Cegid Connections 2019: We loved it! How was it for you?

Fired up for the future

Opening the event, Tania Oakey, Cegid’s Retail Marketing Director spoke passionately about the challenges – and opportunities – faced by the global retail industry.

“These are exciting times for retail – probably the most exciting our industry has ever experienced,” she said. “Because – we are in the midst of a retail revolution – an omnichannel and unified commerce revolution. Consumers have never been so demanding. We want to shop, purchase, return anywhere – on the web, in your stores on a mobile device, on social media – everywhere in the world. And, of course we want to do that faster, further, better!”

She and colleagues on the main stage explained that, over the next few days they would demonstrate how, together, this can be achieved.

Packed programme to inspire and inform

Cegid Connections offered an action-packed programme. There were main stage sessions, keynote speakers and a choice of workshops. These were designed to help delegates anticipate retail trends, consider solution roadmaps, and learn best practices. Of course, our clients and partners in the audience was also eager to hear about the launch of new Cegid solutions and to find out how to get the most from their existing solutions.

In the spotlight was our newly launched product – Distributed Order Management – taking OMS, Order Management even further. This has been designed to enable retailers to make full use of their stores in the fulfilment process, optimising and managing supply chain processes and decisions, and omnichannel picking for reservation.

There have also been major releases for our Shopping, MPoS and Orli products that generated lots of interest at the event. Visiting retailers were particularly eager to see how new elements of our software can be put to practical use in the live retail environment.

Other new services we were able to showcase included our improved customer care framework, digital learning practice and our development of ‘skills transfer’, that will help retailers get the most out of our knowledge, as well as our technology.

Innovation literally everywhere

There were a number of innovation and discovery areas that proved very popular. The Cegid Innovation Store was a hotspot for learning about the possibilities of unified commerce and how to delight customers with frictionless service.

At the Partner Village, 35 retail partners were on hand to showcase their latest innovations and share learnings. We were also very proud to present additional areas for delegates to explore: The Cegid Retail Design Lab, the Data Exploration Lab, the Professional Services and Digital Learning theatre, and a Customer Care Centre.

Hologram and ‘speed meetings’ spice things up

Cegid thought it would be fun to offer speed dating-style ‘speed meetings’ at Cegid Connections. These accelerated 10-minute sessions with Cegid Retail teams and partners could be pre-booked via the Cegid Connections App, and they proved a hit!

We pushed technology to the limits in our stage presentations too, celebrating the possibilities of a digital future, but injecting a fun, humorous dimension. During the Plenary Session on 15^thMay, a Cegid Hologram called Maria appeared on stage, to the delight of delegates. She performed the role of co-host, introducing guests on stage. She told the packed auditorium: “I am digital, I am Data… ok? I’m SaaS, I am cloud… Retail is my element…I am everywhere!”

Working together…our key message

But on a serious note, we feel that Cegid Connections 2019 really did drive home our key message – strength in togetherness.

As Head of Cegid Retail Nathalie Echinard, put it so eloquently: “Together we are stronger. More expertise. This has been demonstrated in the launches of new products. Together, we are more efficient – demonstrated in our combined expertise on SAAS and retail operations managed services. Methodology – projects and products management – are shared, enhanced and now have become best practice for all.”