1.5 millions users around the world control their business successfully due to Microsoft Dynamics NAV

On February, 17th 2011, in Sheraton Hotel was held the conference IT in Retail, organized by Microsoft Bulgaria and Intelligent Systems Bulgaria in a partnership with Progressive Magazine. The first edition of the conference welcomed Bulgarian and foreign experts in the retail sector as well as more than one hundred managers of leading retail organizations.

On the conference were presented some of the main trends in 2011 in the retail sector. The experts predicted that the smaller retail formats will open but in the same time new players will enter the market and new malls and retail parks will open, too. The fast growing competition in the sector will force the companies to look for solutions which can contribute to the successful realization of the business goals. In front of the audience the participants demonstrated how the IT technologies can help a retail company become much more successful using Microsoft Dynamics NAV – the business management system for 90 000 companies and 1.5 million users around the world.

The conference was opened by Mr. Georgi Randelov, General Manager at Microsoft Bulgaria and Mr. Kalin Tzvetanov, Managing Director at Intelligent Systems Bulgaria. “The business management systems are not only a necessity but also an important step for many Bulgarian companies today. The most important impact is not just the technology itself but how it can meet the priority business needs…The reason for having this IT conference is initiating a discussion about the IT technologies and how they can help business and optimize the processes on one hand, and on the other – sharing the best practices of some of the global retailers”, said Mr. Randelov.

After the welcome speech, Mrs. Neli Vacheva, Managing Director at IDC Bulgaria, presented an overview of the retail for the past year and made a prediction for 2011. Mrs. Katya Dzhatova, Editor in chief at Progressive Magazine, described in details the trends for 2011 in the FMCG in particular.

Mr. Boyan Martinov, Sales Manager at Intelligent Systems Bulgaria, focused on how the right IT technology can meet the company business needs and how the ERP systems ensure integrated platform for effective business process management in order to increase customer satisfaction and optimize operational costs.

Speakers at the conference were also foreign experts who shared their experience in the branch.  Lorenzo Pengo, ERP Sales Director at Microsoft CEE HQ, presented the Microsoft vision about the future development of the retail sector. He also demonstrated the functionalities and benefits of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Mr. Sveinn Aki Ludviksson, Sales Director at LS Retail, commented on the global retail trends and the benefits of using an integrated platform for company management.

Mr. Kalin Tzvetanov used an interesting approach, speaking about the unsuccessful implementation projects and the main reason for failure. He accented on the key phases and factors when delivering an IT project in the retail sector. “Unfortunately, a great part of the projects are unsuccessful. The success of an IT project depends on a lot of key factors. Among the most important ones are the company processes, the team and the right IT technology. According to the statistics another leading factor for delivering a successful project is the vendor’s expertise…”, said Kalin Tzvetanov.

In the end of the conference, Mr. Ivan Kirilov, Project Manager at Office 1 Superstore made an overview about the implementation project of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and the specialized add-on solution LS Retail in the company.

About Microsoft Bulgaria

 Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) was founded in 1975 and now the company is world leader in providing of software, services and solutions that help people and business to full realization their potential. Microsoft opened its office in Bulgaria in 1999.

About LS Retail

LS Retail is a leading provider of end-to-end retail solutions, based on Microsoft Dynamics technology. LS Retail has been installed by more than 1 600 companies with 30 000 stores and operating over 66 000 POS. LS Retail is sold and supported by more than 120 certified partners in over 60 countries. Some of the LS Retail customers are: adidas, IKEA, Levi Strauss & Co Europe, Booths supermarkets, Pizza Hut, APC Japan, Gamestop/EB Games and many more.