Technology Can Only Do So Much
While anyone that knows Wal-Mart (WMT) understands that they have a strong technological base and have one of most up-to-date merchandising systems in the world. Interestingly enough though, this never impressed Sam Walton at all.
He said that "A computer can tell you down to the dime what you've sold. But it can never tell you how much you could have sold."
Commenting on computers again, he said that they "will never be a substitute for getting out in your stores and learning what's going on."
This has always been the weak side of technology, as necessary as it is: you can't tell ever what could have been done by reading the numbers and seeing the data.
Of course if goals and expectations are met, we could say that they are able to measure that accurately. And that would be true. Still, what if the goals and expectations are too low? What's the proper measurement of expectations? Can raw data ever answer that question?
After awhile we can get ideas of things, but because there are always high performing stores that do it year-after-year, there can definitely be things we miss that nothing but our own observation can tell us.
Sam Walton: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Business
Sam Walton - Retail Success Story
Sam Walton: King Of The Discounters
Sam Walton: Great From the Start
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