In Part 2 of our post-CIO Summit discussion in Houston, we discuss the business outcomes organizations can achieve by implementing Cloud Networking technologies. In Part 1, we highlighted the key differentiators when evaluating an SD-WAN solution.

Defining business outcomes for cloud networking

After a lively discussion at our Houston CIO Summit late last year, it was time for our team to hit the road and meet with clients to talk about the business outcomes they can achieve with cloud networking technologies such as managed SD-WAN and Unified Communications solutions. After all, isn’t the job of IT to align technology with the organization’s business goals, and enable employees to maximize performance, create efficiencies, and better serve their customers?

For the CIOs in these meetings, we wanted to help them dissect these future-forward cloud networking technologies in an unbiased way and weigh the positive impacts for their investment in energy and time.

Recap: The benefits of SD-WAN

As we talked through the benefits of SD-WAN, like better quality of service, traffic management at the packet level, centralized monitoring, and greater security, we needed to boil it down more to get at what makes SD-WAN an excellent choice for business.

At its core, SD-WAN provides quicker access to, and better performance from, the cloud apps and tools branch and remote-site employees use every day to collaborate with colleagues and stay ahead of customers. That’s an advantage we’re all seeking.

Learn more about the advantages of SD-WAN for enterprises.

Adding network flexibility with NaaS

It’s been interesting hearing from CIO Summit attendees and clients alike about how they’ve already put a hybrid, multi-cloud strategy into practice for compute and storage functions, to ensure uptime, add flexibility, and rein in data center costs. But with the ever-increasing demands placed on networks for cloud application access, IT professionals realize companies need more diverse cloud networking connectivity to keep up.

Disparate network environments create challenges for IT organizations

Most traditional networking environments have been built over time. These networking environments are usually comprised of multi-vendor equipment offering little visibility to performance and management functions beyond the device level.

Troubleshooting these traditional networks can be a nightmare. One has to track down issues from multiple devices at each location. In-house knowledge is also required to comprehend how these different products work together. Often several vendors have to be involved to address an outage, taking an inordinate amount of time and resources to narrow down the issue. Moreover, when adding new networking equipment to a site or bringing a new location online, the upfront costs can strain budgets.

This is why so many companies are turning to NaaS.

Business case for NaaS

For IT departments already stretched by demands of managing aging networks at multiple sites, the benefits of NaaS are clear:

• Central, secure, global cloud management. With CBTS NaaS in place, your IT team can log in to a single dashboard to monitor, troubleshoot, make changes, and run reports for every location.
• Next generation firewall. Providing packet inspection, intrusion prevention, anti-malware protection, and content filtering to block access to specific web and social networking sites, all continually updated with each firmware release.
• Zero touch provisioning. Allowing easy installation of new network devices automatically from a specific configuration file, with minimal manual intervention required.
• Streamlined troubleshooting. Eliminating the hassle of involving multiple vendors when addressing issues at individual business locations.
• 24/7 support team. Co-managing the network means your IT staff can make changes and troubleshoot issues or reach out directly to the CBTS support team for guidance or to resolve any networking problems.

By implementing CBTS NaaS, organizations benefit from enterprise-grade networking technology with minimal upfront capital expense. Proactive updates ensure maximum uptime and security, and continuous monitoring and support mean your IT staff can focus on the initiatives that drive growth, create efficiencies, and better serve hard-earned customers.

Case Study: Learn how a nationwide food service retailer leveraged CBTS NaaS to add new franchise locations to their network.

UCaaS: Final piece to the cloud networking puzzle

No cloud networking discussion would be complete without talking about an organization’s communications stack. It’s the final piece of cloud networking that can bring numerous advantages to our clients looking to migrate from on-premise to a custom, on-demand communications as a utility service.

Like other cloud technologies, UCaaS:

1. Allows organizations to flex with business conditions
2. Scales quickly and easily
3. Brings cost-effectiveness while freeing IT from managing complex onsite infrastructure

But how does UCaaS make an impact on an organization’s success?

Case Study: CBTS UCaaS saves the State of Ohio $6.8M with consolidated communications for over 500k government employees.

UCaaS benefits include single dashboard for easy management

For many CBTS clients, UCaaS is the final piece in their digital transformation strategy, designed to improve collaboration, productivity, and customer engagement.

Cloud-based unified communications bring employees together by combining VOIP with chat, audio and web conferencing, room-based video, mobile integration, social media, and other functions under a single system. Clients reap the benefits of better response times and connectivity, with features like:

• Simultaneous ring
• Voicemail to email
• Video conference presence
• Call center functionality when call queuing is needed

And like our other cloud managed services, UCaaS uses a single dashboard to manage all sites and users, with 24/7 support when you need it.

Learn how to begin your journey to UCaaS.

