The document discusses how cloud computing is revolutionizing the retail industry. It describes how the cloud model provides retailers with cost efficiency through reduced IT costs, scalability to adapt to changing demand, and reliability through redundant resources and easy migration of services. The cloud allows retailers to focus on their core business instead of maintaining their own IT systems. It provides quick deployment of new software and services. Major retailers are seeing benefits such as increased revenue and profit margins from cloud-based systems.
A comprehensive introduction to Cloud Computing. Learn what it is, how it works, where it might be applicable, and when to avoid it. Presented by C3 / Cloud Computing Concepts Managing Partner, Rick Mancinelli.
To prosper in this new environment insurance companies can look to the cloud, in conjunction with other technologies, to help drive reinvention of their business model to offer new services and create direct, multi-channel relationships with customers
Cloud computing is receiving an increasing level of attention, as evidenced by the rapidly growing number of qualitative surveys and analysis that has been published over the past few years.
Cloud computing is a paradigm shift organizations use the computing resources to conduct their business. Cloud computing is a new general purpose Internet-based technology through which information is stored in servers and provided as a service and on-demand to clients. The computing resources are accessed by mainstream businesses as a pooled or leased resource over networks. Hence traditional IT investment decisions models are not directly suitable to perform the cost-benefit and investment decisions for cloud computing resources.
This paper presents research on the return-on-investment and pricing models and seeks to build a model for quantitative assessment of cloud computing.
The results of this analysis model are intended to facilitate a more informed decision making for cloud computing resources.
A comprehensive introduction to Cloud Computing. Learn what it is, how it works, where it might be applicable, and when to avoid it. Presented by C3 / Cloud Computing Concepts Managing Partner, Rick Mancinelli.
To prosper in this new environment insurance companies can look to the cloud, in conjunction with other technologies, to help drive reinvention of their business model to offer new services and create direct, multi-channel relationships with customers
Cloud computing is receiving an increasing level of attention, as evidenced by the rapidly growing number of qualitative surveys and analysis that has been published over the past few years.
Cloud computing is a paradigm shift organizations use the computing resources to conduct their business. Cloud computing is a new general purpose Internet-based technology through which information is stored in servers and provided as a service and on-demand to clients. The computing resources are accessed by mainstream businesses as a pooled or leased resource over networks. Hence traditional IT investment decisions models are not directly suitable to perform the cost-benefit and investment decisions for cloud computing resources.
This paper presents research on the return-on-investment and pricing models and seeks to build a model for quantitative assessment of cloud computing.
The results of this analysis model are intended to facilitate a more informed decision making for cloud computing resources.
Maybe you can already recite the sales pitch for cloud computing in your sleep—how it’s faster, more flexible, and economical than amassing your own servers on site. But, as Joe Weinman argues in “Rethinking the Benefits of Cloud,” that’s just scratching the surface. In this exclusive white paper, Weinman, author of Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing, explores some of the overlooked—and more nuanced—business benefits of moving workloads to the cloud, such as faster innovation, global expansion, and customer satisfaction.
Evaluating the ROI of cloud-based solutions versus on-premise software can sometimes feel a bit like comparing apples to oranges. This white paper provides an overview of the costs and savings associated with a migration to a cloud-based model, including:
- Access differences
- Hardware costs
- Ongoing maintenance, security and support
- IT staffing levels
In the last few years, the cloud has been steadily revolutionizing software delivery to corporate end-users
across multiple industries, ranging from banking to Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The
accounting profession is no exception.
Cloud Computing In Banking And Finance IndustryTyrone Systems
Cloud computing allows organizations to get up and running on an outsourced IT infrastructure without the time or cost investment. It also allows financial firms to start modernizing their technology with minimal investments.
The Adoption of Cloud Technology by Enterprises - A Whitepaper by RapidValue ...RapidValue
This whitepaper addresses the primary reasons for enterprises migrating to the cloud infrastructure, various types of cloud deployment (technology & services) models IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud, feature comparison of two popular cloud platforms – AWS and Microsoft Azure, and some examples of how enterprises and consumers are using the cloud technology.
The disruptions in 2017 will be an extension of trends that took off in 2016, albeit with higher adoption rate and stronger reinforcements. India’s e-commerce revenue is growing steadily to reach its $120 billion mark by 2020 and playing a big part to its progress would be cloud.
