payments - Retail Systems

RS
24 RS June - July 2012
feature cloud computing
cies, as opposed to IT infrastructure,” he says. “Instead allowing
the managed services experts to ‘do what they do best’ – optimising
the IT functionality and maintaining the service.
“Other benefits of cloud technology include flexibility of
service and associated costs – allowing retailers to manage fluctuations
in business volumes around peak trading times more
easily i.e. Christmas or Easter, so retailers only pay for the level
of service they are using. In a competitive and tough trading
environment this pricing model is highly appealing.
“Cloud solutions also reduce the burden of capital expenditure
and what can be an arduous integration period. Retailers don’t
have to spend money up-front on servers and infrastructure,
which therefore frees up cash which can be invested into other
areas of the business, such as stock, marketing and business
development.”
Cloud also gives retailers the opportunity to store vast
amounts of data. However the issue of security could be offputting.
There have been several high profile, including Amazon.
According to the e-commerce giant, most user systems and
data were fully restored soon after the breach, although a fraction
of its volumes stored in the eastern US may never be fully
recoverable.
“The vast majority of affected volumes have now been
recovered,” the company said at the time of the breach last
year. “We’re in the process of contacting a limited number of
customers who have Elastic Block Storage volumes that have
not yet recovered and will continue to work hard on restoring
these remaining volumes.”
Amazon also stressed that it would fully investigate the cause
of the issue, with a report into the outage set to published in
the future. The outage led many commentators to discuss cloud
security, with many stating that it highlights the need to have a
fallback service when using the technology. However, when cloud
technology gets it right the benefits can be huge.
Pontus Noren, CEO, Cloudreach, says: “Google Apps and
Amazon Web Services (Elastic MapReduce – Amazon’s specially
designed data processing web service) can provide tools that enable
large data sets to be crunched so that retailers can extract
value. For example, this data can be used to create statistics
around retail patterns and buying behaviour.
“With such a high volume of information to process, outsourcing
this to Google or Amazon means retailers can avoid the
cost and administrative burden of running an internal IT system.
The benefit of working with these cloud providers is that their
services are on a moving scale. An added benefit is scalability –
services can be easily increased or decreased to match demand
(for example to tie in with seasonal busy periods). Retailers can
switch it on or off at the drop of a hat if necessary, so they only
need to pay for what they use.
“Another key benefit is that it is a hardware-free solution –
there is limited initial outlay and the risks around owning servers
as an asset are reduced. This allows retailers to focus resources
on the core business function.
“Retailers face the challenge of ensuring that IT systems are
connected across all retail units and offices. It is challenging
enough considering that IT mechanics have the task of visiting
different outlets to fix problems as they arise. Cloud computing
cuts through that problem, providing a system that can be
accessed from anywhere, at anytime. Encouraging centralised
and simplified IT systems would have an incredible impact on
efficiencies within the UK retail market.”
Will Kennedy, corporate sales director at Daisy Group plc, says:
“Retailers are typically large, fast-moving businesses, focused
solely on generating sales and providing customer satisfaction.
Although IT is, and always has been, very important to retailers,
it often falls further down the list of priorities than sales and
service, but we are starting to see retailers pay more attention
to IT as they begin to realise the benefits of cloud.
“Because cloud computing provides real-time insight into
business performance, retailers that have adopted the technology
benefit from increased agility, as they are able to respond
immediately to any problems and manage their entire operation
through the cloud. This ensures stock levels are adequately
maintained and deliveries are made on time.
MACS Software’s MD, Tony Liddar, adds: “Rather than getting
bogged down with the science and technicalities of a prospective
new system it is better to look at the practicalities of how
the system would work in the business on a day-to-day basis and
ask some simple questions. Am I in control of my own destiny
(data/system)? If my vendor goes bust, can I demand return of
my data? Servers can always fail, but what is my backup operating
procedure and am I comfortable with that?
“The answer to these questions will be different for every individual
business so it’s important to look at every case carefully
before making a decision.”