Over five years ago, we launched GK CLOUD4RETAIL, during EuroCIS 2018. Since that initial presentation, many changes, new developments and events, such as Covid or the rise of AI-tools for public use, have occurred. Allowing trends to become more unpredictable. However, GK CLOUD4RETAIL, managed to have an impact on the modern retail experience even though the conditions were not favorable.
GK’s cloud has had the capacity to keep evolving and be ahead of the market. Consequently, 20% of the GlobalTop50 retail organizations already rely on GK and count with over 500.0000 installations in over 60 countries. During the last four years, IDC, Forrester, and Co. ranked GK as leaders with the newest installations for the retail and grocery sector. As part of our constant evolution, we continue to extend our partnership with IBM by integrating GK CLOUD4RETAIL/OmniPOS in their SAP preconfigured solution for the retail industry (IBM IMPACT Solution for Retail). “IBM IMPACT Solution for the Retail industry is designed to be quickly implemented, allowing businesses to use SAP-leading practices without extensive customization or development efforts,” explains Jose Paredes Hernandez, IBM Consulting, Global SAP Consumer Industry Leader & Global SAP Direct-to-Consumer CTO.
IBM, SAP, and GK – a powerful triangle for retail solutions
IBM IMPACT Solution for the Retail industry is designed to reduce implementation timelines, reduce implementation and operational risk, and to increase the return on investment. SAP actively provides GK’s solutions as a selling product in their portfolio. GK OmniPOS is a point-of-sale (POS) software solution offered by GK, as a leading provider of omnichannel retail solutions. It is an integral part of GK’s commerce platform CLOUD4RETAIL. The following are key elements taken into consideration to bring GK OmniPOS into IBM’s IMPACT Solution for Retail by IBM:
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Omni-channel capabilities: GK’s POS platform enables retailers to unify their online and offline sales channels, providing a seamless shopping experience for customers. It allows businesses to integrate their POS system with e-commerce platforms, mobile apps, and other sales channels.
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Customization and scalability: GK OmniPOS offers a high level of customization to meet the unique needs of different retail businesses. It can be configured to support various industries, such as fashion, grocery, electronics, and more. The software is also scalable, allowing businesses to expand and adapt as they grow.
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Advanced functionality: GK’s retail solution provides many features and functionalities beyond basic checkout operations. It includes inventory management, customer relationship management (CRM), loyalty programs, promotions, analytics, and reporting capabilities. These advanced features help businesses optimize their operations and make data-driven decisions.
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Integration capabilities: The system integrates with other business systems, such as SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and financial systems. This integration streamlines data flow, improves accuracy, and facilitates centralized management of various business processes.
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User-friendly interface: GK Software focuses on delivering a user-friendly and intuitive interface within all technologies. This makes it easier for store associates to learn and use the system effectively, minimizing training time and reducing errors during checkout.
Organizations from diverse industries with unique needs have the opportunity to benefit from its customization and scalability as well as, its omnichannel capabilities, enabling retailers “to unify their online and offline sales channels, providing a seamless shopping experience for customers”. Other key principles include the advanced functionality that GK OmniPOS provides, which goes beyond basic checkout operations and allows organizations to optimize operations and carry out data-driven decisions. The integration capabilities merge with other systems in the organization, e.g., SAP ERP and financial systems. The last key element to consider would be how user-friendly and interactive the GK interface is, making it “easier for store associates to learn and use the system effectively, minimizing training time and reducing errors during checkout,” summarizes Jose Paredes Hernandez, the IBM’s SAP Global lead for Consumer Industries.
Backstory
In 2016, IBM and SAP partnered to develop tools that would speed the digital modernization of their conjoint customer’s journeys. Due to that union, SAP S/4HANA implementations were accelerated up to 20% to 30%, and more than 20% to 30%, and more than 200 were advised on the S/4HANA journey.
GK can now benefit from being part of IBM's SAP preconfigured solution for the retail industry. “We are very pleased that IBM has chosen GK Software's solutions to functionally extend IBM IMPACT for Retail with GK’s components & services. IBM's SAP preconfigured solution for the Retail industry can now offer front office functionalities in addition to back office”, explains Thorsten Niehoff, Global Head of Engineering at GK Software. GK expands “IBM IMPACT Solutions for Retail”, allowing worldwide organizations and retailers to benefit from these solutions, such as diminishing the implementation risk by leveraging hundreds of pre-built industry best practice business processes. Jose Paredes Hernandez concludes: “GK CLOUD4RETAIL/OmniPOS is designed to streamline and enhance the checkout process in retail stores with seamless integration with SAP S/4HANA and SAP CAR.” Other main purposes include accelerated speed to market and value realization while mitigating risks with a fully tested, validated, and hardened SAP S/4HANA system. The training of IBM consultants to start implementation with preconfigured SAP, IBM, and GK systems is also a key purpose.
GK CLOUD4RETAIL
GK CLOUD4RETAIL is a flexible, full-service platform offering unrivaled time-to-market, and highly secure operations for retailers of all sizes. Our comprehensive retail platform supports the most important services for unified commerce and is adjustable for alternative solutions directly by the retailer or other implementation partners.
In June 2021, IBM and GK announced a global partnership“Accelerating Retail Innovation with GK Software and Hybrid Cloud for Retail”.. This partnership put IBM in a position to offer a full portfolio of solutions for the retail store.
