Retail stores, hotels, and restaurants typically have a large number of employees in remote locations who work in isolation. These employees can be far more productive and serve customers better if they had easy access to corporate information systems. To make matters worse, these isolated employees cannot easily share their valuable insights and information with employees at the head office and other locations. Until recently, communication between the corporate office and remote locations has been one way. Rarely, do you find a store manager who can easily communicate with a fellow manager down the street. Portals are browser-based applications that collect information that comes from various sources. They provide a single place to share and manage all of your team's information such as calendars, tasks, and lists. Microsoft portal technology is extremely flexible. You can build portals for individuals or teams of employees. Microsoft has a unique approach in its portal vision for retail and hospitality organizations. Microsoft believes that portal users should be able to access a portal through familiar tools such as the Microsoft Office System. Microsoft also believes that the back end of a portal system should run on reliable and scalable server systems such as SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and the Windows Server 2003. Microsoft portal technology enables employees to get vital information when and where they need it. The technology makes it easy for everyone within the organization to work together on shared documents, tasks, contacts, events, and other information. This new generation of technology also helps store and restaurant mangers be more effective. The store manager view of the portal, sometimes called a Store Manager Workbench, provides a personalized view of information needed on a daily basis. Using a wireless network in the store with a mobile computer like the Tablet PC, a manager can access the portal while walking to the store. This technology promotes the store manager's face-to-face interactions with employees and customers. By implementing a portal solution with Microsoft technologies, retail and hospitality companies can also maximize their investments using their existing software such as Microsoft Office. The key benefits of an enterprise portal built on Microsoft technologies are: | • | Improved employee satisfaction by automating manual processes and reducing unnecessary work. | | • | Maximized employee productivity by exposing only relevant programs and information to various roles. | | • | Increased enterprise-wide collaboration capabilities using familiar, existing desktop tools. | | • | Reduced IT maintenance costs through exposing legacy applications on the Web and maintaining a single portal platform. | | • | Increased sales and enhanced decision-making methods because information is more timely and available. |
The Following Partners Offer Enterprise Portal Solutions Based on Microsoft Technology:Accenture Enterprise Solutions for Retail: Accenture’s global retail practice helps clients improve their businesses in several areas including merchandise planning, supply chain operations, marketing effectiveness, and store performance improvement. Accenture’s expertise can help retailers increase shareholder value by improving bottom line results and operational performance. Avanade Enterprise Solutions: Avanade is the premier global technology integrator for Microsoft solutions in the enterprise. The company’s expertise in technology infrastructure and developing Microsoft .NET-based solutions has been the foundation for hundreds of successful customer projects worldwide. Their unique focus, depth of experience, and global reach help firms capitalize on existing infrastructure investments. Avanade can help customers design and deploy Web services applications and create solutions that are efficient, scalable, and reliable.
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