How many times have you been in a shop or buying goods online and have been told that the “system is down” and no orders are being taken? This past Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we saw a surge in online traffic that overwhelmed many retailer websites, particularly in Europe. Businesses couldn’t cope with the additional consumer interest and simply froze. One retailer in the UK encouraged shoppers “to be patient” and explained that they had been placed in a queue of over 4,000 additional shoppers and would be dealt with shortly.
Waiting in a queue online? Isn’t the online retail experience supposed to be fast and efficient?
This festive season, retailers — both online and brick and mortar — are again being inundated by shoppers ready to take advantage of offers, register for future deals and book that important Christmas turkey for the dinner table.
The question is: can the retail industry continue to survive as spending momentum increases? Will brand image and consumer confidence be undermined? And when will it no longer be acceptable to say “sorry our systems are down?”
Personally, I feel that it is already unacceptable. The technology is out there so this doesn’t happen on a regular basis, enabling retailers — big or small — to capitalize on increased consumer spending, when it occurs. Using technology to enable brand retention and customer satisfaction is a positive move in such a competitive marketplace.
The Benefits of Cloud
Cloud technology, for example, was made for this surge of activity. Sold “as-a-service,” companies can purchase additional cloud-based capacity and services that can be turned on and off when required. More forward-thinking organizations already store business-critical applications or processes in the cloud, as a key part of their daily or business continuity strategies. For many businesses, experiencing IT service downtime just isn’t an option. So when will this thinking be shared by all?
A recent Harvard Business Review study highlighted that 74 percent of the enterprises surveyed said cloud solutions provided them with a competitive advantage. Verizon’s State of the Market: Enterprise Cloud 2014 report flagged that 71 percent of our cloud customers are using cloud for mission-critical applications, up from 60 percent in 2013. So interest and adoption is definitely growing.
The benefits of the cloud are clear — it can improve operational efficiency and business agility by allowing access to a shared pool of configurable computing and storage resources. It also provides an opportunity for companies to transform existing IT operations while enabling new business opportunities. For some companies, however, transforming their current operations to the cloud is not as obvious.
Cloud Strategy for Business Transformation
Cloud transformation initiatives should be considered as part of an overall business strategy rather than just an IT-centric effort. It’s critical that companies develop clear objectives for cloud transformation, including:
- Evaluating their current IT operations to develop a baseline
- Identifying systems and applications to move to cloud
- Managing the transformation to cloud with little impact on current business operations
By aligning with a trusted cloud provider, companies can discuss their own requirements and potentially leverage these types of solutions for their own business benefit. Providers with experience in global communications networks and security can add even greater value to this conversation, as they understand the importance of every aspect of the communications lifecycle.
Visit Verizon Cloud Professional Services to learn how Verizon can help your company assess its current network infrastructure, and develop realistic roadmaps for cloud adoption.
