry architectures.
• component reference model (CRM)—An FEA term that gives an IT view of systems that support business functionality.
• data architecture—The architecture of the data (typically stored in databases) owned by the enterprise.
• enterprise architect—An architect who specializes in enterprise architectures.
• enterprise architecture—An architecture in which the system in question is the whole enterprise, especially the business processes, technologies, and information systems of the enterprise.
• enterprise service—An FEA term referring to a well-defined function that spans political boundaries, such as security management.
• FEA—See Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA).
• FEAF—See Federal Enterprise Architectural Framework (FEAF).
• FEAPMO—The organization within the OMB that owns and administers the Federal Enterprise Architecture.
• Federal Architecture Program EA Assessment Framework—A benchmark used by the OMB to measure the effectiveness of governmental bodies in using enterprise architecture.
• Federal Enterprise Architectural Framework (FEAF)—An enterprise-architectural framework used by the U.S. federal government to describe how the various governmental agencies and their IT systems are related to each other.
• Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA)—An architectural description of the enterprise architecture of the U.S. federal government that includes various reference models, processes for creating organizational architectures that fit in with the federal enterprise architecture, and a methodology for measuring the success of an organization in using enterprise architectures.
• foundation architecture—A term used by TOGAF to refer to the most generic of architectures that can be used by any IT organization, in contrast to common systems architectures.
• GAO—See General Accountability Office (GAO).
• Gartner—An IT research and advisory organization.
• gateway—A transfer point of an autonomous system from which messages from the outside world are received or through which messages to the outside world are sent.
• General Accountability Office (GAO)—A branch of the U.S. Government that is responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of different organizations within the U.S. Government.
• industry architecture—A TOGAF term that refers to a architecture that is common to most enterprises within an industry, in contrast to a common-systems architecture and an organizational architecture.
• Information Technology Management Reform Act—An act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996 that requires all governmental organizations to use effective strategies and frameworks for developing and maintaining IT resources.
• OMB (Office of Management and Budget)—Part of the Executive Office of the President of the U.S. that serves the function of presidential oversight on federal agencies.
• The Open Group Architectural Framework—See TOGAF (The Open Group Architectural Framework) 8.1.
• organizational architecture—A TOGAF term that applies to an architecture that is specific to a particular organization, in contrast to an industry architecture.
• performance reference model (PRM)—An FEA term that gives standard ways of describing terms related to measuring value.
• Return on Investment (ROI)—A measure (in percent) of the business value of a project, based on the increase in profit (either because of increased income or decreased expenses) divided by the cost of the project. For example, a project with a cost of $100,000 that returned $200,000 in increased profit has an ROI of 200 percent.
• ROI—See Return on Investment (ROI).
• segment—An FEA term that refers to a major line-of-business functionality, such as human resources, that might be shared across organizations.
• standards information base (SIB)—A TOGAF term that refers to a collection of information about standards, particularly in the area of open-source.
• TAFIM (Technical Architecture Framework for Information Management)—An architectural framework developed by the Department of Defense and officially discontinued in 2000.
• technical architecture—Usually refers to the architecture of the technical infrastructure within which applications run and interact.
• technical reference model (TRM)—Part of TOGAF, a reference model that gives a common language for various pieces of IT architecture. This term is also used for a similar meaning within FEA.
• TOGAF (The Open Group Architectural Framework) 8.1—An architectural methodology that is controlled by The Open Group.
• Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architectures—An architectural framework in which an enterprise is modeled as 30 or 36 cells, each of which represents an intersection between a stakeholder perspective and an abstraction.

Do you know Oracle can help you with your Community Tools?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8wXQHYY4xk

ORACLE BUSINESS DAY IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

 

 

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How to report laptop demos in ADS- DSS

As part of our target of report our  demos in ADS – DSS, we mustto define all of them in ADS – DSS as laptop – Not Network demo. As shown below.