Sneak Preview of 2010 RIS Software LeaderBoard
By Joe Skorupa
There are 42 top-10 lists in the 2010 RIS Software LeaderBoard, which features head-to-head rankings of the leading software vendors in retailing. Names that top many of these lists include SAP, Oracle, IBM, Reflexis, Micros Retail, PCMS Datafit, Netezza, Celerant and Inovis. The eagerly awaited annual report won't post to the RIS Web site until Friday, December 4, but you can get a sneak peak right here.
The following provides some highlights from one of the most debated, discussed and influential reports in retail technology. Starting December 4 you can download the complete report for free. When you check back, click on the Research navigation tab at the top of the Web site and you will find it there.
2010 Software LeaderBoard Winners
To fully comprehend the RIS LeaderBoard you have to understand that all vendors that make the lists are the best-of-the-best by definition. Here's why. Retailers are provided with the opportunity to evaluate a total of 99 software vendors. Of these, 77 were actually evaluated by retailers this year. Of these, 44 made at least one of our ranking lists.
This means that any vendor that appears in the 2010 Software LeaderBoard made a cut less than half were capable of making. Here are some highlights from the report:
--Coming in at the top of the Top 20 master list is SAP, which was closely followed by Micros Retailing, Oracle and IBM.
--Diving deeper into the Top 20 we see that Celerant Technology, which shows a modest Revenue Factor score (meaning its annual revenue is less than $20 million), comes in at number five, right up there among the biggest companies in retailing.
--The reason Celerant is able to rank so high on the Top 20 list is its lofty Customer Satisfaction score, which is among the highest on the LeaderBoard. Customer Satisfaction accounts for just under half of the total score on the Top 20 master list.
--Most of the other half comes from Retail Concentration, where retailers earn one point for each software module. The rest of the score is made up of Revenue Factor points.
--For a software firm to make the Top 20 master list you would expect it would balance a high Customer Satisfaction score with a high Retail Concentration score. This is generally the case, and examples of this include PCMS Datafit, RedPrairie and Epicor.
--But it is also possible to make the list by doing extraordinarily well in just one of the two major categories, either Retail Concentration or Customer Satisfaction. Vendors that score extremely high in Retail Concentration are SAP, Micros Retail, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft.
--On the other end of the spectrum is Reflexis, which is more of a targeted solution vendor, which means it is focused strongly in the task management category. Reflexis had the lowest point total in Retail Concentration, but the highest in Customer Satisfaction, a near perfect 48.8, which is a remarkable achievement. The combined score for Reflexis placed it at number 15 on the list.
--The methodology described above extends to other lists as well, including the Top 10 list chosen by Tier One Retailers, where Jesta and Sterling Commerce, which do not have extraordinarily high Retail Concentration scores, appear on a list dominated by vendors with end-to-end suites.
--Digging into the list of Top 10 software vendors chosen by Mid-Market retailers we see smaller companies like Celerant and ECR Software, each with revenue less than $20 million, scoring well against much larger competitors.
--This same methodology leads to nuggets of insight for Top 10 Leaders in Grocery (SAP, Oracle and IBM), Top 10 Leaders in Apparel/Footwear (Micros Retail and SAP), and top 10 Leaders in Specialty Retailing (Oracle, Celerant and IBM).
For more about the above winners and a complete look at the 42 best-of lists in the 2010 RIS Software LeaderBoard be sure to visit the RIS Web site on Friday, December 4.
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Posted: 12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM by
Joseph Skorupa | with 0 comments
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