#NationalTechnologyDay: The Next Biggest Shopping Destination Is The Cloud

Chandramohan Parlapalli May 11, 2022

Enterprises across the globe are continuing to enhance their business operations and revamp their operational model by leveraging cloud solutions. More than just storing heaps of data, the cloud offers a wide array of business benefits that will help you simplify workflows, enhance business agility, and improve user experiences.

Cloud offers a unique dimension to every industry. For example, cloud implementations in healthcare provide better patient care and structured data storage. Whereas it facilitates virtual classroom environments and better teacher-student collaboration in the case of education.

That is why the cloud can be adopted across any industry irrespective of platforms businesses are operating on, they can benefit and see digital success.

Cloud Movement – The Future

The next biggest shopping destination is the cloud – Ten years back, this statement would have hardly impacted the retail industry. But today, this is driving the retail sector to leapfrog into the future. So yes, the cloud movement is transforming businesses like never before!

As businesses continue to evolve, enterprises are constantly looking for the latest technology solutions to enhance their business operations. Discerning the myriad benefits that cloud offers businesses, several industries quickly started to adopt or shift to the cloud, and the business landscape soon witnessed a revolution – The Cloud Movement. As a result, every industry today looks at the cloud as a game-changer.

Cloud, the Game-Changer in Retail

As businesses continue to evolve, the need for change in business operations has constantly driven enterprises to look for innovative solutions. And this is no exception to the retail industry that persistently demands a shift in its operational model. Cloud computing in retail offers businesses a competitive edge by streamlining the supply chain operations and improving the customer experiences. Moreover, the cloud offers retailers digital capabilities to adapt to current technology requirements and drive their business forward. Like every other top industry leveraging cloud solutions to enhance its business operations, the retail sector has a greater scope for cloud implementations.

Cloud is no more a technology solution; It is a part of your business

Retailers and Cloud- Even today, various cloud services are helping the retail industry to transform its business operations. But the big question being the implementation ratio. Only a segment of the retail businesses has unraveled the cloud's benefits; many enterprises have not yet considered the cloud solution.

AND THE REASON FOR THIS? THE FEAR OF CHANGE- Every technology solution will have its highs and lows; which businesses must comprehend in the first place. A healthy amount of fear will only enable businesses to be more cautious with their technology implementations.

Advantages of Cloud in Retail

The cloud journey will transform the conventional retail businesses into the digital age's industry leaders

1. Streamline Business Operations

Even today, several retail businesses primarily rely on legacy applications for critical business operations. The outdated systems hinder business growth as they are not in line with the latest technologies plus cannot be integrated into other applications like inventory management, shipping, and POS. Moving your business applications to the cloud can remove these bottlenecks and streamline business operations strategically.

2. Customise Shopping Experiences

The modern cloud platforms provide various tools and solutions that empower retailers to dig deep into the customer buying cycle and behavior. With the aid of the cloud environment, you can have complete access to your customer's purchase history. You can instantly check on the recent orders placed, track shipping status, view past orders, and their valuable ratings/reviews. Everything in a short time, and that's the power of the cloud.

3. Cloud-Based POS Systems

The cloud-based POS system provides real-time access to valuable data and metrics like inventory tracking, employee scheduling, transaction details, performance reports, etc., enabling retailers to make smarter business decisions. In addition, one of the significant benefits of a cloud-based POS system is mobility – with the aid of a smartphone and an internet connection; the entire business operations would fit inside the gadget screen.

4. Real-Time Inventory Management

Real-time inventory view is the base for any successful omnichannel retail business expanding its operations. The difference in stock or improper updates on stock availability is one of the major pain points for retailers. Deploying cloud applications can continuously keep track of the POS and inventory systems and offer real-time inventory updates. It also allows for automatic order placements based on inventory requirements and stock management.

5. Enable Omnichannel Experience

A consistent user experience across all customer touchpoints is an essential factor in today's business model. The cloud's ability to offer a holistic presence across omnichannel enables retailers to deliver a seamless customer experience. However, setting up an omnichannel experience isn't that easy; it involves many cloud computing foundations to provide the correct information through the| right channel.

6. Enhance Data Security

Data accumulation is a serious concept in the retail business, with the continuous flow of customers – data keeps increasing every day. Cloud computing enables seamless and secure handling of all the critical data, including customer details, sales information, inventory/stock data, etc. In addition, the cloud platform also secures all the business- sensitive data from external breaches, DDoS attacks, and ransomware offering complete data security.

7. Reduce operational Costs

The cloud platform offers diverse service models that enable enterprises to pay only for what they use—these aids in saving a lot of operational and infrastructure costs. Cloud allows businesses to easily scale up or down based on their budget and requirements. Switching to the cloud also eliminates the need for any upfront capital expenditures. In addition, migrating on-premises data centers and workloads to the cloud can dramatically reduce IT costs.

8. Fine-Tune Decision-Making

The cloud computing capabilities allow retailers to have better insights into their business performance, with data on purchasing habits, shopping preferences, real-time inventory, etc. These powerful insights enable retailers to make better data-driven decisions and open avenues for new opportunities in their business.

Take away: Quick Reasons why Retail should be on Cloud now

In today’s challenging retail business, capital expenditure is scrutiny. If you think spending on areas like store refits, capacity planning, procurement, etc., will be more beneficial than an IT investment, you have to think again.

Cloud migration is a viable solution that can be funded from your operations budget itself – the cloud,

an area where you can see more obvious benefits!

Moving business to the cloud helps retail industries reduce storage, infrastructure, and computing costs and enable real-time access to operational and inventory data.

Cloud transforms the retailers to efficiently manage inventory, improve data security, enhance user experience, boost profitability, mitigate risks and recover from disastrous situations.

To thrive in a competing marketplace, retailers need to extend their reach to customers while efficiently managing their operations and supply chain to deliver a unique customer experience.