Raymark | Guide: Loyalty and the Luxury ConsumerRaymark
The needs, desires and priorities of affluent customers are shifting. No longer limited to “ladies who lunch”, today’s consumers of luxury goods are a diverse mix including
demanding millennials, busy businesspeople and conservative, mature shoppers. These individuals are highly marketed-to and they have plenty of choices. Their time is of utmost value to them. Today’s consumers, especially the younger generation, value experiences over material goods: 72% of millennials would rather spend their money on experiences than on products. (JWT Worldwide)
For more information, visit www.raymark.com.
Maybe you can already recite the sales pitch for cloud computing in your sleep—how it’s faster, more flexible, and economical than amassing your own servers on site. But, as Joe Weinman argues in “Rethinking the Benefits of Cloud,” that’s just scratching the surface. In this exclusive white paper, Weinman, author of Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing, explores some of the overlooked—and more nuanced—business benefits of moving workloads to the cloud, such as faster innovation, global expansion, and customer satisfaction.
Evaluating the ROI of cloud-based solutions versus on-premise software can sometimes feel a bit like comparing apples to oranges. This white paper provides an overview of the costs and savings associated with a migration to a cloud-based model, including:
- Access differences
- Hardware costs
- Ongoing maintenance, security and support
- IT staffing levels
In the last few years, the cloud has been steadily revolutionizing software delivery to corporate end-users
across multiple industries, ranging from banking to Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The
accounting profession is no exception.
Cloud Computing In Banking And Finance IndustryTyrone Systems
Cloud computing allows organizations to get up and running on an outsourced IT infrastructure without the time or cost investment. It also allows financial firms to start modernizing their technology with minimal investments.
The Adoption of Cloud Technology by Enterprises - A Whitepaper by RapidValue ...RapidValue
This whitepaper addresses the primary reasons for enterprises migrating to the cloud infrastructure, various types of cloud deployment (technology & services) models IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud, feature comparison of two popular cloud platforms – AWS and Microsoft Azure, and some examples of how enterprises and consumers are using the cloud technology.
The disruptions in 2017 will be an extension of trends that took off in 2016, albeit with higher adoption rate and stronger reinforcements. India’s e-commerce revenue is growing steadily to reach its $120 billion mark by 2020 and playing a big part to its progress would be cloud.
Raymark | Guide: Loyalty and the Luxury ConsumerRaymark
The needs, desires and priorities of affluent customers are shifting. No longer limited to “ladies who lunch”, today’s consumers of luxury goods are a diverse mix including
demanding millennials, busy businesspeople and conservative, mature shoppers. These individuals are highly marketed-to and they have plenty of choices. Their time is of utmost value to them. Today’s consumers, especially the younger generation, value experiences over material goods: 72% of millennials would rather spend their money on experiences than on products. (JWT Worldwide)
For more information, visit www.raymark.com.
Customer Centricity at the Associate Level - Theo Christ Saks Fifth AvenueRaymark
Presentation given by Theo Christ from Saks Fifth Avenue at the Retailers, Listen Up! luncheon on the importance of adopting a customer-centric approach at the associate level.
Cloud is a new buzzword. It is mentioned as one of the top 5 technology trends to watch in the next 4-5 years by a report from Gartner. Cloud computing is a delivery model of computing services over the internet. It enables real time development, deployment and delivery of a broad range of products, services and solutions. The cloud environment offers an entirely new model for enterprise computing because it provides a pricing model of “pay as you go” fee-based services as an alternative to the traditional fixed-cost infrastructure.
Tara Hunt - The Sinners and Saints of Social Retail Raymark
Tara Hunt, CEo of Buyosphere, bestselling author and TED speaker, presented The Sinners and Saints of Social Retail at the Retailers, Listen Up! luncheon this week.
Optimize inventory replenishment while balancing on-hand inventory throughout your network. Raymark Replenishment offers automated replenishment and facilitates on-hand stock movement and stock balancing throughout retail channels.
In a vertical where demand is largely determined by consumers’ disposable income, jewelry retailers are more concerned than ever about maintaining steady sales growth. Raymark empowers jewelry retailers with better ways of managing your inventory and tools to target the right customers with the right products.
Guide | How Jewelry Retailers can Connect with Millennial ShoppersRaymark
The largest generation in history is about to move into its prime spending years. Millennials are going to reshape the jewelry industry; their unique experiences will change consumer behavior, forcing jewelry retailers to examine how they do business for decades to come.
In this exclusive guide, you will learn about:
• Who are the Millennials? And what do they really want?
• Millennial views on luxury
• The impact of social media
• Software tools to reach Millennials
Award-winning Mosaic Clienteling puts customer-centric retailing at your fingertips. Mosaic Clienteling is an in-store, associate-facing relationship selling system for retailers. It is designed to provide knowledge of the enterprise across channels to associates on store floor: at the point of decision.
