Critical Considerations For Retailers Before Retaining Cloud Services

Typically retailers are not risk takers as regards investing in infrastructure. And fortunately today they don’t have to take on the burden of building and running their own platforms and systems.  With the glut of cloud based options available to retailers they can simply use exactly what they require and pay for just what they use.  This leaves them free to focus on their core business and operations and not have to concern themselves too much with the technology aspect.

Quite a few Retail Consulting Solutions have already begun using cloud hosting services to varying degrees. Armed with this high-performance service, retailers in the know are benefitting from efficient ways to interact with customers, carry out transactions, scale the model of delivery, manage data and ultimately diminish the administrative load of systems infrastructure. Cloud hosting services are seeing continual growth and retailers will continually seek budget-friendly ways to exploit the cloud infrastructure.

Know before you go

Gain a thorough grasp of what’s being offered and the costs you’d incur. You wouldn’t want to be caught off-guard with challenges after having retained a cloud hosting provider. Due-diligence is part and parcel of all good investments, cloud services are no exception. Learn the total cost of ownership and plan ahead for when your business (customers, employees, transactions, market landscape etc.) sees marked transitions.

ROI

Ensure that the investment you are planning will actually pay off. In some cases bringing on new or upgraded system initiatives are more justifiable than a conversion of an existing system from which costs cannot be recovered.

Regulations

Ensure that the regulatory compliances have been sufficiently investigated. SOX compliance would need to be addressed particularly for publicly traded retailers. When vetting your providers look out for services that hold SOC accreditation or certifications. Get a comprehensive idea of the security measures on offer.

Flexibility

As cloud hosting is usually a set of shared resources, businesses may come across situations where the service is limited and is not flexible enough to cater to their particular needs. Systems that need considerable customization, extensions or modification may not be an ideal fit for some businesses. Additionally, due diligence as regards non-production environments, for instance, development, testing and demonstration should be performed carefully.

Upgrades

Having a subscription to the latest and most popular software and service updates is a mixed blessing. Subscribers get the updated with new features despite not having invested in the development and testing of system releases. This affords organizations the time to focus on their core competencies.Cloud Computing Solutions subscribers would need to create a plan and manage the changes that occur in the provider’s upgrade path as well as scheduled outages.  

Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Don’t skip the fine print. For cloud applications and platforms that support a critical business function that requires continuous availability, determine in what manner the cloud provider will fulfil that requirement and have a strategy in place in case it fails. Figure out how the environment can be conditioned to allow for growth as well as the timeline for its execution. 

Online retailers who have experienced success are the ones that keep up-to-date with the disruptive technologies and zero in on the most efficient ways to make it work for them.