Combine SD-WAN, NaaS, and UCaaS technologies for powerful cloud networking foundation

When combined with the added bandwidth, network stability and security, and site-to-site connectivity of SD-WAN and NaaS, UCaaS is the final piece of the cloud networking puzzle used to transform companies and set the foundation for innovation and growth.

A big thanks to all of our friends and colleagues who attended our Houston CIO Summit and met with us afterward. Hope you found the conversations meaningful, and as always, feel free to reach out to us with any of your cloud networking questions.

Learn more about how CBTS is driving real business outcomes with SD-WAN, NaaS, and UCaaS.

When March rolls around, and a hint of Spring is in the air, a little basketball tournament weighs heavily on the minds of even the best employees (and your organization’s enterprise network). Brackets are carefully contemplated, completed, dwelled upon, and then filled out again. And then the games start streaming, on desktops and laptops, mobile phones, and personal tablets.

It’s at that time when the support team at CBTS begins to get calls from clients. That little event is draining their enterprise network, bringing it to its knees. And we heard that again, loud and clear, from business and technology leaders recently at our CIO Summit in New York City.

Luckily, today’s enterprise network technology can help CIOs and their teams live up to the tournament challenge.

I’ll get back to that in a moment, but let’s first talk about what’s on the minds of the CIOs who were in the room with us in NYC.

Technology, CBTS leaders discuss enterprise network

Here are some of the questions asked of NYC technology leaders, and CBTS engineers Justin Rice, Director of Solution Design, NaaS and SD-WAN, and Jon Lloyd, Sr. Solution Design Engineer:

Current primary architectural challenge

Q: Moderator, Lane Cooper: From an architectural perspective, we’ve wrestled through the big eras from the mainframe to the client/server environment to cloud. We’ve tackled client/server sprawl and have worked on managing applications and key resources spread across different platforms and cloud environments. So, from your perspective, what are the biggest challenges you’re facing versus a few years back?

A: CIO Participant: Everyone has a higher level of expectation, and at the same time, everyone is working from everywhere. The expectation is, “Hey, if I can get Netflix on a plane at 35,000 feet in the air, why can’t I get my email address to work at a specific offsite location?”

Cloud and internet connectivity challenges

Q: CIO Participant: The expectation for everything IT related is just more. We’re in the middle of a cloud migration. We’re going from on-prem systems to Azure. Azure is 13 milliseconds away. It’s pretty close, but still, it’s 13x what it used to be. The data center is in Middletown, N.J., and the office is in Midtown. And we’re pulling an application from the middle of Aurora, IL, about 1,000 miles away. We’ve increased our bandwidth and pulled elements out of the network to streamline the path, but it’s a bit slower, and our employees expect more. How do you address problems like these in today’s evolving networks?

A: Jon Lloyd, CBTS: Many companies today have a 40 or 80 Gbps backbone in their data center or even 100 Gigabit. The data link layer and the physical layer used to be just a millisecond away. With the cloud, you might have a 100 Gigabit backbone but only get 20 or 50 Megabit internet connectivity. That’s the challenge we’re trying to solve.

Justin Rice, CBTS: Every use case is different, but we recently worked with a company that has 25 branch locations. They increased the bandwidth at every branch to 100 Mbps. And because they wanted to backhaul all of their internet traffic to their data center, they added bandwidth there, too, to 1 Gbps, but there was still a bottleneck. We were able to go in and look at the performance of applications at each branch and define which were critical and not critical. Trusted applications like Office 365 could be accessed directly from the cloud and did not need to touch the centralized environment. By focusing at a workload level instead of managing traffic on the network and data link levels, we were able to help them create new policies around workloads to improve performance.

Related: How CBTS can provide your business with a custom-tailored cloud computing technology stack

Unique solutions to achieve consistency

Q: CIO Participant: What we’re seeing is more than just being about reliability; it’s about consistency. If a client is getting a response in 2 milliseconds, they expect the next time should not be 10 milliseconds. So every time, whether it’s morning or afternoon, high traffic or low traffic, they want the same experience. How can you help us with consistency?

A: Jon Lloyd, CBTS: The short answer is that there is a difference between the traditional iWAN days with failover of Layer 3 routing and application-aware routing or an IP application SLA. So, we can have multiple links set up as a failover, not saying up or down, but based on performance and what the best path is. The struggle we all deal with is when those hosts leave the network, and they go to an offsite location like Starbucks. I can’t have an edge on that network, and that might cause an issue for an organization since today’s workforce wants that flexibility. Inside the network, some apps are just not made to go to the cloud, and for best performance, they need to live in your data center. Some sites are better off staying on MPLS. Every business case is unique and requires a unique solution. And that’s where we like to get involved at a deeper level with our clients.

More from Jon Lloyd: How retailers keep up with the competition

Future of enterprise IT organization structure

Q: CIO Participant: Cybersecurity is essential, and there was a time when my team wasn’t doing anything else. There were clear responsibilities, and we had minimal crossover with what the network administrators were doing. Can you talk about how that is changing and what enterprise IT organizations might look like in the future?

