CHICAGO, Sept. 30, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. said today it will begin accepting entries for its second annual Retail Application Developer (RAD) competition. In response to industry and customer demand, this year Microsoft is expanding the competition categories to cover the retail, distribution, transportation and logistics, and hospitality industries.
The Microsoft RAD Awards recognize application developers who make the best use of Microsoft® technology to provide tangible business benefits to their customers. Also new this year, the judges will honor applications that make the best use of corporate intranets and the public Internet. Microsoft made the announcement of the expanded competition at the RISCON trade show and conference in Chicago.
“The new award categories will recognize creative solutions throughout the consumer-product supply chain industries,”
said Judy Dulcich, retail industry marketing manager at Microsoft.
“They will focus on applications that enhance the processes involved to bring goods to consumers, such as transportation, distribution and EDI, as well as retail and hospitality technologies. The judges will also honor applications that enable customers to make the best use of corporate intranets and the Internet. With the expanded focus and the expertise provided by the panel of eminently qualified judges, the RAD awards will continue their leadership in recognizing best-of-breed technology solutions.”
Expanded Award Categories for Broader Recognition of Top Solutions
A total of 23 prizes will be awarded in the following categories:
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Retail. Food and drug, specialty – hard goods, specialty – soft goods, eating and drinking establishments, convenience stores, enterprise retailing systems, marketing and merchandising tools, and kiosks
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Hospitality. Property management, central reservation systems and in-room systems
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Transportation and logistics. Distribution management, import and export, routing and scheduling, transportation management, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory, and warehousing and warehouse management
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Horizontal (cross-segment) solutions. Internet business-to-business, Internet business-to-customer, training, human resources (including labor scheduling, benefits tracking and related areas), and other solutions
Winners will be recognized at the Microsoft RAD Awards dinner, to be held during the Retail Systems ’97 show May 20-22 in Chicago. Winners will also receive the following:
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Free enrollment in the Microsoft Solution Provider program for one year
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Exhibit space in the Microsoft area at the trade show of their choice where Microsoft is participating as an exhibitor
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Mention in Microsoft print advertising in major industrywide and segment-specific trade publications
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Featured coverage in Microsoft’s retail quarterly technology publication
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Featured coverage in the industry solutions area of the Microsoft Web site, with links to each award winner’s Web site. (Selected award winners will be featured on the Microsoft home page.)
Contest Criteria Expanded to Include Internet Capability
Entries will be judged by an independent panel of experts in retail and distribution and hospitality technology. The panel will include no Microsoft employees. Judging will be based on the following criteria:
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Quantifiable business benefits. Successful entries will significantly enhance existing business processes. Examples of quantifiable benefits include increasing the speed of customer turnover in restaurants, reducing the time that customers spend at checkout, lowering employee training costs, freeing managers from paperwork and administrative tasks so they can spend more time with customers and employees, and synchronizing inventories across locations.
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Best use of available Microsoft Windows
® operating systems-based technology. Award-winning solutions must demonstrate that the developer has a thorough grasp of Windows-based technology. Examples include ease of integration with other applications and/or legacy systems; ability to easily extract data to personal productivity tools such as Microsoft Excel for analysis, or to Microsoft Word and Microsoft Publisher for direct mailings, signs and coupons; and scalable technology that can grow and adapt as the corporate customer’s business evolves. -
Ease of adoption. RAD Award solutions must be easy to adopt and use. Examples include intuitive user interface, presales distribution and postsales support strategies, integration with the customer’s business processes, and training requirements.
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Best integration and exploitation of intranet and Internet technology. Corporate intranets and the public Internet promise a revolution in business benefits and productivity – especially where applications take full advantage of existing technology infrastructure and improve the benefits and services companies can offer their customers. Examples include Web-based workgroup collaborative applications, electronic forms and forms processing, automated order entry and tracking, and electronic commerce and interactive shopping.
Judging Panel Includes National Experts
This year’s panel includes the following retailers and technology experts:
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Dr. Jim Dion, senior consultant and president, J.C. Williams Group
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Dennis Hadley, board of directors, Independent Cash Register Dealers Association
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Barry Wise, president, Wise Retail Consulting
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Don McDowell, MIS manager and manager of system development, Lettuce Entertain You
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Don Gilbert, senior vice president of information technology, National Retail Federation
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Robert Grimes, president and CEO, Cyntergy Corp.
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Dr. Ed Frazelle, executive director, The Progress Group
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Dr. Donald Bowersock, professor of business administration, Michigan State University
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Art Mesher, Gartner Group
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Tim Harvey, vice president and chief information officer, Promus Hotel Corp.
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Richard Brooks, vice president hospitality systems, Fidelity Investments
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Jules Sieburgh, vice president hotel systems, Intercontinental Hotels
The Microsoft RAD Awards competition is open to all independent software developers with applications that serve the retail, distribution, transportation and logistics, and hospitality industries. The submitted application must be commercially available, and the developer must provide at least one customer reference. For complete entry requirements, visit the RAD Awards Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/industry/ret.
Developers must submit their entries electronically with an entry form available at http://www.microsoft.com/industry/ret/radentry. Contestants can mail additional promotional materials to this address:
Microsoft RAD Awards
One Microsoft Way
Building 22/4098
Redmond, WA 98052
All entries must be received at Microsoft by midnight Feb. 15, 1997. Electronic submissions must be received by 11:59 p.m.
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