Analyst Insight: With the consumer's hands firmly placed on the steering wheel, omnichannel retailing is driving the retail industry forward with record-breaking speed. Item-level RFID is fueling the journey by providing retailers with real-time inventory visibility, rich data insights, and a means for better trading partner collaboration - allowing for more efficient supply chain operations and ultimately, an enhanced customer experience. - Melanie Nuce, Vice President of Apparel and General Merchandise, GS1 US

Analyst Insight: Retail continues its massive digital evolution; we no longer should look at e-commerce as a separate activity for retailers. Consumers are only concerned about commerce. The lines between different retail channels have blurred, consumers expect retailers to service their demands and needs regardless of which path they decide to leverage with the retailers. Retailers' supply chains must keep pace with these digital changes. -- Guy F. Courtin, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

Analyst Insight: In 2015, I predicted that the healthcare industry was finally sharpening its focus on profitability and efficiency. While I was writing this Walgreens moved on Rite-Aid and further consolidated the retail pharmacy market, but more importantly strengthened their negotiating leverage on price breaks. If the cost of the supply chain from sourcing to production to distribution was not a priority, it just became critical to profit margins and customer service. - Brian Hudock, Partner, Tompkins International

Analyst Insight: The connected nature of today's business environment is driving exponential growth in data, which is subsequently driving improvements in advanced analytic capabilities and the opportunity to leverage advanced analytics in manufacturing processes. For industrial manufacturing firms, capturing real-time data relative to asset performance and condition enables predictive maintenance and helps to realize productivity improvements and cost savings by reducing unscheduled downtime and optimizing asset performance. - John Santagate, Research Manager, IDC

Analyst Insight: CRM as we know it has been turned on its head, but its importance has never been greater. In the late 1990s, CRM systems such as Onyx and Seibel were state of the art and were built to better organize and capture the plethora of data that sales teams were creating. Through the internet, the ability to share data with large and diverse teams was unprecedented. Unfortunately, digital has changed this. CRM is no longer robust enough for today's demands, but its core value has never been more important. - Guy F. Courtin, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

Analyst Insight: Data has become as consumable as a box of crackers. As a society, we expect information about product origins, ingredients, allergens and other information will be available at our fingertips prior to purchase. However, data inconsistencies often frustrate consumers on their quest to learn more and can stop them from completing their purchase. As a result, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are focusing on data quality to satisfy the demands of increasingly empowered consumers. - Angela Fernandez, Vice President of Retail Grocery and Foodservice, GS1 US

Analyst Insight: Not too long ago, many supply chain professionals were skeptical of adopting a SaaS delivery model for their solutions. There was a hesitancy to move their solutions off premise, into the cloud and pay a subscription. How times have changed. Supply chain solution providers are all moving to the model or designing native solutions that are cloud-based. - Guy F. Courtin, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

There's a rumor going around, centered in Germany, that we're now in our fourth Industrial Revolution.