Safeway, Balance Innovations win Retail Innovation Award
IBM Retail User Group conference attendees select winners
For immediate release
August 22, 2007
Lenexa , Kan.: Safeway Inc. and Balance Innovations were selected as the winners of the IBM Retail User Group's Retail Innovation Award at the organization's annual conference. This was the inaugural year for the award.
The Retail Innovation Award recognizes the retail company with the most innovative new solution in the retail space. Award criteria stipulated that the winning innovation demonstrate a sustainable competitive advantage through the application of a unique, not easily copied process, business model or software application. The solution provider for the winning retailer is also honored with a Retail Innovation Award.
The award honored Safeway for its implementation of Balance Innovations' cash office management software, VeriCash (now named VeriBalance). VeriBalance is a patented solution that automates typical cash office processes. By streamlining these processes, VeriBalance reduces manual tasks and, thus, the opportunity for errors and shrink.
Safeway is widely recognized throughout the retail industry for its implementation and use of industry-leading technologies throughout its stores.
“This is a tremendous honor for the Balance Innovations team,” said Keith Molzer, president and CEO of Balance Innovations. “The award reflects the value of the VeriBalance solution and how we work in a true partnership fashion with our customers. The Safeway and Balance Innovations teams collaborated to implement the VeriBalance solution and best practices in the most effective manner for Safeway.”
The winners were selected by votes from attendees of the conference who saw the nominated technologies demonstrated in the exhibit area. Technologies were nominated by retailers and associate members, and the IBM Retail User Group board selected four finalists to be voted on by the conference attendees.
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About Safeway
Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1740 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $40.2 billion in 2006. Safeway supports a broad range of charitable and community programs and last year donated more than $154 million to important causes, such as cancer research, education, food banks and programs focused on assisting people with disabilities. The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.
About Balance Innovations
Balance Innovations LLC is the leader in technology-based cash management solutions for the retail industry. Our leading-edge, customizable solutions integrate seamlessly with existing POS technologies to simplify and improve retailers' cash management operations including revenue balancing, check processing, cash forecasting and tracking of non-cash tender items. Balance Innovations' premier product, VeriBalance, is a patented, innovative, easy-to-use software solution that is helping retailers across the United States and Canada increase profitability and improve operations by reducing labor, bank fees and shrink while standardizing and enforcing best practices and policies. Customers range from independent grocers to Fortune 50 retailers.
About IBM Retail User Group
The IBM Retail User Group provides a platform for hundreds of retailers, IBM and IBM business partners to advance store systems technology. Jointly, the group advances the development of IBM POS and store systems solutions to common business problems and establishes a working partnership for mutual benefit.
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