NRF 2013 – National Retail Federation: New York City (Jan 13 – 15, 2013)

VisionMAX will be in the following booths: Verizon (#2339), Motion Computing (#C320), and Panasonic (#1361).

CES 2013 – Consumer Electronics Show: Las Vegas (Jan 8 – 11, 2013)

VisionMAX will be at the Alcatel Lucent booth at the LVCC, South Hall 3 - 31412 and at the New Age Electronics Meeting Area in the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

Visionmax will be demonstrating at both events our omni-channel web-browser based Point of Sale (POS) Retail in the Cloud and Digital Signage software, as well as introducing our Retail as a Service (RaaS) offering and our new C3 Customer Conversation Client software. C3 changes the interactive paradigm by incorporating “conversations” with a customer, while integrating text, images, audio, and video to simplify and automate the sales, training, help, and self-service business processes.

“Get in on the conversation”!

Please come by and see us or book a meeting at CES or NRF, it would be our pleasure to meet with you!

Holt Renfrew’s 175th Anniversary Pop-Up Store

Holt Renfrew, Canada’s premier luxury fashion store, selects VisionMAX Retail-in-the-Cloud POS for their 175th Anniversary Mobile Pop-up Store

Holt Renfrew, founded in 1837, launched a mobile pop-up store (Hot@175) as part of their 175th anniversary, selling limited edition merchandise designed by internationally renowned graphic artists.

The HOT@175 mobile shop toured across Canada over a three week period with stops in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.

“VisionMAX was already a trusted technology partner in providing cloud-based retail application services to Holt Renfrew. We had two weeks to find a Point-of-sale solution that was quick to set up, easy to use, and provided real-time access to sales. The VisionMAX Retail-in-the-Cloud POS was the perfect fit for our mobile shop HOT@175”.

            - Kyoko Kobayashi, Vice President Information Technology, Holt Renfrew.

You can see our Presentation during the Vendor Breakouts & meet with us at the Vendor Product Showcase Presentation: Electronic Software Download – Keeping Retailers in the Game! Bob Culliton, VP Sales JACK OF ALL GAMES David McDougall, VP Services (Founder), Visionmax Limited (A SYNNEX Corporation Company) Visionmax Limited, acquired by Synnex in November 2011, is a software company focused on innovative, cloud-based, Omni-channel solutions for the retail industry. Synnex/Visionmax is developing this exciting next generation digital platform to be launched in September that will enable retailers to offer electronic downloading of computer and game software to their customers.

RETAIL – THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

There is a revolution rather than an evolution of change sweeping the Retail industry at this time with visionaries and luminaries “thinking outside the box”. They are applying ideas, business acumen, standards of excellence, and adaptive technologies that come from diverse industries and geographic locations, providing solutions to real problems that come from places one might not readily consider out of the gate.

Applying new technologies in very practical and innovative ways such as Omni-channel Retail (mobile internet devices, computers, bricks-and-mortar, tv-Commerce, catalog, eStores, etc…), with multiple payment mechanisms such as the stored value card, eWallet, Near Field Communications (NFC) enabled mobile devices, integrated devices with secure chip Credit-Debit Cards, digital signage, smart-queuing, portable, wireless, high-speed, low-cost networks, and self-serve kiosks with tailored digital avatars and centralized call center product specialists that communicate via Video over ip – all technologies currently in use in various industries and/or geographic locations around the world now being applied to traditional Retail.

Some online and mobile device sales statistics:

• · Between November 1, 2011 and December 26, 2011, Consumers spent $35.3 billion online, according to market research organization ComScore. This is 15% more than consumers spent online in the same time period in 2010.
• · There were nine days in 2011 in which online sales were more than $1 billion, according to ComScore.
• · 11.3% of day after Christmas sales were from mobile devices in 2011, compared to the 4.3% of sales from mobile devices on December 26, 2010
• · According to IBM Coremetrics Benchmark 6% of all December 26 traffic came from iPads, 5.8% came from iPhones, and 4.6% came from Androids

Innovators are re-shaping and revolutionizing Retail now and in the coming years to a point where the current traditional processes will be virtually unrecognizable while bringing huge economies of scale and new levels of customer service to an industry that is known for being conservative and lethargic to adapt.