A: Justin Rice, CBTS: It’s definitely worth having a deeper conversation about that. We’re going to get to a world where the application team and the network team are the same team. Now they may have different roles, but they are going to be the same team because networkers are going to be developers, as well. We’re going to get there. The cool part about what we do, with SD-WAN in particular, is now we can start to understand the performance of applications. If you tell me you’re having a challenge with whatever ERP you’re using, I can help troubleshoot. By looking at the application layer, we can determine if there’s an issue with the network, where does that challenge lie, and what we can do to help you fix that challenge. Because now we have that intelligence at the application layer that we really didn’t have before. We had it at some level but over the WAN. Now the network team can start identifying application issues and help remove the barriers between those two organizations.

Related: SD-WAN helps staffing firm manage explosive growth

Convergence or specialization

Q: CIO Participant: We have some specialized voice and specialized data requirements, and still others focused on applications. Are you saying we’re going to see convergence there?

A: Jon Lloyd, CBTS: You’re still going to see specialization. But you’re going to have a business leader within the organization who understands the synergy between the different areas and has a line of sight into how they work together. So, you’re going to have someone who’s in charge of application and also responsible for the network. Voice may not apply to a lot of you in the room who are in the financial industry, with turret systems and complex voice requirements that most organizations don’t have.

Sideloading technologies solution

Q: CIO Participant: Can you discuss the ways to address technologies that are sideloading? And they cannot talk to one another?

A: Jon Lloyd, CBTS: This is the number one issue our voice team has to deal with. The good news is that for the first time in my career, all of these technologies are coming together. If we look at our story and approach to unified computing and communications, we started with the Cisco UCS, then to BroadCloud and BroadWorks, built WebEx CCA into that, and then the Customer Journey Platform into our voice core. And now we have greater flexibility for implementing WebEx video endpoints, for example, meaning they can be registered to your cluster in the CBTS cloud or the Cisco Cloud. Given the right partner can bring together all of these technologies under a full or hybrid Unified Communications as a Service deployment, IT can drive value for the organization. With a more integrated network strategy, organizations can support collaboration among today’s mobile and remote workers, their partners, and their clients.

Related: Learn more about the CBTS Communications Practice.

Orchestration with SDN

Q: CIO Participant: In the case of SDN, have you run into a situation where you’re responsible for putting in the parameters of orchestration to stop things like sporting events? When, for example, you have 200 traders in the UK, all watching the World Cup on TV sets while streaming on their devices, and wondering why the Internet is slow?

A: Jon Lloyd, CBTS: In Cincinnati, we are the ILEC, so we actually have run nearly 12,000 route miles of fiber and are an Internet provider in the Midwest. And we get those same calls every March. Now, lucky for us – I was a University of Cincinnati grad and Justin, here, went to Xavier – that’s only typically the first weekend, so it’s no big deal – but for other cities, it’s a bit longer. I’m glad you find that funny! The big thing with software-defined – Justin talked about our ability to recognize and define applications. In the past, we would have a choice – do I want to restrict the network or restrict the person? We could say, on Wi-Fi, we want to limit it to 2 megs per host. Or, in general, the host can consume as much as they want, but no more than 5 megs on this network. In our world, you can now talk about how we can do it from an applications level – whether source, application, signature, etc., and orchestrate it.

Related: CBTS is helping many single-site retailers overcome connectivity issues with standard ISP (Internet Service Provider) service

Summary: Let CBTS help you manage the enterprise network

It was great meeting with all of the CIOs and business leaders in NYC. I hope that we were able to answer your questions to help bring your networks to the next level.

The investments enterprise organizations make today in SD-WAN, NaaS, and UCaaS ensure enterprise network resources are available consistently, securely, and cost-effectively to give employees the flexibility they need to perform at their best.

Speaking of performance, good luck to all of you with a tournament bracket in your hands! And be sure to give CBTS a call when you want to get your enterprise network ready for FIFA Women’s World Cup, Wimbledon, Champions League playoffs, or the MLB World Series.

Network security is a critical issue for retailers and their customers.  CBTS offers retail networking solutions that include data protection services to ensure retailer data is neither lost nor compromised, and we partner with leading security and technology manufacturers to identify vulnerabilities in retail systems.

CBTS offers support 24x7x365

CBTS performs penetration, social engineering, and phishing tests, as well as environment, application, architectural infrastructure, wireless, and technology-specific assessments. These evaluations locate problem areas and recommend retail networking solutions to support your security.

Retailers also must have an extensive network security plan in place, complete with training on how to implement the plan in the event of an attack or breach. CBTS designs, builds, implements, documents, and tests disaster recovery preparedness programs to ensure retailers are covered 24x7x365. Our highly trained experts manage and monitor our retail networking solutions, and react immediately in the event of a threat.

