Author: Michael Colpitts, Omnichannel Solutions Director
The thought of replacing your retail point-of-service (POS) solutions is daunting. An upgrade may seem unnecessary if the current retail POS system appears to be adequate for the task. But be aware, there are risks waiting in that old point-of-sale.
Trying to save money by sticking with obsolete retail solutions can cost more in the long run—in more ways than one. Aging POS software leads to escalating security risks, each potentially more expensive than the last. Worst of all, antiquated systems—unable to adapt to emerging trends—rob your business of tomorrow's opportunities and widen the gap between you and the competition.
Retailers around the globe are adapting to changing consumer demands and driving superior customer experiences with modern retail POS systems:
- New ways of working: Farmatodo completes retail solution implementation in a 100% remote project model
- Hamleys deploys Oracle Retail Xstore Point-of-Service in 8 months
- Perry Ellis International drives brand loyalty with a CRM built for retail
- Chalhoub Group mobilizes associates to accelerate customer loyalty
Drive value with a modern retail point-of-service
Selecting and deploying a business application is never an easy or fun task. As you assemble the team to assess the right POS solution, business and IT teams must be aligned. We suggest you begin by asking the right questions about your risk profile.
Information and data silos are no longer an option in today's fast-moving, global economy. Then there are questions of infrastructure that need to be addressed by the IT side. Can you ensure seamless data migration? How do we minimize business disruption? Can our executive team maintain visibility throughout the implementation?
Create space for retail innovation
Digital transformation must not be limited to any one area of the business. Truly effective innovation is about harmonizing and leveraging technology throughout the entire enterprise – from the brand website to the storeroom floor – and reaping the rewards. The memorable experience of tomorrow will require innovative retail solutions at every level, with retailers empowering creativity and inventing new business models along the way.
Amid the pandemic, those retailers with a single view of their inventories, customers, and orders universally outperformed their peer group. That operational advantage enabled certain brands to personalize their customer experience better and drive greater internal efficiencies.
Following a strategic path enables retailers to consider creative fulfillment strategies such as curbside pickup, self-checkout, and buy online pickup in-store (BOPIS). In addition to expanding into new territories, leveraging business rules around tax, legal, and regulatory updates.
The reward of a lower TCO for omnichannel retail
Decreasing the cost of business applications benefits everyone, from the CEO to the individual business units, including the IT staff. It might have an even more significant impact on individual business units than you realize. Businesses are increasingly using a system of chargebacks where IT charges the various business units for the IT infrastructure and services they consume.
A strategic solution reduces impact to the business and risk to the IT community by automating some of the necessary processes through a proven upgrade path. Eradicate the disruption associated with lengthy business transformation or IT upgrade projects that do not deliver benefits fast, whether through a streamlined process or helping to reduce operational costs.
Eliminate security risk, future-proof your business
IT departments concerned about the risk to their investment in business applications know the Oracle name and reputation. Oracle delivers a complete solution — it owns the hardware, software, database, and services for every application — so there's only one software vendor to vet and fewer concerns regarding integration or partnerships that may dissolve.
Today's Retail IT departments remain concerned with corporate compliance issues, as well as the management of IT infrastructures increasingly complicated by virtualization, explosive growth in data, and the management of constantly growing and transforming endpoints scattered within and beyond the corporate network.
Updating to a strategic retail solution puts you in control of your upgrade strategy by including:
- New updates, fixes, security alerts, data fixes, and critical patch updates
- New tax, legal, and regulatory updates
- New upgrade scripts
- Certification with new third-party products/versions
- Certification with new Oracle products
Follow a prescriptive approach, faster time to market
To deliver a full-service retail customer experience, retailers employ integrated hardware and retail POS software. The key reasons retailers prefer pre-integrated applications include:
- Speed to value: Quick deployment helps retailers innovate faster and implement change when the market requires it.
- Leverage the latest and greatest features: Receive access to application updates, upgrades, and new functionality. By leveraging new features, retailers can make better, more informed business decisions.
- Create flexibility for users and the business: Easy to create and maintain flexibility by getting users up and running quickly, turning on modules or components that weren't part of your initial deployment, or adding another application.
- Cut your application costs and create space for innovation: Significantly lower the percentage of your IT spend on maintaining an outdated retail POS system, freeing up resources and budget to invest in innovation that will leverage fully functional, secure business applications.
- Streamline process and insight across the enterprise: Optimized to work together: retailers enjoy the consistency of information, insights, and the user interface.