In the retail world, kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, plasma-screen displays and hand-held devices are all part of the equation in informing customers and keeping the cash registers ringing.

But sometimes these sophisticated communications tools can be at cross-purposes. And sometimes the well-intended messages get lost in the shuffle.

Multichannel software is coming to the rescue. This white knight is starting to come into its own to help retailers present uniform messages to the consumer.

Toronto, Ontario-based St. Clair Interactive Communications is a leader in this growing niche of solutions. It has developed software products that can be incorporated into a single system, merchandising content regardless of the kinds of devices utilized on a network. The software also manages the production, distribution, scheduling and reporting of that content.

"Companies put in different kinds of systems for each specific device used," said Doug Peter, St. Clair president and CEO. "Each time they put in hardware with a new functionality, they put in different software. They need a uniform way to communicate with the customers."

A supermarket, for instance, could be entangled by as many as eight different customer-facing systems—one for the pharmacy, another for the wine department, and so forth.

Peter said until now the use of software that connect disparate systems has been "an afterthought."

St. Clair has developed multichannel solutions designed to boost impact and lower costs. The Canadian company is demonstrating these capabilities in a variety of industry venues. These include Global Shop and InfoComm with partner Pioneer Electronics, and using Pioneer products in other demonstrations such as KioskCom, EuroCIS (Germany) and Retail Solutions (UK).

St. Clair is piloting its multichannel solutions with such retail clients as Marsh Supermarkets and Sears Canada and the recipe kiosk company ShopToCook.

Another company with a strong breadth and depth of experience in the multichannel approach is Agilysys Inc. of Cleveland.

Terry Kasen, Agilysys’ business unit director for its Industry Solutions Group, is working with St. Clair on the Marsh pilot project. Kasen said until recently a bad economy has discouraged retailers to spend the necessary dollars to adopt multichannel. Also, he said, the ROI "is still pretty soft now."

Nevertheless, Kasen feels strongly that multichannel will take hold with retailers and others. He said kiosks are gaining greater acceptance from consumers and digital media has become "more mature."

Agilysys’ efforts in this arena were bolstered with the February purchase of Inter-American Data Inc. for $36.5 million. IAD is a developer and provider of software and services to hotel casinos and major resorts in the United States, and all of its solutions run on IBM platforms.

IAD develops and markets proprietary document management solutions with a focus on the hospitality, health care, retail and government niches. These solutions allow the capture, storage, control, manipulation and distribution of scanned and electronically originated images.

Promise for airports and casinos

St. Clair software is the common denominator for multichannel applications, and not just for retail. Other industries where this software shows great promise are airports and casinos.

"The end result is the same: leveraging electronic media across a number of integrated platforms," said Tom van Turnhout, St. Clair chief technical officer.

Pioneer Electronics, Bsquare Corp. and Marketing Communications LLC are other companies intimately involved in multichannel system program development.

Pioneer, for instance, adds plasma screens and touchscreens to the mix. Bsquare is a systems integrator that concentrates on optimizing purpose-built devices such as kiosks. Marketing Communications is a consulting firm.

The future for multichannel looks bright, with both Peter and Kasen predicting substantial business in that area for their companies in the next few years.

"It now represents about 10 percent of our sales, but I can see it going to 45 percent," Peter said. "We think there will be rapid growth."

"This is a growth area," Kasen said. "We believe there are good opportunities for us in this area over the next few years. We’re very bullish about it."