Let CBTS help you address major network security issues

CBTS retail networking solutions address the major network security issues that today’s retailers face. With CBTS Network as a Service (NaaS), anti-malware and perimeter defense technologies protect your mission-critical systems against digital threats that could compromise business and customer data. CBTS NaaS also offers enterprise-grade firewall and security components to shield your network from malicious attacks.

Our NaaS solution works with current payment card industry (PCI) compliance solutions and adds state-of-the-art Intrusion Detection (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention (IPS) Systems. In addition, our Optical Sensor Cameras provide a continuous headcount of visitors while monitoring and recording their behaviors and patterns to provide enhanced visibility of your physical retail location’s security needs.

CBTS retail networking solutions help clients focus on customers

Customers will engage with retailers, and buy their products, if retailers can demonstrate customer data is protected. CBTS retail networking solutions facilitate network security for retailers, so that these businesses can focus on supporting customers.

At CBTS, your business is our priority. With a variety of solutions from data management to cloud services, we have what retailers need to increase sales in 2019 and beyond. Contact us today to see what CBTS  can do for your retail environment.

Retailers with multiple sites and remote operations aren’t the only ones that benefit from advanced applications such as voice and video conferencing. The single-site retailer also relies on hosted voice and collaboration tools to improve customer service. For many of these retailers, every phone call and customer interaction is a revenue opportunity.

Read our Case Study: SD-WAN Improves Voice Quality, Access, Connectivity and Support for Single-Site Businesses.

The single-site retailer has traditionally used broadband MPLS or LTE connections to support mission-critical applications. However, these technologies are expensive to provision and maintain, and can deliver poor quality that ultimately diminishes the user experience. And while a single-site retailer needs reliable connectivity to support services such as video conferencing, instant message, and remote presence, that business often lacks dedicated IT resources to manage this technology.

SD-WAN from VeloCloud enhances access to voice, collaboration, and other Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, which gives even the smallest single-site retailer access to world-class infrastructure and services without the burden of a significant upfront capital expenditure.

SD-WAN improves voice quality for revenue-generating calls

SD-WAN powered by VeloCloud offers a number of advantages to a single-site retailer that depends on cloud-based, hosted voice, and SaaS applications. Voice quality, for example, is vastly improved because the platform can tolerate severe changes in service while maintaining top-quality support for real-time applications. Real-time voice and video are delivered reliably, even when packet loss approaches 40 percent.

SD-WAN powered by VeloCloud also delivers a single-site retailer reliable connectivity through its ability to make dynamic decisions in real time regarding which Wide Area Network path to use for voice and video traffic. It performs these dynamic path changes without breaking the connection, and with minimal degradation.

This is critical when navigating blackouts and brownouts. And even under normal conditions, this functionality allows a single-site retailer to maintain a continuously optimized cost structure by constantly recalibrating to the most efficient consumption of network resources.

SD-WAN gives single-site retailer cutting-edge technology

VeloCloud’s SD-WAN technology is within easy reach of a single-site retailer. CBTS has over 800 highly certified engineers who take on the burden of IT management and maintenance for your retail business. As a result, single-site retailer clients receive higher Quality of Service (QoS), reliable access to real-time voice and video services, and the luxury of focusing on their core business operations instead of overseeing complex networking infrastructure.

With SD-WAN powered by VeloCloud, every business can have all the tools of a Fortune 500 company at their disposal.

CBTS is helping many single-site retailers including restaurants, salons, and other establishments overcome connectivity issues with standard ISP (Internet Service Provider) service. The CBTS Network as a Service (NaaS) solution mitigates many of the most common problems these retailers face, and provides useful amenities that add value to the broadband connection.

Single-site business challenges

Broadband connectivity offers single-site retailers a more affordable solution than an MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) connection. However, broadband doesn’t always cover all of these retailers’ needs. For example:

• Most broadband providers do not offer Service Level Agreements. Instead, their contracts include “best effort” language that limits their responsibility in the event of a service interruption, and requires only that they make a good-faith effort to restore connectivity as soon as possible. Retailers know that every minute counts, and that connectivity issues can create negative customer experiences that ultimately impact the bottom line.
• Many single-site retailers provide free Wi-Fi to customers. Standard network configurations that allow for unrestricted customer access can slow down the overall network, and cause problems for the retailers’ mission-critical operations such as Point of Sales (POS) applications.
• Most broadband providers offer only a stateful firewall that doesn’t scan adequately – or at all – for malware and other hacker intrusions, which means the Wi-Fi connection these retailers offer to customers may not be secure.
• These retailers need actionable analytics to better serve customers. Standard ISPs don’t offer this service, and don’t support push notifications over the Wi-Fi connection that are useful for targeting customers with special offers.

