Chico's CIO Puts the Enterprise in Associates' Hands
Eric Singleton, SVP and CIO at Chico’s FAS, and his team are empowering associates with mobile devices and improving sales and service throughout the enterprise.
RIS News' sister publication Mobile Enterprise sat down with the executive for an exclusive one-on-one interview to explore Chico's mobile initiatives for today and tomorrow. The entire interview is available here, but a quick sneak peak is below.
Mobile Enterprise: How is mobile technology making your workforce more effective?
Singleton: We are in the process of deploying a tablet-based solution for the 20,000 associates in our stores. The first app, which is designed for the iPad mini, is a very robust customer relationship management (CRM) solution that uses the cloud infrastructure we’ve engineered. So that when a customer walks into the store, we have, at our fingertips, a myriad of information that help our associates initiate a discussion.
This gives the associate a better opportunity to provide what we call, "most amazing personal service." In a matter of moments the customer can view our entire assortment across multiple brands.
This app is now being rolled out, first with the Chico's brand, which is our largest brand. Then we’ll roll out to our three other brands.
Mobile Enterprise: Was the iPad mini one of the triggers for mobile?
Singleton: The iPad mini was definitely something we chose early. We had some data that told us the adoption rate by the associates would be significantly higher with an iPad mini than it would be with another device, such as the iPad Air. The mini is smaller, lighter and more cozy to have with you all day.
For the complete Singleton interview please click here.
RIS News' sister publication Mobile Enterprise sat down with the executive for an exclusive one-on-one interview to explore Chico's mobile initiatives for today and tomorrow. The entire interview is available here, but a quick sneak peak is below.
Mobile Enterprise: How is mobile technology making your workforce more effective?
Singleton: We are in the process of deploying a tablet-based solution for the 20,000 associates in our stores. The first app, which is designed for the iPad mini, is a very robust customer relationship management (CRM) solution that uses the cloud infrastructure we’ve engineered. So that when a customer walks into the store, we have, at our fingertips, a myriad of information that help our associates initiate a discussion.
This gives the associate a better opportunity to provide what we call, "most amazing personal service." In a matter of moments the customer can view our entire assortment across multiple brands.
This app is now being rolled out, first with the Chico's brand, which is our largest brand. Then we’ll roll out to our three other brands.
Mobile Enterprise: Was the iPad mini one of the triggers for mobile?
Singleton: The iPad mini was definitely something we chose early. We had some data that told us the adoption rate by the associates would be significantly higher with an iPad mini than it would be with another device, such as the iPad Air. The mini is smaller, lighter and more cozy to have with you all day.
For the complete Singleton interview please click here.