Retailers are becoming increasingly security focused and the protection of customers' personal and financial information is now a top priority.

Challenge
While "Shop 'til you drop" has become a rallying cry for a generation of consumers, retailers need to keep a calm and steady hand on their operations. Data centers are as important to today's retailers as cash registers were to past generations of shopkeepers to support a myriad of business-critical operations, including sales and inventory tracking, customer and partner interactions, and e-commerce services. Riding in the wake of a radically transformed economy, retailers are under pressure to retain and build customer loyalty while simultaneously cutting costs and streamlining operations

Speed and uptime are major concerns, since delayed sales can quickly become lost sales. When a customer leaves the store without buying because lines are too long or assistance by store associates isn't available, store performance plummets. In fact, providing employees with faster access to time-critical information is one of the best paths to improved productivity, which leads to increased revenue and profit.

Retailers today are integrated from end to end across suppliers, partners, stores and consumers through a host of sophisticated devices and services. Using redundant high-speed networks, retailers can deliver information in multiple media forms and formats to all types of users - fixed and mobile. Network-based services also enable retailers to execute fresh retail strategies and implement new applications far more rapidly, easily and cost-effectively than ever before. Reliable network technology also allows retailers to integrate and manage thousands of devices, including electronic shelf labels, RFID tags, and point-of-sale self-service devices.

Inside the data center, high-powered servers and massive storage systems, supported by power, cooling, security, and network resources, allow the deployment of sophisticated data warehouses and business analytics tools. Such cutting edge insightful technologies allow managers to study purchasing trends, balance inventory levels across sites, and spot potential new sales opportunities.

By consolidating servers through load balancing and using virtualization to gain greater use of storage, retailers can improve efficiency and extend the life of current IT investments. A by-product of this improved efficiency is lowered energy requirements, which helps retailers reduce costs.

Solution
Outsourcing data center operations helps retailers lower operational expenses, decrease IT capital costs, improve customer service, and enhance business agility by making it easier to deploy and upgrade applications. Evolving markets and rapidly changing consumer tastes will always keep retailers searching for ways to do more with less. With its deep experience working with retail businesses, IO paves the way for better, smarter, and faster IT deployments, helping retailers to continue innovating and responding to competitive challenges. By combining IO's private cloud computing platform with its high-capacity network services, retailers can scale to meet the demands of their customers and the shopping seasons.

Learn more on how IO can help.