So, you’re thinking of taking your retail operations mobile. That’s great!
We’re so happy that you thought of Raymark to empower your associates with the best mobile platform for retail stores.
With Raymark Mosaic, you can provide your store managers and sales associates with a single platform including POS, award-winning clienteling, a complete inventory management solution and retail analytics.
Read on to learn about the most common questions people have when evaluating mobile store solutions.
By 2020, Millennials will total more than $1.4 trillion in spending power. How can retailers ensure that they are connecting with this very important market segment? You may be surprised by some of the statistics that studies show about Millennials and their shopping habits! When it comes to loyalty and engaging with brands, Millenials have particular desires and demands, and retailers who want to sell to this demographic need to employ smart strategies to win their affection.
Infographic why raymark for international retail - v2Raymark
IF YOU ARE A RETAILER LOOKING FOR ONE GLOBAL STORE SOLUTION, look no further. With a universal taxation system, multi-currency and multi-language capabilities, Raymark’s international retail solutions are ideal for any retailer considering global expansion. Given its international presence and network of partners, Raymark has the global rollout capabilities and service support to assure successful multi-country deployment, training and maintenance.
Award-winning Mosaic is a mobile Store Platform for Clienteling, POS, Inventory and Analytics that puts customer-centricity at your fingertips. This solution pieces together all the elements required to build the perfect in-store experience, transforming your sales associates into customer savants. It provides them with easily-accessible, in-depth customer information that makes up-selling and cross-selling easier than ever.
The CIO's Guide to Selecting Software for International Retail by RaymarkRaymark
With international borders increasingly blurred as e-commerce and mobile commerce become part of consumers’ everyday lives, more and more retailers are looking to expand their brick-and-mortar operations into new global markets. Be it by mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, franchises or strategic entry, penetrating new countries and continents can be a risky endeavor with potential for great rewards.
New markets present new opportunities and new challenges. When local economic conditions are unfavorable to retail growth, retailers need to expand their horizons to new markets. Local markets become saturated with competition, so to avoid plateauing and continue growing, entering new global markets eventually becomes a consideration for many successful retailers.
In order to quickly penetrate new markets, some retailers adopt local retail software that works in some markets and not others, resulting in a jumble of disparate solutions that can be difficult to manage and that don’t offer centralized visibility of critical retail data.
The CIO's Guide to Selecting Software for Retail FranchisesRaymark
Managing retail franchise operations brings about unique challenges and opportunities from a software standpoint. Franchisees want their independence, and ability to manage their businesses according to unique local demands, while franchisors need flexible controls to ensure the health of the overall brand.
The Power of Clienteling Raymark Case StudyRaymark
The following benefits were achieved within the first 90 days of the project:
• After a comprehensive cultural change management and training program, 95% of the associates were consistently using the system and successfully completing their pro-active selling tasks.
• Migration of all users from manual client books to the new system in alignment with PCI directives.
• A 1000%+ increase in the number of outbound e-mails and calls to prospective customers by sales associates.
• A 9% Increase in total sales revenue by associate over a period when new customer acquisitions were down 12%.
• Number of repeat customers increased by 33%.
• A 21% increase in average spend per transaction over 3 months with customers that were “clienteled.”
... and more!
This presentation provides an in-depth look at why people, rather than product, should be driving your retail enterprise. It focuses on why traditional, product-oriented retailing with ERP at its core is not aligned with a customer-centric approach, and offers insight on how powering your business with CRM will transform it into a true people-driven organization.
A cloud revolution is brewing, and it promises to radically transform the way we compete, collaborate, and consume business services. Indeed, in an economy as volatile and hypercompetitive as today’s, the cloud’s potent mix of simplicity, security, faster innovation, and lower operating costs is proving increasingly attractive. For many businesses—small, medium, and large—the time to adopt this game-changing approach is now.
Why cloud computing:
Cloud computing can be a cheaper, faster, and greener alternative to an On-premises solution. Without any infrastructure
investments, you can get Powerful software and massive computing resources quickly—with lower Up-front costs and fewer
management headaches down the road. Cloud-based solutions when evaluating options for new IT deployments Whenever a
secure, reliable, cost-effective cloud option exists. Shifting your agency into the cloud can be a big decision, with many
Considerations. This guide is the first in a series designed to help you Get started. The most important is the right choice
software as a service as a service, infrastructure as a service, and platform as a service or hybrid cloud. While addressing
administration goals of scalable, interactive citizen Portals. The cloud can also help your agency increase collaboration across
Organizations, deliver volumes of data to citizens in useful ways, and reduce IT costs while helping your agency focus on
mission-critical tasks. Plus, the Cloud can help you maintain operational efficiency during times of crisis.
http://docplayer.net/search/?q=assem+abdel+hamed+mousa
http://www.ipoareview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Statement-by-Dr.Assem-Abdel-Hamied-Mousa-President-of-the-Association-of-Scientists-Developers-and-FacultiesASDF.pdf
Mentions about the details and the advantages that cloud computing has to offer in E commerce which is highly use by high tech customers at present modern technology age.
