171 What key criteria should retailers consider when migrating to the cloud? I have already emphasised the importance of flexibility, openness and continuous evolution of journeys. It is also important that retailers are touchpoint- and channel-agnostic to allow service reuse as much as possible. In addition to this, brands should strive to simplify their IT infrastructure while ensuring scalability, reliability and more efficient maintenance, by using cloud network-based centralisation and software operations. Last but not least, I would definitely recommend including network topology flexibility – in other words, native offline operations support and cloud-enabled centralisation – as evaluation criterion. Retailers should also evaluate how they want to use their cloud solutions. This is directly related to operational efficiency. Do they want to manage and maintain these themselves, or would they prefer to pay for what they use by adopting an as-a-service model, thereby relying on the experience of specialised cloud teams and proven cloud infrastructures? What are the risks and rewards of moving retail operations to the cloud? Application availability and data security are often seen as risks, while speed of innovation, scalability, reduced IT costs and more effective collaboration are mentioned as benefits. The risks can be mitigated by working with reliable technology providers who offer an end-to-end cloud solution and use proven technologies. There are a few criteria to consider to ensure businesses choose the provider that is right for them. First, does it have established data and network security policies in accordance with data privacy laws and the latest certification and standards? Second, does it provide round-the-clock monitoring of the cloud environment to solve most issues before they occur? Third, can it offer near-real-time disaster recovery capabilities with fallback data centres in different geographic locations? It is also important that your cloud migration partner provides a 24/7, accessible, multilingual helpdesk, has experienced technical staff around the globe to solve issues, and offers highly elastic scaling and load balancing services so that you do not need to worry about performance or data availability. By considering all this, retailers can expect the best from their cloud journeys. “ Today’s customers seek relevance, convenience and instant fulfilment of their needs” R E TA I L & CG
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