Demystifying the Cloud Cloud Computing is one of the greatest technological advances of recent years. It allows a more dynamic allocation of computational resources, which means that you can easily expand or contract your computing needs and only pay for what you actually use. Some of the benefits include easier access to these resources and the ability to innovate and adapt to market needs more rapidly. Although many of these benefits are well understood at a high level, there are plenty of variants and enough vendor-specific technology attributes to make it difficult for businesses to decide on the right Cloud Computing strategy for them. The choice between a public cloud and a private cloud is not a trivial one, with community clouds emerging as the option between them. Also, it’s also not straightforward to choose between the different XaaS models (Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service). To make matters worse, poor portability across Cloud providers even within the same model make the vendor choice a very difficult one.
Understanding the impact of the Cloud It’s hard to think of an industry that will not be affected by the Cloud. There are many examples of companies who are facing business challenges because they were at the wrong end of this highly disruptive technology. One example is Oracle, facing challenges in its traditional database and CRM businesses, partly due to emerging technologies that are better aligned with Cloud Computing. Making the right decisions when it comes to a Cloud Computing strategy might not only give you competitive advantages, it might also be the key to the survival of your business. Netflix, Akamai, Salesforce, Uber and Workday are a few examples of companies that can attribute a lot of their success to a well-executed Cloud strategy, displacing a variety of competitors along the way.
Amazon started offering Computing services as a way to monetize excess capacity that was not being utilized outside of peak shopping seasons. This monetization probably justified higher infrastructure investments to more optimally handle peak season, which contributed to its e-commerce business’ success and subsequent disruption of other retailers.
Lastly, the attention Cloud is receiving is increasing dramatically. According to a recent report by IHS Technology, enterprise spending in Cloud will reach $235B in 2017, approximately triple of what it was in 2011.
Cloud Adoption in Retail Major retailers have started to adopt Cloud Computing with some caution. Business critical systems like Point of Sale have not moved to the Cloud, yet retailers seem fairly comfortable moving systems that control promotions and pricing.
Some of the resistance can be attributed due to the fact that Amazon, the inventor of Cloud Computing, is also seen as a main source of competition for most retailers. Other Cloud providers exist, but they capture significant amounts of metadata that could be used in ways that conflict with the retailer’s best interest. For example, simple traffic analysis of a retail system could help you approximate in-store traffic and even sales volume, all in real time!
Cloud Computing may be one of the most disruptive technologies these days. It’s enabling new business models and disrupting others. Its ramifications are not yet fully understood in all industries, but it is fairly obvious that several will be impacted. Cloud Computing is likely to be an enabler for retailers to increase operational efficiency, find new growth opportunities and create a true omnichannel shopping experience. There is complexity and nuance involved in implementing an effective Cloud Strategy in retail and Motorola Solutions has proven to be a trusted advisor helping its customers make this transition with confidence.
Damian Starosielsky is Director of Enterprise Solution Development, with over 15 years of experience leading innovative software development efforts.
Entries » Blog » Retail in the Cloud
Retail in the Cloud
By Damian Starosielsky
Demystifying the Cloud
Cloud Computing is one of the greatest technological advances of recent years. It allows a more dynamic allocation of computational resources, which means that you can easily expand or contract your computing needs and only pay for what you actually use. Some of the benefits include easier access to these resources and the ability to innovate and adapt to market needs more rapidly. Although many of these benefits are well understood at a high level, there are plenty of variants and enough vendor-specific technology attributes to make it difficult for businesses to decide on the right Cloud Computing strategy for them. The choice between a public cloud and a private cloud is not a trivial one, with community clouds emerging as the option between them. Also, it’s also not straightforward to choose between the different XaaS models (Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service). To make matters worse, poor portability across Cloud providers even within the same model make the vendor choice a very difficult one.
Understanding the impact of the Cloud
It’s hard to think of an industry that will not be affected by the Cloud. There are many examples of companies who are facing business challenges because they were at the wrong end of this highly disruptive technology. One example is Oracle, facing challenges in its traditional database and CRM businesses, partly due to emerging technologies that are better aligned with Cloud Computing. Making the right decisions when it comes to a Cloud Computing strategy might not only give you competitive advantages, it might also be the key to the survival of your business. Netflix, Akamai, Salesforce, Uber and Workday are a few examples of companies that can attribute a lot of their success to a well-executed Cloud strategy, displacing a variety of competitors along the way.
Amazon started offering Computing services as a way to monetize excess capacity that was not being utilized outside of peak shopping seasons. This monetization probably justified higher infrastructure investments to more optimally handle peak season, which contributed to its e-commerce business’ success and subsequent disruption of other retailers.
Lastly, the attention Cloud is receiving is increasing dramatically. According to a recent report by IHS Technology, enterprise spending in Cloud will reach $235B in 2017, approximately triple of what it was in 2011.
Cloud Adoption in Retail
Major retailers have started to adopt Cloud Computing with some caution. Business critical systems like Point of Sale have not moved to the Cloud, yet retailers seem fairly comfortable moving systems that control promotions and pricing.
Some of the resistance can be attributed due to the fact that Amazon, the inventor of Cloud Computing, is also seen as a main source of competition for most retailers. Other Cloud providers exist, but they capture significant amounts of metadata that could be used in ways that conflict with the retailer’s best interest. For example, simple traffic analysis of a retail system could help you approximate in-store traffic and even sales volume, all in real time!
Cloud Computing may be one of the most disruptive technologies these days. It’s enabling new business models and disrupting others. Its ramifications are not yet fully understood in all industries, but it is fairly obvious that several will be impacted. Cloud Computing is likely to be an enabler for retailers to increase operational efficiency, find new growth opportunities and create a true omnichannel shopping experience. There is complexity and nuance involved in implementing an effective Cloud Strategy in retail and Motorola Solutions has proven to be a trusted advisor helping its customers make this transition with confidence.
Damian Starosielsky is Director of Enterprise Solution Development, with over 15 years of experience leading innovative software development efforts.
See what Motorola Solutions is doing for Retail: http://www.motorolasolutions.com/US-EN/Business+Solutions/Industry+Solutions/Ret ail.
Find out more about WLAN Cloud services from Motorola Solutions:
http://www.motorolasolutions.com/US-EN/Services/Run/Network+Infrastructure+Manag ement/Hosting/WLAN+Cloud+Service