CBTS Network as a Service solution

The CBTS NaaS solution is built on Cisco Meraki technology, and is a cost-efficient way to deliver the broadband connectivity services that single-site retailers require.

• The CBTS network architecture offers a second, failover broadband connection to ensure that mission-critical operations never go offline.
• NaaS allows retailers to regulate guest Wi-Fi usage, limiting access to more bandwidth-intensive content like video. This helps smooth usage over the network and gives customers a speedy connection that won’t adversely impact POS and other vital business operations.
• NaaS Unified Threat Management (UTM), which includes malware protection, anti-virus, intrusion detection and prevention, and application or content filtering addresses security issues under a fully managed service offering. ISP firewalls simply don’t provide this level of protection.
• Finally, the CBTS NaaS solution turns Wi-Fi networks into a powerful tool that retailers can leverage to enhance customer offerings and provide a stronger, more personalized customer experience.

Conclusion

The CBTS NaaS solution offers a significant improvement over basic broadband services from standard broadband providers. The NaaS solution allows single-site retail customers to leverage these lower-cost connections and still benefit from a fully-managed service with strong network security protocols, redundant connections for zero downtime, and actionable analytics to improve the customer experience and drive business outcomes.

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Four reasons why retailers love NaaS

Businesses must adopt cloud computing in retail technologies to grow. Cloud computing in retail  technology ensures employees and customers can quickly and easily access the information they need from anywhere, at any time. The benefits include:

1. Faster customer information processing
2. An enhanced customer experience
3. Increased sales
4. Reduced costs
5. Improved network performance

Cloud computing in retail technology allows retailers to reduce the costs associated with software and hardware development, maintenance, and staffing. This technology also allows retailers to deliver products and services more quickly, and to monitor performance data in real time.

UCaaS improves retail’s omnichannel services

UCaaS (Unified Communication as a Service), a managed service for voice and collaboration, is an increasingly popular tool for retailers.

UCaaS replaces outdated voice-only systems and allows retailers to operate on-demand, real-time communications and applications, such as VoIP, room-based video, mobile solutions, chat, messaging, web conferencing, audio conferencing, social media, contact center solutions, and more, as a utility service. It is a scalable cloud computing in retail solution that improves the quality of voice calls while adding omnichannel features such as call reporting, video conferencing, and email.

With CBTS UCaaS solutions, retailers save time and money by increasing productivity and eliminating upfront costs. Cisco’s Context Service, which is included in all CBTS contact center solutions, collects and provides customer data from all channels, and then delivers it to employees, who can use it for marketing, sales, and other applications.

NaaS unifies multiple store locations

NaaS (Network as a Service) is a Wi-Fi enabled network that provides centralized data services throughout stores. This allows retailers to share wireless connectivity, analytics, and other resources across various locations.

NaaS helps retailers:

• Decrease costs. With NaaS, retailers no longer need to spend time and resources managing expensive and complex network resources such as LANs, appliances, switches, and application delivery controllers.
• Boost sales. Customers expect retailers to provide Wi-Fi connectivity so they can access loyalty and rewards apps, and product information and reviews. According to a study conducted by IHL Group with NCR Corp., stores that offer Wi-Fi have 663 percent higher sales growth than stores that do not. Customers are also likely to spend more time at retailers that offer Wi-Fi and potentially purchase additional products.
• Enhance customer relationships. Retailers can use Wi-Fi to obtain customer data, such as travel paths and product interaction, and send customers personalized, in-store promotions. Wireless access points in stores provide information on where the customer moves within the store, which can help retailers design store layouts that maximize foot traffic.

SD-WAN improves overall network quality

A Software Defined-Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is another cloud resource that retailers use to cost-effectively manage services among UCaaS, LANs, Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, security systems, and private and public clouds.

SD-WAN minimizes delays over long distances and improves overall network quality. This cloud computing in retail technology allows merchants to maximize their often costly multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) costs, or even replace MPLS entirely and switch to broadband since SD-WAN can be deployed over existing private WAN links such as MPLS and Ethernet, as well as broadband networks such as cable, fiber, DSL, Wi-Fi, and 4G cellular LTE.

CBTS cloud computing in retail solutions ensure business longevity

UCaaS, NaaS, and SD-WAN are all subscription-based cloud cloud computing in retail solutions with monthly payments based on usage. This means no CapEx investment, ongoing hardware and software licensing, or upgrade costs. The trio of services ensures retailers never miss an opportunity to connect with customers, and allows them to analyze and maximize data to develop the most beneficial business strategies. Retailers also reduce costs while improving both overall business performance and customer service.

CBTS monitors and manages the network 24x7x365 to resolve issues quickly and effectively. It can also integrate these services with an existing MPLS network and legacy data apps.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is critical in today’s competitive and technologically advanced retail environment. CRM in retail provides a unified sales, marketing, and customer service hub that both recruits and retains customers. The top benefits include:

1. Increased customer satisfaction
2. Reduced costs
3. Improved sales
4. Enhanced customer service

However, businesses must understand how CRM in retail works in order to select the appropriate software and ensure it has the features necessary to manage their specific business needs.