As the price of storage and bandwidth continues to drop fast, Cloud-based services are becoming more and more attractive to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) which are seeking to reduce licensing costs, avoid recruiting IT staff and focus fully on their core responsibility - growing the business.
"The transition of companies to cloud-based will be quicker for some and slower for others depending on their individual circumstances, But the change will happen."
How Are Cloud Services Outweighing On-Premise Solutions In 2022.pptxArpitGautam20
Here are a few interesting ways through which cutting-edge cloud services are outweighing traditional & expensive on-premise solutions in 2022. https://arsr.tech/how-are-cloud-services-outweighing-on-premise-solutions-in-2022/
What are the advantages of adopting public cloudNicole Khoo
Public cloud computing brought a fundamental change from the conventional norms of an organizational data center to a parameterized open environment to use by adversaries.
Download Free Complete Guide to Cloud Migration to LearnJennifer Lawrence
Ready to elevate your business to new heights in the digital realm? Look no further! Download Free comprehensive "Complete Guide to Cloud Migration" and embark on a transformative journey towards a more agile and efficient future. Download the Free eBook from here - https://www.compunnel.com/complete-guide-to-cloud-migration/
As the amount of data used by organizations continues to grow, securing critical information and programs on in-house computer servers has become crucial. Cloud computing offers secure access to users from anywhere and has been widely accepted around the world for its business efficiencies, cost-effectiveness, and competitive advantages.
This e-Book explores the business benefits of cloud migration, including flexibility, higher security, easy accessibility, data recovery, and minimal maintenance. It also provides an overview of the leading cloud service providers, such as Microsoft Azure, Citrix, CompTIA, and AWS.
The e-Book covers the following topics:
The history of cloud computing
An explanation of the three different cloud computing services
A comparative analysis of Cloud vs On-Premises
The advantages of Cloud computing
Quick stats on Cloud-migrated business profits
The top 10 entrepreneurial benefits of Cloud migration
Common Cloud migration challenges faced by every CIO
How to overcome these challenges with Cloud skilling plan solutions
A roadmap to master Azure, Citrix, CompTIA, and AWS Cloud certifications
We hope this e-Book provides valuable insights for organizations considering Cloud migration or looking to optimize their existing Cloud solutions.
Check for more information in these blogs: https://www.netcomlearning.com/blogs/347/microsoft-azure-certification-path-for-2023-the-ultimate-microsoft-azure-certifications-training-guide.html
For aws: https://www.netcomlearning.com/blogs/585/the-ultimate-guide-to-aws-certification-how-to-get-certified-and-succeed-in-your-career.html
Cloud computing has been a buzzword in the IT industry for quite some time now. Though it has been around for quite a while, its popularity has increased manifold in the last few years. The reason for this is simple – the benefits of cloud computing are simply too hard to ignore.
In a nutshell, cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale.
https://dailytimeupdate.com/cloud-computing-definition/
Omni Channel Best Practices Guide by RaymarkRaymark
Omni-channel retail is getting a lot of buzz these days. For good reason: consumers are shopping in new ways, and they expect to relate with brands on their own terms, whenever, wherever and however they desire. Faced with a world of options at their fingertips, gaining consumer loyalty can be an uphill battle. In this guide, Raymark explores the best practices retailers must consider when implementing omni-channel point of sale, clienteling and other retail systems.
For more information, visit www.raymark.com.
Guide: Omni-Channel Order Management by RaymarkRaymark
The retail industry is undergoing a phenomenal transformation. Technological advances and changes in the traditional shopping journey have retailers scrambling to keep up with the newest trends.
Today’s complex consumers are more knowledgeable, connected, empowered and mobile. The internet and social networks provide easy access to product and price information, as well as reviews. Capabilities such as being able to shop on mobile devices empower consumers to interact with a brand and consume content when and where they want.
The consumer’s shopping journey is now dynamic. Consumers’ are constantly evaluating their options and interacting with retailers across channels. The modern consumer researches online before making purchases in store, researches for products and alternatives on their mobile device while shopping in a store and even makes purchases online but visits a brick-and-mortar store to collect them. The shopping journey is an ongoing cycle because the digital touch points that consumers interact with are always on and accessible.
