Improve consumer experiences online and in person, safeguard data and people, empower employees with actionable intel, and watch your business bloom.
Retailers, facing coronavirus-induced restrictions and cutthroat competition, are under more pressure than ever before to get it right. Consumers today expect a seamless mobile shopping experience – even when they’re standing in the middle of a brick-and-mortar store. They want every excursion – online or in person — to feel bespoke, complete with omnichannel continuity and highly personalized marketing and customer service.
Retailers that capitalize on these “mobile moments” are winning the hearts, minds and wallets of an increasingly sophisticated clientele. Inside the store or out, mobile reigns. Companies that seize opportunities to leverage advanced technology and adapt to new consumer paradigms will be the ones to survive and thrive.
Stop shopping around. Structured specializes in breaking down IT silos and guiding companies through the process of selecting, purchasing and implementing technology that lowers total cost of ownership, provides the biggest return on investment, and maximizes competitive advantages. Technology decisions matter in any economy: Businesses will build or break because of them.
Discussing Digital Disruption in Retail
We understand business-to-consumer companies must deal with rising costs for raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and more – all with shrinking margins amidst fierce competition. Information security concerns are matched by public safety concerns, and the coronavirus economy is assisting some businesses while decimating others.
Retail is at an inflection point. Now is the time for companies to build modern and secure tech stacks that promote agility to meet consumer demand.
Customer Experience
First and foremost, retail is about customer experience. One of the primary ways to enhance CX is with fast Wi-Fi to ensure the functionality of critical applications and mobility services like wayfinding, location-based promotions, and contactless payments. Robust Wi-Fi provides guests with customized shopping experiences, but it also empowers employees to deliver top-flight service on the floor, behind the register, or curbside.
Cloud & Data Management
For obvious reasons, retail is significantly seasonal and business managers long ago turned to cloud computing to increase efficiency and save on infrastructure costs. During peak season, cloud instances are spun up. When those ebb, they’re turned down. But cloud offers retail so much more than burst capacity.
Analytics powered by cloud computing give retail leaders real-time access to data to assist with supply chain management, inventory forecasting, and consumer behavior. When margins are slim, effective data management contributes significantly to the bottom line.
But choosing the right cloud provider for retail workloads is key. Understanding dependencies, apps and information security before leveraging cloud is a must.
Security & Compliance
Perhaps the weightiest of all issues in retail are today’s regulatory requirements mandating the use of information security tools and processes to secure all consumer and cardholder data collected by merchants.
Understanding the complexities of these standards, selecting the most effective security tools (and correctly configuring them!), and properly maintaining and updating all systems is difficult for even the largest companies. And, perhaps unfortunately, being a mom-and-pop shop is no excuse.
To secure retail systems, which are heavily reliant on point of sale (POS) systems and cloud, it is important to work with a security provider that understands how to protect every kind of endpoint in all environments as well as the APIs that connect apps.
Physical Safety & Systems
Your store urges masks, you limit occupancy, and your workers deep clean on a regular basis. What’s left to do? Health monitoring technologies help make busy retail spaces safer for all by detecting elevated body temperatures, inadequate hygiene, and improper social distancing. Best of all, these technologies are unobtrusive and effective at protecting personally identifiable information.
The cloud has also brought powerful improvements to video security. Structured now can offer visually impressive, high resolution plug and play video surveillance solutions that are controlled by an easy-to-manage cloud platform. These systems provide an array of benefits, including end-to-end encryption, remote accessibility, powerful analytics, live alerting during unusual activity, and the elimination of NVRs and DVRs.
These are complex issues, and you deserve a partner with experience, vision and skill. A partner who understands technology and your business model.
Whether you’re determining the best way to improve wireless service and guest access in your stores; accommodate game changing analytics, merchandising, or distribution software with computing power on-premises, in the cloud, or both; or trying to protect financial information and company trade secrets, Structured is the partner you need when business gets serious.
Compliance
Structured has a full complement of compliance services for retail, including vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, control validation, and regulatory gap analysis/compliance audits.
Consider working with us to meet regulatory requirements for:
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
Sets requirements for any organizations “that store, process or transmit cardholder data.”
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
Regulates any entity that handles the sensitive information of California residents in the execution of business and marketing. Security requirements are included and substantial breach fines apply to loss of data control.
Want more information? Get in touch!
Bridge the Gap
Experience, People, Processes and Technologies since 1992
Discover what’s possible. The digital age is creating enormous opportunities for organizations to innovate, automate, and grow — and technology is the springboard. Embrace the digital age and transform your business with Structured.