Life on Globequest Express

Shopping – you either love it or hate it. But whatever your attitude is, one thing is certain: it’s something that has got to get done.

It’s great though that in the last five years, so much has been done to make shopping a convenience rather than a chore. One of the most noticeable developments, of course, is that each retail store worth its goods has a branch in almost every big mall – that’s definitely great for us consumers who hate the hassle of having to seek out a single store located in the hinterlands of Metro Manila in search of a much-sought after item.

Really, don’t we just hate it when a saleslady tells us that "out of stock ang item." Then, we ask if the item is available in another branch and all they can tell us is that they are not sure. Or they make a call which can take anywhere from five minutes to eternity.

Globequest saw that gap and has come up with a solution: the Globequest Store Express.

"If a customer were shopping in Rustan’s Makati and the item needed was out of stock what would happen is that the people at Rustan’s would be able to direct the customer to which branch the item is available (whether in Metro Manila or Cebu) by checking the inventory using our programs," said Boboy Romero, Globequest head at the launching of

Globequest Store Express in Cebu recently. "Store Express is the real industry specific solution. It used to be said that one size fits all but with Globequest that is no longer true. We believe that each company or even individual has different needs and we have come up with a solution to address each need."

Indeed.

The retail industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. In spite of the hard times the country is facing at present the industry grew by about five to six percent last year according to Grace Castillo, Globequest marketing head. So, what Globequest did was to address the needs of the retail industry and come up with solutions which would make the retail companies respond to the needs of their customers more effectively and efficiently. "We listened and understood what the needs of the retail industry were and we developed solutions for the different IT and networking requirements based on cost, performance, security, reliability and supports for different connectivity methods," added Romero.

There are three services which Globequest Store Express offers  its retail clients namely, Store Express on Demand, Store Express Online and Store Express Premium.

The on-demand service solution was conceptualized with the smaller retail branches which have dial-up services in mind. This service allows them to transmit sales and inventory reports on a periodic basis. The online service is designed for real time access in order to monitor transactions through Globequest DSL, which provides high speed data for large volume transactions. The premium service is designed for dedicated real time access transmitting vital data, voice and video applications with a great deal of flexibility.

"The store express offering took about a year to develop. Because we did a lot of research and fine-tuning of the system," added Romero. "We developed Store Express for the reason of making it really simple for companies to work on the network side."

So customized have the network solutions of Globequest become that it has been able to respond to their customers’ needs whether they be their current customers like Rustan’s, McDonalds, Jollibee, Goldilocks, Mercury Drug, National Book Store, Linea Italia, Petron or 7-Eleven, or even smaller retail businesses which are starting up. "All a customer would have to do is define how the branch operates, what kind of data they have and how they want to send it and we will quickly recommend a solution," said Romero. "Even those who do not have a large IT department can do retail automation. We will do the consolidating of solutions to customize a package for individual company needs."

Romero explained that one of the first steps that Globequest undertook when it introduced the system was to connect the warehouse with the main office. That step is one of the most vital for any company because it would help manage inventory.

"We want to uplift the industry by providing solutions which allow the

transmission of data within the network areas," added Castillo. "The key factors that we are looking to address are cost, performance and security. Thus, we propose solutions which will address these needs."

A one-stop shop is what the people at Globequest like to call their service. And here at this shop, there are no needs that are too big that they cannot be met and neither are their needs too small that they are put aside. Any networking problem in need of a solution the Globequest Store Express can easily come up with. The idea is to be able to allow the retail company to mix and match our services to suit the needs of the company," quipped Romero.

"One of Globequest’s business directions is to focus on the most important segments of the corporate market in the retail industry. Aside from being one of the key growth drivers of our economy and the retail industry’s stable growth for the past six years Globequest believes that this industry will continue to grow as it moves towards global competitiveness," said Innove Communications CEO Gil Genio. "Globequest is committed to enabling our retailers to achieve excellence through a solution that not only allows them to network their stores, but also provides a wide array of value-added services, giving way to significant operational efficiencies and cost-savings. Hence, the Globequest Store Express."

With Globequest Store Express, not only are services in the stores made better it has also made shopping more fun and convenient.

Ahhh…better business in the store.