Established Retail will adopt dramatic change in order to remain relevant with the advent of pure-play eStores in the cloud and the tech-savvy Stores that are taking brick and mortar Retail by storm.

VisionMAX’s Omni-Channel platform is currently processing over 100M transactions per yr. Our horizontal approach vs. vertical approach allows for flexibility whether your focus is hospitality, fast food, general or specialty retail.

Our software:

• - Enables a unified, coordinated retail presence across all channels of engagement: PoS, Digital Signage, and web presence
• - Works with any computer, tablet, smartphone or kiosk
• - Works online and offline
• - Can be installed in a private or public cloud
• - Saves you time and money with a low monthly subscription fee

What’s in for you?

• - Wrap your services around the platform: software and hardware integration, implementation, customizations, DB migrations, product catalogue loading, etc…
• - We’re dedicated to our VAR channel: enable and empower our channel partners to deliver Enterprise class solutions and have the support of a $10B company at your side.

We’re an exhibitor at RetailNOW and would like to invite you all to our booth #821. We will also be giving a presentation on Omni-Channel Retail

Please come by and ask us what we are doing with mobile voice that is changing self-service and customer service for the future – we’d love to chat about your business and how we can help you and your customers.

Looking forward to meeting you.

VISIONMAX AND VERIZON WIRELESS SHOW FUTURISTIC RETAIL SOLUTIONS AT 2012 CES

Retail-in-the-Cloud

LAS VEGAS, NV, Verizon Wireless, and VisionMAX today announced that an innovative Retail-in-the-Cloud suite of solutions is being shown at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES): Verizon Booth (Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall, Booth 30259).

Leveraging Verizon's 4G LTE network, VisionMAX, Alcatel-Lucent and the ng Connect Program team will be demonstrating new innovative retail store solutions and devices. Using these solutions, customers will be able to make purchasing decisions and pay for products in an easier and more engaging way, using a mobile phone and advanced customer recognition technology.

Technology at CES, including 3D kiosks, mobile and fixed location Cloud Point-of-Sale (POS) stations, and digital signage, will:

• Allow customers to see their avatar wearing selected clothing by a simple Near-Field-Communication (NFC) phone scan using their secured personal profile;
• Enable a Virtual Personal Stylist (VPS) video fashion consultant to interactively make style recommendations online with the customer;
• Enable purchases with a wireless credit-debit device, NFC phone or cash.

In addition, the demo will showcase:

• End-user mobile phone applications with QR-code shopping cart collection, recommendations, coupons and additional product info;
• Mobile Tablet Cloud POS: employees can roam freely around the store helping customers;
• Integration with social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter with end users' avatar;
• Mobile-device-managed digital signage: end users take over the digital sign getting product info and video demos; and
• Interactive dynamic reporting.
  

"Working with Verizon, Alcatel-Lucent and the ng Connect team has been a fantastic two-year journey," said Pradip Madan, Senior Vice President and General Manager for VisionMAX. "The culmination of all of this talent and hard work can be seen fully integrated at the Verizon booth. These are practical, cost-effective advanced retail solutions all ready to go to market and be delivered from the cloud and 4G LTE."

Verizon established its Innovation Program to encourage collaboration and help advance the 4G LTE ecosystem. The company's LTE Innovation Center in Waltham, near Boston, and its Application Innovation Center in San Francisco, were created to inspire, enable and develop non-traditional devices, services and applications that take advantage of Verizon Wireless' industry-leading wireless networks. Through the Innovation Program, Verizon seeks to expand the possibilities of 4G LTE by working with diverse companies, from start-ups to established players, in industries representing a broad range of verticals.

The ng Connect Program, founded by Alcatel-Lucent, now has more than 125 member companies working as an end-to-end ecosystem to rapidly deliver next generation services and applications.

For more information about Verizon at CES, visit news.vzw.com/ces or follow Verizon Wireless news on Twitter at @VZWnews. Visit www.visionmax.com for more information about VisionMAX.

