Cegid Connections 2017 – Day 1: Setting the Stage

Cegid’s international user conference, Cegid Connections, is currently taking place in Budapest. Key themes on the agenda include: unified commerce, digitization, customer experience and international development. It’s a busy 3-days with an action-packed program.

Hundreds of retail professionals met on the banks of the Danube. Their objective: to learn, interact, share experiences and network. More than 400 retailers and industry experts of various nationalities roam the Corinthia Hotel, attending workshops, product demonstrations, networking sessions and keynotes.

Inspiring, dynamic presentations

During the first day, we followed two workshops and the opening plenary for you. On stage: a highly inspiring and dynamic presentation by Catherine Barba. A “Serial-entrepreneur”, business angel, and web pioneer, Catherine is truly passionate about her work. She founded Peps Lab, a connected commerce laboratory, and she provides advice for major international retail organizations. In 2015, she was recognized as one of the 50 most influential figures in the European digital economy. Her belief, which she shared with all Cegid Connections delegates: “pure players” are not the future of retail, stores are the future of retail! Her advice: put creativity and emotion everywhere, simplify processes to the extreme, be inspired by start-ups, and provide an exceptional customer experience, thanks in particular to digital technology.

The strategic role of the CIO

To seduce the connected consumer, Robbin Mitchell and Peter Burggraaff, two senior experts from The Boston Consulting Group, also shared their vision and recommendations on the subject. According to them, there must be a fundamental change in the way IT creates value. They therefore detailed the steps needed to develop retail management systems for the era of unified commerce and underlined the IT Department’s primary role in this strategic change. Who other than the CIO could accelerate such strategic projects as CRM, clienteling, analytics, omnichannel, and innovation? It takes “digital talent” to carry out these projects.

Unified commerce: two key examples

Customers taking part in the workshops during the afternoon were not lacking in talent. Whittard of Chelsea, a British brand founded in 1886, successfully digitized its stores selling teas, coffees, and cocoa by implementing Yourcegid Retail. Amer Sports (Salomon, Arc’teryx), meanwhile, has deployed Yourcegid Retail Y2 in its 142 shops worldwide and integrates the 17 websites hosted by its partners into its retail management system.

The first day was rich and exciting, and definitely sets the tone for Connections 2017. There’s more to come!

Check out the video highlights from day 1 of Cegid Connections

Follow the Cegid Connections 2017 event live on Twitter: #CegidConnections