This article is part of the February 2013, Vol. 19 issue of Business Analytics: The Power of Personalized Data

Necessity is the mother of invention. For Vice President of Systems and Technology Joe Perret, the necessity was mobile inventory management of live goods supplied by his company, Bell Nursery. As the sole plant supplier to 150-plus Home Depot Inc. garden centers -- as well as the employer of the 1,700 people responsible for walking the center floors, stocking, managing and merchandising the plants -- access to inventory data is critical to the Elkridge, Md.-based Bell Nursery. The company owns the inventory at each location -- Home Depot only pays the nursery when an item is purchased, not hanging around dying on the vine. However, the nursery's mobile inventory management strategy was missing two key elements: mobile devices and mobile applications. Joe Perret Bell Nursery supplies Home Depot garden centers in seven states all year round, from the bulbs, perennials and flowering fruit trees in spring, to the indoor cactuses and poinsettias bought by plant lovers in the lull of winter. Tracking the seasonal highs and lows of the business is only part of the... Access >>>