June 2011: VisionMAX's Retail-in-the-Cloud offering at Retail Council of Canada STORE conference, and new website
VisionMAX demonstrated the new Retail-in-the-Cloud software offering for retailers at the Retail Council of Canada's STORE 2011 Conference. Along with partners IBM and Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions, VisionMAX showed the cloud-based offering running on an IBM SurePOS 500 and BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in the IBM cloud. Both the SurePOS 500 and PlayBook mobile POS connected wirelessly to a Moneris IP-based Chip & PIN credit card device. VisionMAX also demonstrated the Virtual Personal Stylist offering running in a 3D kiosk. Coincident with the conference, VisionMAX launched the new www.visionmaxretail.com site to allow customers to learn more about the software.

April 2011: VisionMAX uses IBM's Canadian cloud platform at RS4 show
IBM recently announced their new $42M Compute Cloud Centre facilities in Montreal and Toronto to allow Canadian businesses to securely develop, host, and test applications while only paying for the computational power they use. IBM asked Business Partner VisionMAX to be one of the first companies to take advantage of the platform.

Visionmax is actively launching projects on the IBM cloud infrastructure, with four projects currently at various stages of deployment on the IBM cloud. On April 5 - 7 VisionMAX showcased their "VisionmaxRetail" 100% SaaS/Cloud browser-based retail POS and back-office management product at the IBM RS4 (Retail Partner) summit in Chicago running on IBM SurePOS 500 equipment and the IBM Cloud.

Click here to view the full press release at the IBM site or click here to view the PDF version.

Jan 2011: VisionMAX unveils Virtual Personal Stylist at CES 2011 in Las Vegas
Working with ng Connect Program retail fashion industry partners ELLE magazine, L'Oreal USA, and Bloomingdale's, VisionMAX is showcasing the Virtual Personal Stylist concept that showcases an enriched retail experience made possible by innovative 3D telepresence, video conferencing, cloud computing and ultra-high bandwidth connectivity. VisionMAX led the integration of the scanning, avatar creation, in-store display, and online shopping technologies demonstrated in the Virtual Personal Stylist.

The Virtual Personal Stylist (VPS) experience illustrates how consumers can shop online and in-store with enhanced convenience and effectiveness. The shopper first creates an avatar based on their specific measurements captured in a fast in-store scanning process. Their avatar is stored in the cloud and can be accessed anywhere in-store, via mobile device or online by the consumer to try on clothes or test beauty products virtually.

VPS provides a highly convenient and effective shopping experience based on accurate size prediction, greater style and color selection, and expert personal-shopper advice -- without having to physically try on clothes or beauty products before buying. It allows shoppers to see how an outfit will look on their own body via the avatars and feel confident that the size selected will fit when the outfit is purchased or delivered.

Retailers, product manufacturers and network operators can take advantage of the Virtual Personal Stylist to develop new business models based on purchase history. This gives them a new tool to market to their customers more intimately and accurately. Imagine a customer getting an opt-in e-circular with them as the feature model in all of the latest Spring fashions. VisionEngine, VisionMAX's application development platform, can perform rapid linking to national retailers through the feature-rich application cloud, allowing the system to work with even the most sophisticated retail systems environments.

For further information, click here.

Nov 2010: VisionMAX creates charitable ordering site for Holt Renfrew
Leading Canadian specialty retailer Holt Renfrew wanted to allow customers to buy toques online as a fundraiser for Polar Bears International (www.polarbearsinternational.org). In less than one week VisionMAX enabled online ordering and fulfillment by doing the following:

• Designed the bilingual web site and database
• Set up a completely new web-domain – www.holtrenfrewshop.com
• Set up the site to run in the Amazon Cloud (no need for in-house infrastructure)
• Enabled e-commerce transactions through Moneris and Verisign (Digital SSL certificate)
• Built a portal for administrators to maintain the site, with secure sign on for all stores and head office
• Created various reports and screen queries

The new site allowed customers to purchase online while picking up the product at their closest store. Holt Renfrew management was better able to manage inventory and ensure the product would be available for customers coming to the store.

