Zynstra Hybrid IT Blog

A recent study by Zynstra has revealed that retailers are responding to cyber attacks on average twice a week. 16% of retailers said they experienced an attack or attempted attack every day, 11% said they responded 2-3 times per week, and 64% said once a month.

It’s obvious to all that the face of retail is changing rapidly, with customers having more and more options of where and how to purchase goods and services. In response retailers are looking to increase levels of customer service and offer a differentiated buying experience. Branch retailers in particular recognize that their key competitive asset is the branch network itself, offering as it does the ideal environment for compelling customer interaction. However, customer interaction today requires an IT infrastructure that can support compelling applications that enhance the shopping experience and integrate the branch and on-line customer journeys.

We wanted to better understand the pressures facing retail branch IT specialist, so the team at Zynstra recently commissioned Censuswide to conduct a survey of retail IT leaders in the USA and UK to determine their attitudes, opinions and state of their IT infrastructure.

Our research showed that while 97% of respondents see IT as a strategic asset in retail branch IT, only 48% said they had the proper resources, support and branch infrastructure to meet their current demands. And when it came to the IT to support an omni-channel customer experience, only 34% thought they had the infrastructure to enable an end-to-end multi-channel experience.

So we wanted to dig a little deeper and find out what were the major challenges IT pro’s face in making these changes.

We wanted to better understand the pressures facing retail branch IT specialists, so the team at Zynstra recently commissioned Censuswide to conduct a survey of retail IT leaders in the USA and UK to determine their attitudes, opinions and state of their IT infrastructure.

It’s obvious to all that the face of retail is changing rapidly, with customers having more and more options of where and how to purchase goods and services. In response retailers are looking to increase levels of customer service and offer a differentiated buying experience. Branch retailers in particular recognize that their key competitive asset is the branch network itself, offering as it does the ideal environment for compelling customer interaction. However, customer interaction today requires an IT infrastructure that can support compelling applications that enhance the shopping experience and integrate the branch and on-line customer journeys.

The team at Zynstra recently commissioned Censuswide to conduct a survey of retail IT leaders in the USA and UK to determine their attitudes, opinions and state of their IT infrastructure. One of the issues we explored was what new branch applications are being demanded by retail businesses

The research showed that a wide range of applications are being demanded by retail businesses, with mobile payment capabilities leading the way in both the UK and US (65%), followed by self-checkout (49%), scan as you shop (44%), click and collect (41%) and in-store customer analytics (37%).

Early last week we showcased our HPE ProLiant Easy Connect solution at RBTE – the largest retail show in the UK. So we wanted to share some of the comments and learnings with you. 

It’s clear that retailers are seeking to raise their game on the customer experience stakes. No surprises there when competition is so fierce. Even more so when you consider that 5 of the top 20 UK retailers in 2008 are no longer in the top 20 today.

Re:Creation is a provider of innovative toys and children's lifestyle products across the UK and Ireland. In addition, Re:Creation also supply distributors with inventory, as well as develop their own intellectual property. Their aim is to seek out innovation and originality wherever it may emerge, identifying new products and brands from around the world that can bring to retail companies exciting, on-trend merchandise for short, medium and long-term sales opportunities. Like many retailers, they were struggling to find a system that could keep up with the numerous demands of the modern omnichannel business.

2016 was quite a rollercoaster for retailers: Magento 2.0 was released, the ‘Internet-of-Things’ escaped the clutches of science fiction and became more reality, and omnichannel retail became an increasingly important term for retailers to consider. While each of these changes sounded exciting to the average person, they were viewed with trepidation by retail professionals, as with each opportunity comes a host of new issues, such as the need to upgrade one’s IT infrastructure to cater for these growing trends.