Hosting a cross-industry event like this one isn't easy and Oracle nailed it. A galvanizing topic was the overarching inter-industry trend that no one could have predicted just ten years ago; the "consumerization" of customer-centric industries like telecom, healthcare, and utilities. During a Customer Experience general session panel moderated at the conference by Oracle Retail SVP and GM Mike Webster, I found myself reflecting on the fact that Chris Hall CIO at prepaid mobile leader 2degrees, Penni McLean-Conner, Chief Customer Officer and SVP at Northeast Utilities, Gwen O'Keefe, VP of Analytics and Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Group Health Cooperative were all taking cues from Stage Stores CIO Steven Hunter, subject of our March feature story.

""Customers love to shop Neiman Marcus from anywhere in the world, in stores and via e-commerce, or with our call center representatives, and we will continue to improve our ability to get the right items to them conveniently and with a full service model. Taking advantage of better analytics, information and processes enables us to serve customers better while improving margins in support of our offline to online global initiative," Karen Katz, the CEO of Neiman Marcus Group, states in a news release from Oracle."

""Customers love to shop Neiman Marcus from anywhere in the world, in stores and via e-commerce, or with our call center representatives, and we will continue to improve our ability to get the right items to them conveniently and with a full service model. Taking advantage of better analytics, information and processes enables us to serve customers better while improving margins in support of our offline to online global initiative," Karen Katz, the CEO of Neiman Marcus Group, states in a news release from Oracle."

"Our brands are committed to delivering an interactive, exciting and efficient shopping experience to all our customers around the world, no matter which channel they choose to use to visit us, from flagship stores to mobile devices," Sir Philip Green, owner of Arcadia Group said. "Global expansion is a key strategic focus for Arcadia, and to do this successfully, we need to make sure the best merchandise assortment is available in each store and channel. We expect Oracle to help us enhance our merchandising strategies to help ensure that we deliver the best possible customer promise every time.

"Our brands are committed to delivering an interactive, exciting and efficient shopping experience to all our customers around the world, no matter which channel they choose to use to visit us, from flagship stores to mobile devices," Sir Philip Green, owner of Arcadia Group said. "Global expansion is a key strategic focus for Arcadia, and to do this successfully, we need to make sure the best merchandise assortment is available in each store and channel. We expect Oracle to help us enhance our merchandising strategies to help ensure that we deliver the best possible customer promise every time.

Arcadia Group has revealed an investment in Oracle Retail systems to ensure it can maintain a consistent customer offering and experience across all of its brands as a key part of its global expansion strategy. The Group will use its new retail applications to support enhanced inventory management in order to deliver the right products to the right market segments, targeted to the needs and tastes of different global consumers.

Arcadia Group has revealed an investment in Oracle Retail systems to ensure it can maintain a consistent customer offering and experience across all of its brands as a key part of its global expansion strategy. The Group will use its new retail applications to support enhanced inventory management in order to deliver the right products to the right market segments, targeted to the needs and tastes of different global consumers.

"Karen Katz , chief executive officer and president of Neiman Marcus Group, told a packed audience at the Oracle Industry Connect conference in Boston yesterday that the specialty retailer is putting a big focus - and a lot of money - into its technology infrastructure."

"A central theme of the Oracle Industry Connect conference, held in Boston March 25-26, was "Commerce Anywhere," or the new customer experience paradigm that requires enabling the consumer to purchase products how they want, when they want and to do so in a connected, nearly seamless fashion. IT also entails delivering targeted assortments, making inventory transparent and accessible to customers and employees in real-time, and integrating the systems supporting retail operations."

"We're seeing a lot more engagement on our category pages. Prior to implementing Oracle Commerce, only 40 percent of our visitors would hit a product page. That number has increased significantly leading to more site conversions and increased sales," said Kerem Ozkay, eCommerce marketing analyst, Z Gallerie."

"Oracle Retail provides us with the technology to grow our brands and our business," said Michel Joncas, VP of IT at Groupe Dynamite. "As we open more stores and add partners, having everyone on the same platform and with a single view of our inventory helps us optimize operations to give better service to our customers."

The retail industry hasn't traditionally given technology top priority, but with consumers' expectation of "anything, anywhere, anytime I want it," tech expertise has become a competitive focus for the industry's big players. Oracle Industry Connect, a two-day conference held March 25 and 26 here, brought together roughly 240 retail executives to network and share system implementation case histories as they chase omnichannel selling. Today, more than half of shoppers - 58 percent - rank product availability as more important than price, according to an Oracle study of 4,500 consumers worldwide. Mark Webster, senior vice president and general manager of Oracle's retail practice, said Amazon sold 426 items a second on Cyber Monday. "If you don't think consumers are taking advantage of new access points [to shop], then you are misguided."

Retail industry's formidable challenges is not so much not knowing what consumers want but what to do with it. Every retailer wants to become a robust destination for consumerization, likeability, following, innovation and revenue. At this event, Oracle tried to improvise on its hitherto hardline product-centric message into an end consumer-centric vision. And to an extent it worked. I for one am encouraged and would like to see what happens from here on. How does this message transformation and "customer first-solutions second" strategy turn into real execution?