CRM in retail unifies the customer experience

An omnichannel experience is key for today’s retailers, who must seamlessly connect with consumers. Leveraging real-time customer data allows retailers to create relationships and drive loyalty by better targeting individual consumer needs.

Busy consumers demand a fast, convenient shopping experience. CRM in retail is critical in order to organize and manage customer data so retailers can provide a tailored sales approach to every consumer at the right time and through the right channel.

This is advantageous for both retailers and consumers: Retailers communicate their information to the consumer, and the consumer receives the information through the channel(s) they desire.

Retailers can personalize the shopping experience through the following CRM in retail tools:

• Social media. By interacting with customers via social media, merchants gain public exposure and create “brand ambassadors” who recruit potential new customers.
• Artificial intelligence. New voice technologies such as Google Home and Apple HomePod allow consumers to investigate and make purchases without human interaction. Similar technologies, such as self-checkout lanes and virtual or augmented reality options, are increasingly popular with both consumers and retailers.
• Blockchain. Blockchain is a digital ledger that maintains a record of a product’s lifecycle, including origin, manufacturing, transportation, and logistics data. This provides consumers with transparent product information and streamlines the record-keeping process for manufacturers, distributors, and merchants. (Click here to read more about Key Technologies for Retailers.)

CRM data enhances the entire sales approach

CRM in retail software gathers customer information such as preferences, demographics, and location. Merchants can then leverage this easily accessible data to segment their market and customize their sales approach. For example, if the demographic information indicates a significant number of young customers with children, retailers can focus on creating a more family-friendly store environment.

CRM in retail data also enables retailers to target individual customers. If a customer has visited a merchant website and viewed certain products, retailers can focus on driving advertising deals and promotions on these products to the customer, and encourage them to make a purchase. Retailers can also manage promotion effectiveness by eliminating products and promotions that do not interest a specific consumer.

A CRM in retail system maintains a structured record of customer purchases, service calls, and even warranties. With this data, retailers can manage several different digital marketing campaigns and disseminate special offers to customers when their warranties are about to expire. This low-cost strategy keeps products in front of the customer, and provides them with purchase information when they need it the most.

CRM technology retains customers by serving them in a focused and convenient way

The end goal of CRM in retail is to increase customer retention. Retailers can further this effect by using CRM software to implement customer loyalty campaigns. These programs and applications track purchases and issue rewards. Such programs are extremely valuable and cost-effective, as it costs less to maintain an existing customer than it does to recruit a new one.

CRM systems are vital tools that allow retailers to manage the entire sales process. By building long-lasting customer relationships, retailers ensure their relevance and success in the future.

CBTS helps retailers improve their businesses

CC-One, for example, is a unified contact center solution that provides omnichannel web, email, chat, and social customer interactions. This CRM in retail solution allows retailers to engage with customers in their preferred way while optimizing and managing the workforce to connect with consumers via phone, SMS, email, and even messaging apps.

Successful retailers are combining Wi-Fi with analytics to drive store sales and loyalty. Through CBTS Network as a Service (NaaS) solution’s single-pane of glass dashboard, business decisions can be made to improve the customer experience. Our solution provides instant access to real-time analytics of consumer behavior, and enables retailers to leverage their ability to send “sale” offers to shoppers’ smartphones. It also allows shoppers’ barcode readers to find product ratings, which can finalize a purchase that otherwise might not have taken place.

Cisco’s Meraki platform features Edge router appliances for top quality in-store Wi-Fi. The platform is easy to deploy across branch locations. Meraki’s auto VPN feature provides secure data connectivity between the central office and all branches, for real-time, company-wide communications.

Cloud networking is integral for today’s retailers. Cloud networking offers a more reliable and efficient alternative to traditional multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) networks, enterprise WAN, expensive bandwidth, and costly infrastructure. Cloud technology for retail can help businesses facing challenges that include:

• Limited budgets
• Multiple locations
• Continuous technological maintenance and upgrades

C-level executives require technology solutions that help them lower costs while providing maximum performance and scalability. Ultimately, the best strategy for these companies – especially those in the food service, retail, and restaurant sectors – is a cloud networking solution.

Executives are increasingly turning to CBTS to manage their cloud technology for retail solutions with a combination of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and managed cloud Network as a Service (NaaS) to triple their performance.

Cloud technology for retail saves costs and increases efficiencies

UCaaS is a managed service for voice and collaboration tools that allows retailers to operate on-demand communications and applications as a utility service. NaaS is a Wi-Fi enabled network that provides centralized data services throughout unlimited locations. This allows retailers to share wireless connectivity, analytics, and other resources.