Nov 2010:
As a long-time IBM Business Partner, VisionMAX was asked by IBM to create an application to demonstrate the advanced 32” screen display capabilities of IBM’s latest kiosk product at the KioskCom & Digital Signage Show at the Javits Convention Center in New York. IBM and VisionMAX are partnering on several opportunities in the Retail and Kiosk area, building upon IBM’s strengths in providing advanced products along with VisionMAX’s capabilities in creating software to take advantage of these capabilities while providing benefits to customers.

VisionMAX created an application for the show that made use of the large screen to present three separate sub-displays:

• Top section for branding, barker, call-out and instructions
• Middle section for live streaming HD video
• Bottom section containing interactive touch screen call-to-action and commerce application

Sept 2010:
VisionMAX has joined leading network, consumer electronics, application and content providers including Alcatel-Lucent, Atlantic Records, HP, NCR, Nuance Communications, Samsung, and Toyota in the ng Connect Program, a multi-industry initiative driving the development of next-generation broadband services based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) and other high bandwidth technologies. With an initial focus on the retail and media & entertainment industries VisionMAX will contribute VisionmaxRetail, a cloud-based retail solution, VisionmaxMedia - Media Integration Platform (MIP) product suites, as well as custom application development expertise to the program.

“VisionMAX is excited to join the ng Connect Program to collaborate with other members on service concepts that we are certain will advance the retail and media & entertainment industries,” stated David McDougall, President, VisionMAX.  “We jumped with both feet into the ideation and brainstorming session at the recent ng Connect member meeting in Dallas last week. We know we are now part of a think-tank that will create profitable and quick-to-market innovative services for next generation wireless networks.”

“VisionMAX’s commitment to developing best-in-class solutions for its clients is a great match with the ng Connect Program where we are fully focused on delivering leading solution concepts to the industry showing the capability and opportunity made possible by 4G/LTE networks,” said Steve West, Vice President of Emerging Technology & Media at Alcatel-Lucent, founding member of the ng Connect Program.  “Retail Transformation and Media & Entertainment are a major focus for the program this year and we’re very pleased to be working with the experts at VisionMAX.”

Click here for full News Release.

Sep 2010: VisionMAX wins Innovation Technology Award from Ontario Chamber of Commerce:
VisionMAX won the 2010 Ontario Business Achievement Award (OBAA) in the category of Innovation Technology from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. This award was won on the basis of the use of innovative technology on leading-edge engagements at three clients:

• Bell Canada – Advanced TV viewing over the Internet with Bell TV Online Portal
• Pizza Pizza – Multi-channel ordering system increases online sales, cuts costs
• Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) – Pre-Arranged Ride Dispatch system fixes problems for GTAA’s passengers, taxi drivers, management, and neighbours

“These outstanding award winners exemplify business excellence through innovation, export diversity, entrepreneurial spirit and an understanding that the best investment is in their people.” says Len Crispino, President & CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “This is the award winners’ opportunity to step into the spotlight to celebrate success, not only for themselves but, for Ontario.”

For more information, please click the following links: www.obaa.ca, www.occ.on.ca

To view the press release, click here.

Robert McDougall – President of SaaSworks (a subsidiary of Visionmax) and
David McDougall, President Visionmax

Picture above courtesy of Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

Sep 2010: VisionMAX exhibits at NCR Innovation Forum
VisionMAX was one of only two NCR partners chosen to exhibit at NCR’s 2010 Innovation Forum, which highlighted self-service solutions, serving businesses in the retail, financial, healthcare, hospitality, gaming and other industries.

VisionMAX showcased their OBAA award winning multi-channel solutions for retail, including:

• POS
• Integrated supply chain management
• Real-time sales reporting
• Queuing signage/tracking
• Video-based interactive help/training
• 3-screen (iTV, PC, smartphone) Media Integration Platform

July 2010: Pizza Pizza credits new website with spectacular growth in online ordering
Foodservice and Hospitality Magazine reports that Pizza Pizza, Canada’s largest pizza chain, has experienced spectacular growth in online ordering at their site implemented by VisionMAX in 2009. Online ordering has jumped from 4% of all orders to 21%

Management credits the increase to easier navigation tools, more attractive look and feel, and new features such as pre-ordering that allows a user to place an order in advance, plus the ability to save recurring orders for easy reordering (e.g., Friday Night Poker Gang, Kids Hockey Team) as well as recalling previous orders.

