Consequential objectives: the IT goals you set for 2008 can go a long way toward improving your company's bottom line.

I ALWAYS FEEL IT'S PRODUCTIVE TO USE THE BEGINNING OF EACH YEAR TO ASSESS ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND SET GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR. This month I'd like to suggest some ideas that might be included in your IT goals for 2008.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Recently I read a study that quantified IT activities that can impact shareholder value and create competitive differentiation. The activity found to have the most impact on increasing shareholder value was to place a major emphasis on IT staff development, including both technical skills and leadership training. A comprehensive education program has always been a cornerstone of staff retention, but this study was the first to identify and quantify the enormous impact that it can have on stockholder value.

While providing technical skills training is important, leadership skills, including those related to managing complex projects, have become increasingly important. To be successful, you need to have both an approved training budget and a strategy. The strategy must include a complete review of how you manage the department and the projects you undertake, with a particular focus on the tools and concepts used to control development and implementation.

Some of the most progressive companies in retailing are successfully outsourcing a significant proportion of their new development work. If you have not yet researched the use of outsourcing, this is the year to do it. Beyond the skill sets potential outsourcing partners offer, and the prices, you should assess the development and management tools they use, as this will help you define your own internal requirements. I remember talking with Hannaford executives who said learning to use a new set of tools for developing system requirements and project management was a major investment that made it possible to optimize their relationship with their outsourcing business partner.

Another of my favorite ideas is to establish a sunset evaluation process on all major projects. A review must establish that there is continued value in investing IT resources, either to enhance, upgrade or replace the functionality of an application. This begins with the users determining that they want to keep the application and then identifying the goals in its expanded use to which they are ready to commit during the next year, along with the benefits the company will realize from those new uses.

Where the users require IT investments in either extensive internal development or new software, the entire investment must go through the normal approval process. However, each year a limited number of major systems must be designated for sunset review, with the number determined so that all are reviewed at least once in a three-year period.

It seems the food industry is constantly confronting product recalls. Being able to do more for your customers than simply putting signs in checkout lanes or on your doors to inform them of a recall should be a high priority. The Food Marketing Institute is working to find better ways for manufacturers and distributors to communicate with retailers and to improve the inspection process.

While this may in the long run limit the number of recalls, it does not address the need to communicate with your customers. I have long advocated an aggressive campaign to collect e-mail addresses from frequent shoppers. It should not be hard to get them in exchange for e-mail notifications, particularly if you link notifications to the items they have purchased.

My thought would be to simply print out a turnaround document at the end of your register tape and ask the customer to fill it out and leave it with the cashier or the courtesy booth, or to go online and complete the information there. There should be a list of opt-in conditions. When the opt-in relates to recall notices, the customer should tell you if she wants to be told of all recalls or only when she has purchased the product during the impacted period.

If IT is to make a significant contribution to the bottom line, the place to start is with payment systems. Companies throughout retail are pioneering procedures to reduce clearinghouse costs and improve the efficiency of debit, credit and check processing for both the customer and the company. If your company has not begun developing a test plan for at least one of these alternatives, you are a laggard and are likely to find yourself at a competitive disadvantage as you enter 2008.

These opportunities include back office conversion, which is being rolled out at Hy-Vee and requires the retailer to purchase equipment for each store that converts checks to an electronic format for automated clearinghouse processing. Hy-Vee estimates the savings at four cents a check.

Another leading-edge effort is underway in a pilot test at Pathmark. It uses a branded and pin-based debit card that represents a lower clearinghouse fee and is combined with a retailer loyalty card. In the past this concept had limited success because such cards were not accepted at many other retail establishments. In the Pathmark partnership the card can be used at any retailer.

In previous columns I have discussed the use of biometrics to let customers pay for purchases by simply using a fingerprint to identify themselves and defaulting to a lower-cost form of payment. This approach continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace than I would have expected.

These are just a few of the significant payment projects already underway last year. Let me know what your priorities are for 2008; you can reach me at the e-mail address below.

Richard Shulman is president of Industry Systems Development Corp. in Dix Hills, N.Y. He can be reached at [e-mail].