Publisher's Note: Keeping Up with the Joneses

When it comes to technology investments, certainly no company wants to follow the herd or feel compelled to invest in a solution simply because "everyone" seems to be doing it. And yet, if it appears anecdotally that a majority of firms are investing in a particular approach, or religiously spending "x" percent of their capital expenditure budget on technology improvements, it does give reason for pause.

Your firm may not need to keep up with the Joneses' technology purchases on a blow-by-blow basis, but wouldn't you at least like a peek in their closet?

Apparel has decided to give you that peek. In partnership with AMR Research Inc., we are launching an annual research survey and study on the Top Technology Trends in the Apparel Market. We have chosen to work with AMR because of the firm's outstanding reputation in the fields of supply chain management, enterprise applications and technology infrastructure.

The survey launches this month on our web site at apparelmag.com, and we invite you to take part. Your participation will help us produce robust and meaningful research that in turn will offer your firm a number of relevant benchmarks regarding technology budgets, solutions sought, planned expenditures, ROI measurements and more.

We'll dig into a ranking of primary operational business issues; try to understand how companies view technology in terms of a strategic enabler and also ask about some pain points. The heart of the survey will look at each major application area (from product design to retail) to examine what systems companies currently have in place and whether those systems will be upgraded in the near future.

We'll publish the survey results, along with expert analysis and a technology outlook from AMR, in a special supplement to Apparel's January issue.

Thanks in advance for taking part in this inaugural project. By establishing a set of benchmarks, and updating them annually, we plan to provide you with much-needed insight on technology investment trends every year. In the meantime, as you continue to give thought to the technology purchases best geared for your business, I hope you find this month's issue on software and IT solutions of benefit. And be sure to drop me or our editors a line about the technology survey if you have additional areas of interest.

Editor's Note: Apparel magazine's "Top Technology Trends in the Apparel Market" survey will be open from early September through
Oct. 10. To participate, visit apparelmag.com or e-mail [email protected] to request a link.