Click here to read the entire article or here to read our Case Study.

June 2010: VisionMAX joins Retail Council of Canada
VisionMAX has a long history of serving retail clients, including Pizza Pizza, T-Mobile, Sears, The Bay, Henry's Camera, the Katz Group (Pharma Plus / Rexall), and Digicel (415 stores in 7 countries). To further cement our relationship with this key sector, VisionMAX recently became a member of the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), and we attended the RCC "Store 2010" conference May 31-June 1.

RCC is a not-for-profit, industry-funded association representing more than 40,000 store fronts of all retail formats across Canada, including department, specialty, discount, and independent stores, and online merchants.

• On-demand content from The Movie Network (TMN), Family Channel, Playhouse Disney,
  and HBO
• Pay-Per-View  trailers and purchase capability (for special events)
• A TV programming guide (EPG) 
• Fully integrated lightning-fast search
• Integrated e-chat
• Bell's Remote PVR that enables customers to remotely set and manage their
  HD PVR recordings.

This unique portal delivers an unparalleled subscriber experience by extending the entertainment experience from the traditional TV screen to the Internet and mobile devices, a key component of Bell Canada’s three-screen strategy that works to deliver entertainment content on TV, computer and mobile-phone screens.

For further information, see http://www.bce.ca/en/news/releases/bev/2010/05/12/75478.html

• POS & Service Activation – Our web Browser-based product combines CRM, ERP/Supply Chain, Mobile Phone activations and Commission management into a single POS application.
• CRM-Client Care – VisionMAX specializes in self-service applications for Telcos.  Our multi-platform (Mobile, IVR, Web, iTV) self-service solutions help customers help themselves faster and simpler than waiting in the call center queue.  We process 100's of millions of transactions annually, saving our clients similar numbers of dollars.
• M-Commerce – VisionMAX has an innovative approach to mobile applications (e.g., purchase home TV Pay-per-View) using our VisionEngine technology.  Rapid prototyping and deployment have allowed our customers to provide mobile applications to the masses at a minimal cost on devices including BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile and iPhone.
• IPTV – VisionMAX is a pioneer in IPTV application development, remote-PVR, advertising commerce, and an entire suite of iTV solutions for major providers including telecom, cable/satellite, and hoteliers.
• M2M - As system integrators, VisionMAX has vast experience linking devices and data, including peripherals (PC web, mobile device, kiosk, satellite TV set-top box, telephone IVR, etc.) and back-end repositories (mainframe, mid-range, UNIX/Windows servers).

VisionMAX described its expertise in the areas of Retail applications (including Point of Sale, inventory management, and billing), IPTV for hotels, online media portals, T-commerce (buying online through the TV), modernization of legacy applications,  Billing systems, and multi-channel “self-serve” solutions to reduce calls to Call Centres.

VisionMAX did the system integration between Bell TV Online, Bell Canada, and Sling Media Remote PVR software to enable this innovative feature-set. The Remote PVR feature is accessed via the Bell TV Online system (http://tvonline.bell.ca), which was also developed by VisionMAX.

This application was made available on the BlackBerry in March 2010.

This project is yet another showcase of VisionMAX’s Media Convergence Practice and expertise, enabling unique, compelling, and ubiquitous customer media access experiences.

• Seamlessly integrated databases (that probably allow the Customer Service Representative to know more about the caller than the caller’s own mother!)


• Advanced self-serve applications that allow customers and other authorized users to inquire and update their records themselves (in these seamlessly integrated databases)


• Multi-channel delivery (web browser, telephone IVR, mobile, satellite TV) that allow users to interact with the data through whatever channel they prefer


• Interactive video training clips that show users how to do something (if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures!)


• Expert systems (with seamless human backup) that enable users to have a “conversation”, without knowing whether communication is with a computer or a human


• Software as a Service to allow companies to treat computing (both hardware and software) as a utility, and pay a monthly fee only for what they need

Click here to read an article based on his presentation.

At the same time, Mike Kinrys, Director of Business Development at VisionMAX, was interviewed by ChannelLine magazine about IBM’s Dynamic Infastructure initiative and how this ties into VisionMAX’s work with hosted SaaS applications.  Click here to read the article.

