Research & Trends: Task Management: What A Retailer Needs To Know

By Jerry Sheldon, IHL Group

It seems that every few years a new retail technology arises that offers a step change in the status quo along with a rapid ROI. The last such breakthrough (in the author's opinion) was price optimization, which burst onto the scene about six years ago with solutions from pioneers ProfitLogic and Khimetrics. Task management, like price optimization, is another technology with the potential to be both a real game changer across the enterprise and a provider of rapid payback on the investment. For those new to task management, it is simply a process of managing a task through its life cycle, including its planning, testing, tracking, and reporting. As applied in retail, it sometimes goes by the name of store execution management, and as such it takes the form of an accountability system where tasks at the store level can be assigned and monitored by headquarter personnel.