8 ways Centric VIP’s Latest Game Changing Collaborative Boards Deliver Results

Our new Digital Concept Board and Digital Buying Board for Centric VIP redefine design ideation and buying sessions.

Developed by Centric’s Innovation team and in partnership with world-leading brands and retailers, Centric Visual Innovation Platform (Centric VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of collaborative boards for touch-based devices such as iPad, iPhone and touch-screen televisions. Fully connected with Centric PLM, this new platform provides a strategic-level overview for executives, drill-down capabilities for users and mass automation of executive decision making.

The two latest innovations for Centric VIP, the Digital Concept Board and Digital Buying Board, redefine design ideation and the internal buying process by fully transforming the way teams collaborate, share ideas and make decisions. Built for fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods companies, these boards empower customers to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Read on to learn more about the Digital Concept Board, the Digital Buying Board and the 8 ways they deliver results.

What is the Digital Concept Board?

The Digital Concept Board radically transforms the design ideation process by combining creative, technical and business expertise to accelerate product development. Teams across all departments including design, merchandising, product and sourcing can use the Digital Concept Board as a digital sandbox for creation and what-iffing scenarios within a business context. A process that once took place using offline or ad-hoc tools is revolutionized through this fully visual, intuitive and collaborative tool for touch-based devices.

What are the key benefits of the Digital Concept Board?

1) Full collection visibility = better planning

Teams can view collections in multiple ways: by material, style, shape, color, sizes –to ensure aesthetic balance and sales appeal. Design reviews take place in a connected, collaborative space so you always have the latest information, can track changes and can easily make updates that are shared in real-time. Teams can make better informed decisions in the studio review process as notes and comments are captured in real-time. And, they can streamline development through the ability to promote concepts and selectively publish updates to PLM.

2) Boost creativity and innovation

Teams can drag & drop colors, sketches, materials, photos and move, to build designs and capture design intent for individual products and collections. They can freely create new designs from inspirations, mood boards, web pages or pull from existing PLM or other libraries. Today this work typically takes place offline or with ad-hoc tools like attachments, post-it notes and foam boards.

3) Streamline communication

With this modern, very visual, touch-based way of working, all information is connected and updated in real time, radically improving communication and cross-departmental collaboration. It allows for creative freedom outside the confines of enterprise rigid systems and enhances user experience. Teams can be located in the same room or around the world collaborating in real-time and information can be drawn from Centric 8 PLM or other business systems such as ERP, PIM, DAM, etc.

4) Save time and data

The Digital Concept Board is integrated with PLM and updates data in real-time. This means there is no additional data entry, rework or admin so your creative and merchandising teams are focused on what they do best – design innovation!

What is the Digital Buying Board?

The Digital Buying Board elegantly streamlines buying sessions for retail, wholesale and e-commerce by aligning product and category teams, merchants, internal buyers and sales on a single, highly-visual platform for touch-based devices. The Digital Buying Board collapses a process that once took weeks, to mere days and hours with a simple and visual way to control and monitor sales commitments across all wholesale and retail channels during the buying period for each season.

It offers a simple way to set up and sync collections and product attributes, allocate products to specific channels, gather feedback on products and monitor KPIs across channels in real time. It gives buyers an easy way to understand the offer, to build assortments for their channels, to add order quantities and track where they are compared to their targets. It also allows all users to instantly be aware of any changes to the collections, like price changes for a certain product, so that everyone, from executives to buyers, can understand in real time the evolution of the buy.

What are the key benefits of the Digital Buying Board?

1) End to end visibility

Get real time visibility into the products that are being selected by buyers and added by product teams. Roll-up buy commitments for multiple channels and other analytics are calculated automatically. By linking product, merchandising, buying and sales teams, decision-makers have access to the most up-to-date transparent information.

2) Drive better decision making

Analytics validate buying choices by giving insights such as quantities by color, material, style, price point, delivery date, region, channel, etc. Empower marketing, regions and retail managers to define and fine tune assortments to meet minimum order quantities (MOQs). Forecast aggregate quantities for production planning and MOQ checks.

3) Save time

The Digital Buying Board collapses a process that once took weeks to days or hours. Teams can work on multiple channels at once creating specific buying assortments for each and refine the product offering, faster!

4) Increase margins and manage risk

The Digital Buying Board was created in partnership with world-class luxury retailers who were looking for ways to manage the risk associated with the buying process. Teams can review, manage and plan detailed targets for different markets, geographies, sales channels and exclusives to accelerate the sell-in process and monitor product performance and sales commitments in real-time. With visual collaboration, real-time data, streamlined communication and an eye on KPIs, the Digital Buying Board vastly reduces risk and increases margins.

Are you a fashion, retail or consumer goods company looking to redefine design ideation or the buying process with a visual collaborative solution?

Request a demo!