Retailers are perfecting omnichannel by way of the cloud

Companies endeavoring to achieve omnichannel proficiency often suffer from a sense of disorientation — a maelstrom of siloed systems and processes that somehow have to learn to work together across channels. But the transition can immediately look more orderly once the process is seen as one of simplification: an opportunity to consolidate systems and bring unity where once there was fragmentation and redundancy.

Increasingly, that move to a single platform means a migration to the cloud. Retailers are recognizing the ability of single cloud-based platforms to coordinate front-end and back-offices systems while dramatically reducing integration costs. A cloud-based approach also allows for the relatively easy integration of other cloud applications, further expanding capabilities and optimizing processes.

Within multi-channel retail companies, the move to the cloud might be first championed by IT, operations or marketing, motivated by challenges of: scale, cost, security, speed to market and customer experience. Those priorities hold different weights depending on the retail organization. The cause célèbre for a quickly-expanding chain might be the need to deliver seamless brand experiences across channels or scale home-grown processes to work across channels and international borders. For a youth-oriented fashion chain, speed to market — involving everything from new product procurement to merchandising and mobile marketing — might be driving the cloud migration.

Market intelligence firm, IDC, refers to cloud systems as "the third platform," one that combines the benefits of Big Data analytics, social collaboration for business, mobile capabilities and more with the stability and versatility of the cloud.

"The main driver of the 3rd platform has been the [core IT infrastructure] shift from on-premises data centers and networking to cloud computing and storage with almost everything now being offered 'as a service'," said Frank Gens, IDC's Senior Vice President and Chief Analyst. "The cloud offers scale that regular businesses do not have, which allows them to deliver more complex services faster."

Successful adoptions of single, cloud-based commerce platforms can be life-changing for retail organizations. As illustrated in numerous examples in NetSuite's recently released "Customer Commerce" e-book, cloud-based solutions often pull together POS, financials, inventory and order management, and CRM within one unified platform accessible by all company decision-makers and stakeholders. In one high-profile case, a retailer data center reduced the number of installed pieces of equipment from 95 down to 25 and, in the process, rolled out real-time visibility in sales orders across channels.