Innovation is changing retail from the storefront to the back office and beyond. New levels of mobility allow companies to reach customers in fresh ways that extend far beyond brick-and-mortar locations — delivering a customized, curated, and seamless experience. IoT and cloud applications are streamlining supply chains, reducing shrinkage, and improving employee productivity and safety.
Because of retail’s digital transformation, IT teams and the enterprise networks they manage have never been more important — or more burdened. As the role of connected technologies continues to grow and intertwine with virtually every aspect of business, IT teams no longer are simply troubleshooters. Today they strategically define and execute a company’s most important goals.
Retailers are re-evaluating their entire network infrastructures. Of course, moving away from aging legacy networks is easier said than done. Retail CIOs and network administrators must balance corporate mandates for speed and agility with mission-critical needs such as security, cost savings, and 24×7 uptime. These companies also are considering the role of cellular-enabled wireless WAN as it evoles from 4G LTE and Gigabit-Class LTE to 5G. Wireless innovation is unlocking new levels of mobility, flexibility, network reliability, and remote management.
This white paper outlines emerging trends in retail IT, challenges posed by those trends, and considerations for choosing future-proof edge network solutions for retail.