When provided by CBTS, cloud technology for retail solutions:

• Allow retail executives to focus on their core expertise rather than IT-related issues.
• Reduce redundancies through management and monitoring via one company rather than multiple vendors.
• Decrease the need for additional IT professionals and ongoing training.
• Combine mobile solutions, web conferencing, VoIP, contact centers, and collaborative efforts so that they integrate and work together seamlessly.
• Eliminate the need for costly equipment maintenance and upgrades.
• Place the burden of implementing upgrades and enhancements on CBTS.
• Scale and evolve as your business scales and evolves.
• Provide usage-based monthly pricing models.
• Offer effective and reliable 24x7x365 service.

UCaaS and NaaS provide retailers a single-pane-of-glass view

UCaaS and NaaS solutions encompass a wide range of communications services, including VoIP, phone, long distance, collaboration applications, contact centers, networking, firewalls, access points, and optical sensor cameras. With a real-time, web-based dashboard, retailers can view key metrics and performance indicators, and evaluate how they align with business goals and priorities. These cloud technology for retail solutions provide a more efficient and unified look at a retailer’s IT services, and offers a comprehensive analysis that would not be possible with solutions from multiple vendors.

CBTS solutions aid PCI compliance

Businesses that process credit card transactions face myriad security concerns. With CBTS NaaS solutions, retailers no longer need to worry about threats to customer information. The solution works with clients’ current payment card industry (PCI) compliance solutions, and adds state-of-the-art Intrusion Detection (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention (IPS) Systems. Anti-malware products protect against digital threats that could compromise data, and a network segmentation strategy limits hackers’ attack options.

Streamlined solutions allow for more in-depth analytics

CBTS analytics evaluate client data so retailers can identify their strengths and weaknesses, and adjust their business models accordingly. This information also helps forecast trends for the future, which is important for industries like retail that rely heavily on customer data. With the suite of CBTS cloud technology for retail solutions, retailers can identify customer demographics and shopping trends, track the effectiveness of customer loyalty programs, illustrate customer traffic patterns, and send promotions.

The retail marketplace is becoming increasingly digital, and retailers must adapt to remain competitive. With more merchants closing brick-and-mortar locations during the “retail apocalypse” of the past few years, it is critical that businesses adopt retail technologies to survive and thrive.

Data analytics, cloud, social media are powerful retail technologies

Let’s examine some of the key retail technologies that businesses can use to better engage with customers on a global level – both online and in physical locations.

Retailers must leverage data to enhance the customer experience

As retail technologies advance, personalization becomes more important. Merchants must leverage data and analytics to better understand customer demographics and shopping behaviors. Retailers should already have this customer data, as tracking customer contact information and shopping patterns are hardly new concepts.

However, many retailers do not know how to efficiently use this data. For example, retailers can:

• Personalize the shopping experience. Merchants can tailor products, services, advertising, and promotional offers to meet consumer wants and needs. Sales teams can use the data to match each customer with the right agent for them, and ensure that the right offer is being made to the right customer based on analytics.
• Remain competitive. Customer data identifies the products and services that customers want and the prices they are willing to pay.
• Drive traffic to stores. With exclusive promotions at brick-and-mortar locations, retailers can ensure their physical locations remain in business.
• Never miss a call. Centralized call routing from the cloud reduces the number of abandoned calls. Route customer calls to call center agents when a store is closed or the phone isn’t answered. With informative analytics, your business and your teams are better equipped to anticipate and meet customers’ needs.
• Eliminate blind spots. Advanced call analytics and data reporting allow your business to identify road blocks in delivering superior customer service and an enhanced consumer experience. This provides new visibility to help your business identify staffing needs, network issues, and underlying reasons for system issues.

To ensure retailer data is always available and never compromised, CBTS offers professional data protection services. These include data storage, backup, and recovery.

Moving retail technologies to the cloud saves time and money

Cloud-based retail technologies include functions such as inventory tracking and management, ordering, and shipping. By migrating these activities to the cloud, retailers can reduce costs related to software development, maintenance, and staffing while quickly delivering products and services, and viewing real-time data.

Moving data and applications to the cloud also eliminates the costs of housing data in large storage centers. CBTS can assist businesses in migrating devices, infrastructure, and applications to the cloud. We provide expert support and identify retailer needs to develop innovative strategies, design targeted solutions, and implement game-changing technology.

Optical Sensor Cameras provide retailers with valuable insights about their environment

Sensor data is an increasingly popular retail technology. Retailers can place small Optical Sensor Cameras in key locations throughout their businesses. The technology enables retailers to track the number of people in their stores, as well as better understand their customers’ behaviors and movements. For example, merchants can see how much time the customer spent in the store, and what items they purchased or viewed.

This ultimately helps retailers develop an in-store experience and layout that best aligns with their typical volume of customers, and how those customers prefer to shop.

