IMPLEMENTATION OF AGILE METHODOLOGY IN RETAIL DOMAIN
Abstract
This paper gives a clear demonstration of resources that were used in explanation of agile methodology and its usefulness in the retail companies. This research includes literature review which talks of the past information about agile methodology. Literature review contains work explaining the origin of this methodology. Paper also provides information of the authors with correct citations and references which are been utilized for this research to make sure research has added value towards the topic. Paper has mainly highlighted the problem and causes for it along with it also covered solution to the concerned problem as a part of a strategy to ensure who issues can resolved when it is implemented or executed with actions so this makes sure who future processes can replace the current process to sustain in the industry with competitiveness.
Key words: agile, lean, retail, user interfaces, requirements, e-commerce
Background of the research project
In response to the customer’s needs in retail sector has been urgent need for an organized system. Customers’ perspectives is one of the growth determinants in the retail sector. Welchs & Biggs, (2018) argues that in effort to grow, traditional retailers in developing nations have been running up and down against a brick wall. In today’s retail setting there is certainly no room for all retailers to grow. In order to do so, they need to adopt new systems such as agile methodologies. This will enable them to overcome organizational barriers such as strongly defined functional silos and long established comfortable ways of doing business.
The use of agile methodologies consist of agile models which has immense benefits, enabling companies to capitalize on their scale while building relationship between employees of the organization and customers. The model results into employee engagement as well as customer centricity. Welchs & Biggs, (2018) further states that organizations that have embraced agile methodologies have more doers, fewer managers, and as a result lowers the costs of operations. The main essence of agile methodology is that it is a set of principles that focuses on the ways of working not a dogmatic prescription to a particular challenge in the operations environment of the business.
Problem statement
Retail businesses have always been ‘customer first’ oriented. But this has not been the case with the rise of multinational retail organizations. They focus more on corporate policies at the expense of customer’s need. This has led to crippling business in most retail stores with stiff competitions of new entrants in the industry. Challenges facing most retail organizations today are attributed to the use of traditional approaches of doing business in a modern society where all sectors embrace technologies. The common approach in the retail industry that has been used over the years is waterfall methodology.
Issues of the retail industry
Retail tech insights journal, (2020) highlights some of the critical issues of the retail sector. The industry faces the major challenge of continuous changing business environment with unpredictable consequences on their business. Retail tech insights outline five major challenges faced by retail industry which includes, customer retention, technology solutions, inspiring and retaining employees, managing customer expectations, and internal communication. There is need for a collaborative approach in order to streamline the operations of the retail sector.
Effects of the issues in the retail industry
Retail business owners are likely to face serious consequences as a result of the issues upon which they operate. McGodrick, (2003) explained that in order for the retail business owners to understand the changing forces that affect their business there is need for clear understanding of the operating environment. Currently there is rapid technological advancements in the business world with ever changing customer’s expectations. Without aligning to this reality cause a retail business to lag behind while overtaken by customer centric organizations. Not understanding the changing business environment keep a retail business in the loop of extinction because they are likely to be overwhelmed by market competition and massive customers’ drifting.
Solution of the research on the problem
There has not been comprehensive focus on adoption of strategic approaches to solve the issues of the retail industry. Santamaria, (2020) argues that retail businesses have a tendency of trying any technology that comes their way without specific need to solve by the technology. As a result they have continually experienced challenges in streamlining their business environment. There has not been any problem solving focused approach by the retail businesses which has in most cases landed their business in endless crisis. This research highlights the importance of implementation of agile methodology in retail domain. The ultimate goal is establish customer retention model as well as employee engagement techniques.
Literature review of implementation agile methodology
Most organizations are becoming more interested and eager to apply agile methodologies in their business operations. This paper reviews implementation of agile methodologies in retail domain. Among the sectors that have struggled to overcome business barriers is the retail sector. The sector grapples with unpredictable business environment which keep changing every now and then. More crucial is the continuous change in customer tastes and preferences. Gradle, (2016) posits that retail organizations feels the increasing pinch of unprecedented customer expectations which impacts negatively on their business through shift in demand for their products. Implementation of agile methodology is considered has the cure of retail issues by technology experts and business analysts.
Lean Agile Methodology
Lean agile methodology is very crucial to the manufacturing system since it reduces the waste without sacrificing productivity, where the same concept applicable towards retail system also. Here the customer will determine the value of the product by the amount they are using to pay the product. According to Zhou, B. (2016) what adds value to the product becomes clear whereby the factors that have no or less value been being taken away. The principles of lean include eliminating waste, building quality, creating knowledge, deferring commitment, delivering fast and respecting people so that the whole process can be optimized. This concept has taken over the Chinese supply chain companies which includes employment empowerment and utilize the of retail services in production when the requirements are deployment with alignment of customer’s needs, necessities, and their wish list.
According to Jaca et.al 2012 Lean methodology is not new it really derives from the old systems such as e-commerce systems, where predecessors are the lineage of lean methodology which can be traced to Eli Whitney in the years of 1950s. ERP solutions with help agile methodology can be a good fit in the retail industry where true integration of the entire process of production can take place with standardized the flow of work in production. All this integration where the source of lean methodology, it was initiated with these simple integrations.
Importance of agile in retail industry
Agile incorporates the trends in the retail industry with the aim of promoting the interconnectivity of the several aspects of the system to enhance the process is at pace according to Kisperska-Moron et.al 2009. This increases productivity in the sector of retail and the quality of the products is increased at the same time. The relationship between the supplier ends to the product disposal end is made efficient whereby production is deployed in a holistic manner with the inclusion of many companies.
