After two years of trialing and then deploying an inventory-tracking RFID system for a large European apparel retailer, sister companies IER and SDV are now marketing a solution based on that deployment. The offering, known as iD by SDV, combines SDV's software and logistics services with IER's RFID tags and readers, enabling users to track goods from the point of manufacture to the point of sale.

There will be a surge in next-generation advanced data collection devices, which will intelligently edit and communicate data and play a critical role in providing improved business analytics, or Big Data, according to a Datalogic survey.

Driven by the need to continuously improve the performance of industrial operations, the worldwide market for asset reliability software and services should experience growth that will outpace the automation market as a whole, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

Over the past 30 years, most companies have added new C-level roles in response to changing business environments. The chief financial officer role, which didn't exist at a majority of companies in the mid-1980s, rose to prominence as pressures for value management and more transparent investor relations gained traction. Adding a chief marketing officer became crucial as new channels and media raised the complexity of brand building and customer engagement. Chief strategy officers joined top teams to help companies address increasingly complex and fast-changing global markets. Today, the power of data and analytics is profoundly altering the business landscape, and once again companies may need more top-management muscle.

Andrew Roszko, senior vice president of sales at Descartes, explains how three interrelated trends - big data, direct-to-store shipping and omnichannels - are transforming retail.