Running the Numbers

I recently started running numbers for the RIS gang out of Randolph, New Jersey. I mean, I've always done a little numbers running, but things have really picked up lately. It's turning out to be a pretty sweet deal.

You may have heard of the annual RIS LeaderBoard series -- Software, Hardware and IT Services. Yeah, that was me. I've been running those numbers for years.

Another side project is the annual RIS/Gartner Tech Trends Study. Me and Jeff, "The Silicon Kid" Roster, have been behind this baby for years. Jeff is with the Gartner gang out of California and he's a pretty good fella for a surburban cowboy.

A half dozen years back I helped branch out into some new territories like the annual Store Systems Study, Supermarket Benchmark Study, and the RIS/AMR Cross-Channel Study.

Greg "Rocky Top" Buzek, of the IHL Group, is the big man behind the Store Systems Study, and like Roster he's a pretty good fella. The AMR gang is out of Boston, and they provide muscle for the Cross-Channel Study. You don't want to mess with AMR, because they really know their stuff. I really like the outfit, except for a problem about rooting for the Red Sox. What's with that? 

Recently, the RIS gang came out with the Custom Research series, a little something we add to every issue of RIS. In fact, we have two in the issue this month: "Unlocking the Retail Performance Value of BI" and "Shopper-Centric Merchandising." You should check them out if you want to put your finger on the pulse of what retailers are doing right now in critical areas of retail strategy, tactics and technology.

In case you missed them, the other 2009 Custom Research stories include: "Great Expectations: Holiday Planning '09," "Fraud Wars: Retailers Strike Back," "M-Commerce: Retail in Motion," "Talent as a Strategic Asset," and "Retail ERP at the Tipping Point."

Every good executive is a numbers person at heart, which is why I try to run as many numbers as I can.