This deal was facilitated by the Export Development Bank of Canada; click here to see EDC ExportWise on-line magazine article on this story or here to get a pdf copy.  The new system will be built on a successful retail system VisionMAX created for Pizza Pizza in Canada and a similar POS system VisionMAX is implementing for T-Mobile’s 10,000 stores in the US.

Behind the scenes, this process was entirely manual and paper-intensive. VisionMAX automated the process to provide an automated and more efficient system to manage the payment collection, registration, and dispatch of pre-arranged limousine services.  The new system incorporates the following elements:

• Drivers pay their admin fee using cash or credit card at a kiosk
• Drivers are notified of passenger arrival by a message sent to their cell phone (if no answer, message goes to loudspeaker)
• Limo stand attendant uses a hand-held mobile computer to scan a bar-coded permit to confirm that correct limo has arrived

The new system provides the following benefits:

• GTAA Administration
  • Eliminate error-prone manual paper process
  • Eliminate need for limo attendant to handle cash
  • Improve traffic flow (very important in a congested area)
  • Provide management tools through improved metrics, auditing, and accountability, allowing management to determine exact driver and passenger locations and curbside vehicle counts and giving them invaluable input for long-term planning
• Drivers
  • Eliminate missed calls if loudspeaker sound is muffled, as system sends message to driver cell phone
  • Enforce legitimate pickups by eliminating passenger swiping
  • Improve customer service by streamlining the process and providing more service lanes through automation. The system still provides real-life attendants that can assist when needed.
• Passengers and neighbours
  • Reduce noise from loudspeakers (used on exception basis only)
  • Improve customer service for passengers

Pat Finelli, chief marketing officer at Pizza Pizza, remarked "We are constantly looking at ways to enhance our customers' dining experience. The new online ordering system is a great example of this as it gives customers greater control and flexibility over personalizing their orders."

The overall website, developed in partnership with Pizza Pizza, offers a fresh new look, engaging interface, softer colour palate and offers a more intuitive navigation.

The online ordering system is the first of a 3-part initiative, in which VisionMAX will also replace the in-store Point of Sale (POS) system and the application used by the Call Centre staff. Although the front-end interfaces will differ, all three parts of the application will share common Business Rules, as embedded in the VisionEngine.

Phase II of the system is already well under way, and will provide even more video content to customers. This project is yet another showcase of VisionMAX’s Media Practice and media convergence expertise, enabling unique, compelling, and ubiquitous customer media access experiences.

• Avoid the high cost of replacing a working application   --- or ---  defer the cost for several years
• Add new functionality without modifying underlying application
• Increase staff productivity
• Cut training costs
• Improve customer satisfaction

You can view the article by clicking here.

• PC web browser
• Telephone interactive voice response or voice recognition
• Cell phone text message
• PDA e-mail
• Interactive TV via cable/satellite set-top box
• Kiosk

August 17, 2007:  VisionMAX wins back-to-back Awards!  A system developed by VisionMAX for the provincial government has won an Award of Excellence, the highest award of the Public Sector Quality Fair. This system is one more in a series developed by VisionMAX to enhance the public-facing systems used by government.  In January/07, VisionMAX released the Self-Serve application designed to speed up the delivery of electronic business licenses and track the length of time applications spend in queue.  This helped the provincial government meet its publicized Service Guarantees and kept refund penalties to a minimum.  Click here for details on the system.

A VisionMAX-developed system to allow private career colleges to register their courses on-line has won an Achievement Award from CIPA (Canadian Information Productivity Award) and is a finalist for the Grand Award. Click here for details on the system.
 

• We wrote an article for their April/07 Newsletter (page 5) entitled “Cut Costs and Improve Customer Service via ‘Self-Serve' applications”.  Click here to see it.
• On Apr 27/07, we conducted a webinar under the ICSA auspices “Cut Costs and Improve Customer Service via ‘Self-Serve' applications”.  Click here for a copy of the presentation.
• On May 10/11, VisionMAX exhibited at the ICSA Annual Conference.  Click here for details.