In this “Web 2.0” world, it’s hard for retailers to stay ahead of the curve – especially when it comes to keeping your retail Web site current and customer-friendly.

Compared with HTML, rich Internet applications (RIAs) offer greater interactivity, improved user experiences, and better differentiation. But most firms miss out on the brand-building potential of RIAs. To help companies that struggle with this problem, we uncovered examples of RIAs that provide top-notch user experiences and complement key brand attributes.

Firms looking to differentiate their brands through online functionality should start with a clear understanding of user goals, maintain a relentless focus on brand attributes, enlist expert help, and test designs for compliance with brand positioning before going live.

Collaboration within organizations has emerged as a pressing need across Fortune enterprises in the US and abroad; as such, it’s becoming the key to remain competitive in today’s business climate. In order to continue producing innovative products, enterprises have put into place an increasing number of both information systems and supply chain partners, providing increased information access to this larger ecosystem for streamlining the necessary collaboration among partners, suppliers, and vendors.

The importance of collaboration and corporate community-building tools capturing and leveraging the creative and collective intelligence of a company's entire workforce is priceless. Company-wide collaboration facilitates regular employee interaction that empowers everyone in the company and benefits the company as a whole.

The challenge for ensuring the future of organizations depends on the ability of their employees to innovate, and execute critical research while working together effectively. Sharing information and improving communication are extremely common business challenges – so enabling teams and divisions to access and share information in a managed way improves productivity resulting in better decisions.

GRM will address how to optimize:

• online site to improve sales, profit, customer satisfaction and retention
• explore the strategies, applications and processes that provide retailers’ sites with the best results
• the tools and best practices that help them achieve their goals
• insights into consumer-related browsing and buying trends
• what retailers need to know to create tomorrow’s sites today