At the recent Oracle Industry Connect Conference held in Boston, a number of speakers from prominent retailers including Kohl's, Hot Topic, and C. Wonder extolled the virtues of "vanilla" implementations of enterprise systems. In this context, vanilla means implementing an enterprise platform with all or many of that vendor's applications, minimizing customization or use of one-off "best of breed" solutions.

"Neiman Marcus, Zenni Optical and C. Wonder have recently deployed Oracle solutions to optimize merchandising planning, enhance the online shopping experience and gain insight into customer demand."

"Z Gallerie, a California-based purveyor of furniture and home décor was seeing an increase in traffic to its online site and response to marketing programs. To improve conversion and basket size, Z Gallerie deployed Oracle Commerce. In August 2013, Z Gallerie went live with Oracle Commerce resulting in more relevant content, improved navigation and better ease-of-use regardless of the device customers use to access the site. The full implementation was completed quickly and sales from on-site search have dramatically increased."

"Z Gallerie, a California-based purveyor of furniture and home décor was seeing an increase in traffic to its online site and response to marketing programs. To improve conversion and basket size, Z Gallerie deployed Oracle Commerce. In August 2013, Z Gallerie went live with Oracle Commerce resulting in more relevant content, improved navigation and better ease-of-use regardless of the device customers use to access the site. The full implementation was completed quickly and sales from on-site search have dramatically increased."

"Oracle Retail provides us with the technology to grow our brands and our business," said Michel Joncas, Vice President of Information Technology, Groupe Dynamite. "As we open more stores and add partners, having everyone on the same platform and with a single view of our inventory helps us optimize operations to give better service to our customers."

"Speakers at Oracle Industry Connect, being held March 25-March 26, in Boston, discussed how retailers can use advanced technology to enable growth and understand inventory levels across all channels (and share that knowledge with their customers)."

"Speakers at Oracle Industry Connect, being held March 25-March 26, in Boston, discussed how retailers can use advanced technology to enable growth and understand inventory levels across all channels (and share that knowledge with their customers)."

"The New Retail Democracy study finds that the increasingly democratic relationship between digitally-empowered shoppers and retailers is forcing retailers to re-evaluate technology investments and strategic initiatives to capture loyalty, drive spend and remain competitive.  Consumers are demanding better access to information, product and process, along with more individualized interactions with retailers as they take ownership of their retail experiences."

"The New Retail Democracy study finds that the increasingly democratic relationship between digitally-empowered shoppers and retailers is forcing retailers to re-evaluate technology investments and strategic initiatives to capture loyalty, drive spend and remain competitive.  Consumers are demanding better access to information, product and process, along with more individualized interactions with retailers as they take ownership of their retail experiences."

An increasingly democratic relationship is emerging between digitally-empowered consumers and retailers. And this is forcing retailers to re-evaluate technology investments and strategic initiatives to capture loyalty, drive spend and remain competitive, according to new research from Oracle.

An increasingly democratic relationship is emerging between digitally-empowered consumers and retailers. And this is forcing retailers to re-evaluate technology investments and strategic initiatives to capture loyalty, drive spend and remain competitive, according to new research from Oracle.

"Our brands are committed to delivering an interactive, exciting and efficient shopping experience to all our customers around the world, no matter which channel they choose to use to visit us, from flagship stores to mobile devices," said Sir Philip Green, Owner of Arcadia Group. "Global expansion is a key strategic focus for Arcadia, and to do this successfully, we need to make sure the best merchandise assortment is available in each store and channel. We expect Oracle to help us enhance our merchandising strategies to help ensure that we deliver the best possible customer promise every time."

"Our brands are committed to delivering an interactive, exciting and efficient shopping experience to all our customers around the world, no matter which channel they choose to use to visit us, from flagship stores to mobile devices," said Sir Philip Green, Owner of Arcadia Group. "Global expansion is a key strategic focus for Arcadia, and to do this successfully, we need to make sure the best merchandise assortment is available in each store and channel. We expect Oracle to help us enhance our merchandising strategies to help ensure that we deliver the best possible customer promise every time."

"As consumers continue to dictate how, when and where they make purchases, Oracle believes that providing commerce anywhere is imperative for retail success." said Mike Webster, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Oracle Retail. "Retailers need to invest in aligning and integrating retail processes with the needs of individual consumers to compete and grow effectively in the New Retail Democracy."

"As consumers continue to dictate how, when and where they make purchases, Oracle believes that providing commerce anywhere is imperative for retail success." said Mike Webster, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Oracle Retail. "Retailers need to invest in aligning and integrating retail processes with the needs of individual consumers to compete and grow effectively in the New Retail Democracy."

Providing customers with a consistent, relevant experience, no matter where they shop, requires integrated and flexible retail planning, suppy chain and operations centered around the customer and their preferences. By implementing a comprehensive suite of Oracle Retail solutions, luxury retailer, Neiman Marcus Group, expects to optimize its online and offline operations to support international expansion and to provide a superior commerce anywhere experience for its global customers.

Providing customers with a consistent, relevant experience, no matter where they shop, requires integrated and flexible retail planning, suppy chain and operations centered around the customer and their preferences. By implementing a comprehensive suite of Oracle Retail solutions, luxury retailer, Neiman Marcus Group, expects to optimize its online and offline operations to support international expansion and to provide a superior commerce anywhere experience for its global customers.