New research identifies gaps in resource, support and infrastructure

SEATTLE, WA – April 12, 2017 — /BackupReview.info/ — An overwhelming 97% of businesses see IT as a strategic asset when it comes to branch retailing, according to the latest research from Zynstra, an enterprise-grade IT software provider. Seven in 10 respondents said IT could enable them to meet future demands by helping to reduce operating costs, speed up roll-out of new stores, support new business opportunities and streamline IT management.

Despite this view, only 48% of those surveyed said they had the proper resources, support and infrastructure to meet their current demands.

The research, conducted on behalf of Zynstra by survey consultant Censuswide, polled IT managers and c-level professionals in the retail space across the US and UK.

When asked about current challenges, US-based respondents cited budget, security and lack of skills most frequently — cost and effort of managing remote systems was the most identified issue (59%), followed by keeping systems up to date and secure (52%), and a lack of in-branch IT skills (31%).

“In the retail branch IT space, technology is playing an ever-more important role in helping businesses meet both current and future demand; not only from an operational point of view, but also in enhancing the customer experience. However, as the research points out, the application of this technology or the readiness to adopt it can be a challenge. This resonates 100% with our experience working with customers, all of whom are challenged to deliver a better user experience whilst reducing the operational costs of remotely managing a highly distributed branch IT environment,” says Nick East, CEO, Zynstra.

The most in-demand new technology for retailers is mobile payment capabilities (65%), followed by self-checkout (49%), scan as you shop (44%), click and collect (41%) and in-store customer analytics (37%).

“The increased demand for in-store customer analytics in the US is strongly indicative of the way the convenience store market is evolving, and the drive of organizations in this space to seek competitive advantage and boost the customer experience. Our experiences of working with customers shows a common theme – traditional IT infrastructure and processes are not fit for purpose to support these changing demands of retail branch IT.”

There are, however, also challenges in meeting these future demands — lack of technical infrastructure (37%), network connectivity issues (36%), lack of IT capability in branch (25%) and incompatible legacy IT systems (21%).

“Retailers, particularly those with remote branches and offices, will always have issues related to budget, skills and IT infrastructure,” says Tim Peters, Vice President and General Manager, ProLiant Servers and SMB Solutions, Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “Importantly what the research shows is that retailers, with their unique technical requirements, are constantly striving for solutions that help them not only be more efficient today, but will help them meet the future demand and evolution of branch IT.”

In March 2017, 300 IT managers and c-level professionals were surveyed online by Censuswide. Respondents were drawn from retailers across the US and UK, from companies of all sizes.

About Zynstra
Zynstra is a software company, committed to delivering highly affordable enterprise grade IT which is simple to buy, deploy and use. Our unique solution delivers hybrid IT as a service, enabling customers to choose the right blend of local and cloud IT to scale with their business, without the need for expensive future upgrades, all managed and kept up to date via the cloud. Zynstra are the winners of the 2015 IT Industry Awards for Infrastructure Innovation of the Year.

Zynstra is backed by Octopus Ventures, one of Europe’s leading investors in fast-growth companies that can scale explosively to create, transform or dominate an industry.

Media Contact:
Gabe Trodd
Atomic PR for Zynstra
+44 (0)207 478 7811
zynstra@atomicpr.com

Source: Zynstra

 

 

Tags: