One View of Stock, Customers and Orders

Retail moves quickly and forgives very little. Stock has to be accurate across stores, warehouse and the website simultaneously, and a till that stops working stops trade in a way few other outages do.

Most difficulties trace back to systems that were added one at a time. The POS came first, e-commerce arrived later, the warehouse system later still, and each keeps its own view of inventory until someone reconciles them by hand.