That benefit is greater agility, which will enable you — the retailer — to respond to changing market demands faster and easier than your current design allows.

A non-retail example of this is that if you broadcast the same NTSC video signal (the signal the US uses for TV transmissions) to both VHS and DVD recorders, the input is the same, but the output is different. That is VHS and DVD both use different methods of capturing and recording the same signal. This small, often- overlooked concept of broadcasting the same event to all interested parties and allow them to perform or respond in different ways, is perhaps the most powerful tool in systems design. If you choose to harness it and put it to work, you can unlock significant untapped potential in your organization.