Argument on lean agile
Goldman et al, 1995 argues that lean manufacturing was started as a concept of describing the best practice inside the automotive industry and experienced slow revolution but today, the concept should be well utilized in the retail industry also. While the Lean Manufacturing offer a well-structured collection of methods and enablers, agile retailing should also be wide philosophy which started from the work of agile manufacturing enterprise forum, which is has its roots to the Lehigh University and was started in 1991. The work is well documented in the 21st century manufacturing enterprise strategy. He says that the point of departure for agile manufacturing is the increased unpredictability and dynamics of industrial enterprise environment. The same concept is applicable in the retail industry also where unpredictability had become more concern for the retail companies in dealing with requirements of retail customers. He says that agility can be defined as the ability of operating profitably in a competitive environment of continuous and unpredictably changing customer opportunities.
Gunnison, (1996) says that agility is more than just the traditional organizational flexibility interpretation. The organizational mastery of changes is in focus in the agile organization; thus, knowledge and people are taken as the most crucial organizational assets. In addition, the capability and organizational learning to reconfigure the business on a continuing basis are key features of the agile enterprise, which is often associated with the ability to intelligently innovate and invent new responses, that is to new markets and business processes.
A retail project vision could comprise of a combination of agile and lean strategic components suited to the specific circumstances of the industrial enterprise. The five-step process aims at engaging employees and managers in a constructive dialogue that result to a commonly shared appreciation of the need to change and a common vision of the operation and structure of future production. There are three challenges that are associated with formulating a retail vision, which is integrating different elements and perspectives of a production system, ensuring a collaborative process with a high degree of participation, and including innovative characteristics. These are areas that need serious future research.
A retail project vision could play various roles. When the corporate strategy is robust and clear, the retail project vision will comprise of a blueprint for designing and designing of a production system. However, when the environment is turbulent, a direct planning approach can be applied (Gunasekaran, 2001). Two opposing retail project visions might serve as a means of generating a constructive dialogue and could contribute to clarifications of potentials ad direction for the whole company.
Four-phase model concept
There literature has brought about the four-phase model. The first phase comprises of the determining the different users targeted by the product and the functional perimeter with the goal of obtaining the possible visions of the product. This phase lasts longer than the demand analysis in the agile method extreme programming, that, one to three weeks; this results to limitation in performing the in-depth research regarding users and their circumstances. The same concept can be applicable to the retail domain companies which has to follow agile methodology
There is another model known as the agile model driven development which was developed by Ambler. In this model, the user interface expert is part if the agile team and therefore must conform to the method pace. For this model to work, Ambler recommends that anybody engaged should make effort in understanding the philosophy of another person’s disciplines, in the interest of being able to work together (Deuff, & Cosquer,2013). He as well points that the feedback relating to the usability needs to be considered in much the same way as a technical problem.
The user interface experts do not have the time to stand back in the iterations and to put forward a coherent HCI as they do with a conventional project. To defeat this entanglement (loss of heading because of an absence of a worldwide vision), a few articles propose having a cycle that is consistently committed to the worldwide intelligence of the item. It appears to be critical to take note of a last point identifying with the assets. Apparently the more the user interface specialists need to walk in sync with the engineers, the less time they have ahead of time of the advancement eliminate to convey their work, and the more prominent are the assets which must be
Solutions to the problem
Strategy to overcoming challenges in retail
Many retail companies have been passing through challenges due to the use of methodologies such as waterfall. These companies can face challenges such as having one phase of the project being completed before moving to the other phase that means you cannot move the next phase unless you finish the previous step which can be disadvantageous to big projects in the companies. To evade such situation agile methodology is implemented to reduce these problems whereby in agile is more focused on the value of the product. Agile methodology is more flexible whereby all stakeholders are engaged, and the deliverables are predictable at earlier stages. Agile methodology should be embraced in retail companies to increase the productivity of the organization. Agile will increase the integration of the processes in the organization and hence the growth of the organization unlike waterfall which cannot allow the processes to run in parallel directions.
Conclusions
Implementation of agile methodology in retail domain is indeed the ultimate cure to challenges facing retail organizations. Most companies that have aligned to the agile business models have witnessed great transformation of their business processes unlike those that have stick to the traditional systems. To implement agile methodology a collaborative approach is needed where the stake holders work in cohorts with the tech teams. The ultimate goal is to overcome business barriers that hinders the smooth operations of the retail domain. Implementation of agile methodology provide for models that enables the business to predict trends in customer expectations and deal with emerging issues at hand before time.
Agile methodology enhance customer service
Zhou B. (2016) in his article explained that the major struggle of retail organizations is to retain and maintain their customer base. Customer expectations change rapidly and this pose a headache to the retail organizations’ managers. Most customers are always ahead of time of the new trends in the market. Therefore, if a retail firm does not offer their preferred brands they literally shift to other retail outlets. Implementation of agile methodology enables retail organizations to streamline their demand focusing techniques therefore retaining their customer base.
Relationship management between employees and customers
The toughest challenge among retail companies is the high levels of employee turn -over. This is mostly attributed to cruel working environment with specific problem of long working hours without off days. Armstrong, (2013) a human resource consultant and author of human resource handbook emphasized on employee welfare. Retail organizations tend to focus more on corporate policies and customer satisfaction at the expense of their employees. This in turn affect their morale which leads to poor customer service. Implementation of agile methodology will bring business models that enables for employee management thus building good relationship with customers.