Social media isn’t just about “likes” or “shares”

Most retailers have used social media for years, but simply posting on these sites isn’t enough. Retailers must understand that they’re marketing to a global audience. Social media is a powerful retail technology for exposing your product or service to new consumers.

One of the best ways retailers can leverage social media is by encouraging existing customers to share their products and services. Retailers can offer incentives, such as discounts or swag, to users who share their promotions or sign up new customers.

Social media technology now allows consumers to purchase directly from these sites with “buy” buttons. The ability to purchase directly from social media will likely become more streamlined in the future, and consumers will expect retailers to implement a seamless process.

Digital marketing and omnichannel commerce enable retailers to remain competitive

Today’s consumers rely on mobile devices more than ever to engage with retailers. Retailers must increase their reliance on digital promotions, virtual storytelling, and email campaigns to communicate their brand to consumers.

Retailers often struggle to remain relevant in an omnichannel marketplace in which customers not only desire – but require – a seamless shopping experience across multiple channels. However, merchants can adapt by adopting retail technologies such as:

• Order-by-text, which allows consumers to order products and services via text message.
• Photo snapping, which allows consumers to take a photo of a product to learn more about it.

These Omnichannel experiences offer convenience for customers, and allow retailers to personalize the shopping experience by suggesting additional products and services the consumer might like. Additionally, consumers who buy items online and pick them up in a store are more likely to make additional purchases once they enter a brick-and-mortar location.

CBTS makes omnichannel management easier via contact centers. CBTS ensures retailers provide extraordinary customer care through a connected digital experience.

Consumers no longer need to interact with human staff

Some retailers have adopted retail technologies that eliminate cashiers and allow consumers to purchase exclusively at self-checkout stations. Additionally, with the advent of IoT devices such as Google Home and Apple HomePod, consumers want to use their voice to interact with retailers. Alexa and Siri help consumers search for and buy products and services online.

Other artificial intelligence technologies include both augmented and virtual reality, which allow customers to digitally try on clothes, test makeup, or use services.

Consumers use mobile wallets for fast and immediate payment

Digital retail technologies enable consumers to store their payment information on mobile devices instead of carrying cash and credit cards. The benefits of mobile wallets include:

• Less risk of consumers forgetting their retailer discount or credit card.
• Seamless integration with retailer apps.
• Preferred payment options for consumers via bank, credit card, or online payment system.
• Increased likelihood of consumers making spontaneous purchases because payment is quick and easy.

Retailers must leverage digital technology to meet new demands

The retail industry is learning how to adopt emerging retail technologies to meet customer demands. Retailers are using innovative tools from artificial technology to product analytics to provide personalization, customization, security, efficiency, and enhanced customer service both online and in stores. E-commerce has forced incumbent retail to adapt, but everybody wins when retailers use this digital disruption to benefit customers.

CBTS delivers the right network solution for retailers of all sizes. A bookseller with multiple locations recently worked with CBTS to find a more reliable voice and network solution. The retailer had a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)-based network and believed this structure represented an unacceptable outage risk with respect to its centralized phone system.

Like many retailers, this bookseller views voice as a mission-critical application. Every call represents revenue. Customers routinely call stores to check on whether books are available, in-stock, or can be ordered. The bookseller’s small IT staff had been managing a centralized phone system located in a data center, and its individual locations and distribution center were connected via a 1.5 meg MPLS line.

The retailer worried that if the network went down, voice access to each location, as well as to the distribution center, would be impacted.

CBTS delivers network solution for retailer

CBTS helped the retailer replace its MPLS-based voice system with a redundant voice solution that supports multiple locations. CBTS recommended a multi-faceted network solution for this retailer.

• Unified Communications as a Service(UCaaS), which is a cloud-based, fully hosted-communications and collaboration solution. UCaaS is scalable and flexible, so it can evolve and change as a business evolves and changes. Clients can easily view the solution via a web-based dashboard.
• Software-Defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN) to support and enhance Unified Communications as a Service, plus Network as a Service. Cloud delivered SD-WAN is a revolutionary, agile platform to deploy, manage, and monitor hybrid public, private, wireline, and wireless networks. NaaS, meanwhile, eliminates the need for MPLS and has increased bandwidth at the retailers’ locations from 1.5 megs to a minimum of 50 megs.

This solution supports the retailer’s voice needs, and also provides value-added benefits such as faster network speeds and increased bandwidth at every location to support services such as Wi-Fi. The retailer’s small IT staff now has additional time to focus on new initiatives, and benefits from working with a single vendor.

Retailer receives desired business outcomes

Webex Calling, Microsoft Teams Voice, SD-WAN, and NaaS are providing the right network solution for this retailer that is dependable, reliable, and cost-effective for all of its locations and distribution center. CBTS professionals monitor and manage the solution 24x7x365, providing the retailer with satisfaction and peace of mind.