Columbus WarRoom

Columbus WarRoom is the complex of solutions created for ensuring competitive advantages to the retail companies regarding assortment management, pricing and interaction with producers.

2018

Cloud versions of Columbus WarRoom.Pricing and Columbus WarRoom.Assortment

On September 26, 2018 Columbus announced an exit of the products Columbus WarRoom.Pricing and Columbus WarRoom.Assortment implemented on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations platform. Now cloud versions of these solutions are available to users.

According to the research Forrester Russia, by 2020 the volume of the Russian market of clouds will be 48 billion rubles. At the same time the greatest share – 58.9% – now is occupied by the SaaS model, it is expected that by 2020 volumes of use of SaaS will increase up to 62.4%. Users give preference to cloud versions of products, staking on payment opportunities only of the used resources, the high speed of deployment, ease of scaling.

The solutions Columbus WarRoom.Pricing and Columbus WarRoom.Assortment on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform will suit the companies which select the business applications implemented on model of service SaaS.

More and more companies select cloud versions of products therefore we decided to implement well proved solutions on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform. You receive the same tools for work with the range and the prices, but do not worry about the infrastructure, seasonality of use of resources and user support. Natalya Gurova, Head of global Competence center of the Retail direction of Columbus company

Сolumbus WarRoom.1С:Analytics

On September 4, 2018 the Columbus company announced the solution WarRoom.1C: Analytics with enhanced capabilities of preparation of the analytical reporting.

According to the company, the presented solution supplements the 1C Platform with ample opportunities of a business intelligence of Microsoft Power BI.

According to IDC, the world market of a business intelligence and Big Data shows positive dynamics: it is expected that by 2020 its volumes will reach $203 billion. The research Gartner also confirms, the volume of the world market of platforms and the Business Intelligence (BI) analytical applications in 2017 reached $18.3 billion, and by the end of the 2020th will exceed $22.8 billion.

Product Columbus WarRoom.1C: Analytics includes convenient instruments of creation of the reporting under sales, purchases, finance, personnel management and production. At the same time the preconfigured packet of analytics can extend add-on modules on other necessary areas.

Columbus WarRoom.1C: Analytics allows to create the necessary management reporting in a format of tables and also evident diagrams and charts. Data are correctly displayed in all popular browsers, adapting to resolution/size of the screen of the device: desktop, notebook, tablet or smartphone.

In addition to the actual information analysis, use of different forecast models is available to users to creation the plan fact of sales. Demonstration of the reporting is implemented using dashboard and In-memory technology – due to data processing in RAM of Columbus WarRoom.1C: Analytics quickly loads and brings information to devices.

Columbus WarRoom.1C: Analitycs belongs to the category prepack of the solutions available from a box. Thus, the average term of deployment and seamless integration of systems makes at most one day.

Columbus WarRoom.1C: Analytics provides a possibility of traditional and cloud deployment. Further the company plans development of similar functionality and based on 1C: ERP Enterprise Management 2.

2017

Columbus WarRoom.Assortment

On September 12, 2017 the Columbus company announced a release of the third solution of a product line Columbus WarRoom created for automation of process of management of the range.

According to developers, Columbus WarRoom.Assortment allows to automate key processes of management of the range: carry out input and output of positions from the range, control logistic transactions depending on stages of lifecycle of the range and stocks when implementing the strategy of markdown, to analyze sales at the different levels in cuts of types of goods, formats, brands, appointments, groups and so forth. Using Columbus WarRoom.Assortment it is possible to perform mass creation of the range by sales channels, to execute a categorization of shops and goods, to manage the range at the level of characteristics of goods and attributes of shops.

The assortment policy is formed on the basis of a set of data: depending on a status of demand and supply, trends of the market, finding of optimal commodity units for niches, proceeding from features of each single shop. To consider all these conditions, the companies need the convenient solution for flexible and operational management. Therefore we created for our clients Columbus WarRoom.Assortment which together with other tools will help to establish the relations with the current clients, to find buyers and to increase quality of business processes — Natalya Gurova, the head of global Competence center of the Retail direction of Columbus company commented on release of the solution.

The product offered Columbus will suit retail chain stores of different segments retail market: Food, Electronic & Digital, Beauty, DIY, etc. The solution also gives an opportunity of centralized operation by the range for holding structures with several companies and the developed multi-channel sales strategy. A system allows to separate shops of the large companies retailers on different categories: from a format (for example, hypermarket, supermarket, shops at the house) to separate parameters of specific sales points (such as area of trading floors, number of cash desks or units of refrigerating appliances). It is possible to set such values by dates, beforehand rebuilding a categorization of channels, supporting changes of business processes of the company without time lags and saving the history of transformation of channels for the subsequent deep analytics.

Using Columbus WarRom.Assortment it is possible to keep magazines of the range, to manage base at the level of Product/category of products, to fix start dates and end dates of action of the range and also to import data from Excel. The reference book of the statuses of the range and an assortment matrix of the business application visualize information in a type convenient to the user. And control of the movement of goods is exercised at stages of purchases, shipments, returns, movements, inventory, etc., told in Columbus.

WarRoom.Payment Integration

On June 30, 2017 the Columbus company presented the technological solution WarRoom.Payment Integration. A system is intended for payment process simplification by bank cards.

Payment Integration represents integration function in Microsoft Dynamics AX, it facilitates payment process by bank cards, integrating hardware and the software and also control of terminals and the reporting^[1].

Columbus WarRoom.Payment Integration adapts to ePOS and mPOS without further completions, supports setup of the equipment with different connections to POS, providing transactions by means of Modern POS for tablets. It is optional to connect the payment terminal and POS to one device.

Retail networks are often limited to one specific integration into payment terminals. It is expensive and inconvenient. For example, when POS solutions or suppliers of terminals change, different versions of POS are used or there takes place updating of Microsoft Dynamics AX. With the solution Payment Integration the companies will not need additional development. Natalya Gurova, head of global competence center of the Retail direction of Columbus company

The solution is focused on retail chain stores, including international market. Payment Integration will save from repeated certification for each country where acquiring works and additional requirements to integration into terminals are introduced.

Columbus WarRoom.Pricing

In May, 2017 Columbus issued the first solution of a product line Columbus WarRoom. The product automates management of pricing and allows to react to price actions of competitors instantly.

Columbus WarRoom.Pricing automates management of pricing and allows to consider the prices and the range of competitors, to react instantly to threats, to analyze efficiency of the taken actions.

Columbus WarRoom.Pricing will undertake the main objectives on pricing - specialists of retail chain stores will be required to manage only several percent of the range, only KVI (key value indicator).

The complex of the solutions Columbus WarRoom allows to update monthly KVI for each customer group on the basis of information from checks and cards of loyalty. Adding of the prices of competitors perhaps in several ways: mass loading, monitoring of online stores and also using chat-bots.

The products Columbus WarRoom will automatically determine competitors on geography and the range, will analyze the offer in the market, will suggest to reset the price of the same goods or KVI for the same customer group and so forth. In solutions scenarios of start of marketing actions and SMS mailings on those clients who are interested in the relevant KVI are put.

Columbus WarRoom allows to store all history and results of actions, to monitor changes of sales and checks, and in the future can make recommendations about further actions with the prices.

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