In this guide, we discuss how the success of a retail omni-channel strategy is dependent on three main technology pillars: e-commerce platform, order management system (OMS) and POS.
For more information, visit www.raymark.com.
Retail Guide: 10 Commandments of Customer-Centric RetailingRaymark
As our physical and online environments continue to come together, consumer behavior
keeps changing and retailers need to react. Today’s consumers are extremely connected and live a digital lifestyle. They are educated, expect speed and have become extremely demanding. With an overload of mass marketing, some customers have lost trust in retailers and have become less loyal.
In this guide, we will take you through the 10 commandments that every customer-centric retailer needs to follow in order to increase loyalty, new customer acquisition, visit conversion, transaction value and to optimize marketing and customer engagement costs.
Raymark Purchasing provides complete purchasing control to generate and track orders from vendor quoting, order processing, and master allocations through to receiving, inspection, vendor payment to final distribution. Raymark Distribution Center allows users to unload, receive merchandise, place in inventory, and then pick and pack from multiple bins for store distribution. Raymark Distribution Center is an easy-to-use system that also manages cross-dock and pack management as a complement to Raymark Purchasing.
Product selection and availability have a high impact on retail sales. Developed to bridge the gap between financial planning and order processing, Raymark Assortment Planning allows merchandise from the merchandise financial plan in Raymark’s Planning module to be selected for assortment before purchase orders are created and approved in the Global Ordering Purchasing module.
Raymark Affinity Merchandising is a retail ERP solution that provides powerful, integrated, out-of-the-box capabilities for omni-channel product and inventory management, purchasing, store management, supply chain management, customer loyalty management and much more.
Raymark Affinity Reporting and Analytics empowers retailers with the critical omni-channel data needed to make timely and fact-based strategic decisions and the freedom to view reports and dashboards from any web-enabled tablet or PC.
Raymark Xpert Merchandising is a retail head office solution that provides powerful, integrated, out-of-the-box capabilities for omni-channel product and inventory management, purchasing, store management, supply chain management, customer loyalty management and much more. Xpert Merchandising is flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of local and international omni-channel retailers looking to implement best practices in modern retailing.
2. 01 | How the Cloud is Revolutionizing the Retail Industry
Over the past 10 years, the cloud has gone from
an obscure concept to a buzzword. By 2020, the
global market for cloud equipment will reach $90
billion, according to the latest forecast by Allied
Market Research. Even SMBs can readily opt for the
cloud model, taking into consideration the low costs
involved, the flexibility, the new services offered, and
the ease of adoption. Cloud Computing is up to 40
times more cost effective for an SMB, compared to
running its own IT system.
A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF CLOUD COMPUTING:
Cloud computing can be described as a way of ac-
cessing data and programs from the Internet rather
than directly from a computer or privately hosted
server. Essentially, cloud computing stores all data
on third party servers located at a separate location
from the company. The setup and maintenance of
these servers are the responsibility of the third party,
leaving the retailer free to worry about business
rather than software and hardware.
The term cloud is a metaphor for the Internet. Com-
puting refers to anything you do on a computer: ac-
cess programs, save and retrieve data and share files
with others. Cloud solutions are available on demand,
paid for on a subscription, and are able to scale as
usage increases.
How the Cloud is Revolutionizing
the Retail Industry
Copyright 2015 Raymark Xpert Business Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cloud Facts:
According to the Harvard
Business Review Analytics
Services Report, 40% of re-
spondents have found that
using cloud has increased
revenue, with 36% saying it
has increased profit mar-
gins. 12.5% of respondents
saw a return on investment
in less than one year while
5.1% saw a return on invest-
ment in less than three
years.
Cloud-based POS systems
have proven that they can
outperform old-fashioned
registers in any aspect.
Cloud makes innovation
easier and faster, with fewer
risks.
3. 02 | How the Cloud is Revolutionizing the Retail Industry
Copyright 2015 Raymark Xpert Business Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
1
COST EFFICIENCY
The top reason for deploying cloud is lowering IT costs. Cloud benefits
include hardware and software cost savings, and lower external main-
tenance costs. Retailers also save money on server maintenance by
moving to the cloud. The money saved from moving to the cloud can
be used for opening new stores or hiring more employees. Retailers
have long favored highly visible investments, such as store design or
advertising over spending on back-office IT systems.
2
SCALABILITY
Cloud computing offers a growing company easy access to more room
for data storage and application expansion without having to purchase
additional equipment. Retailers have periods of high demand spikes
during weekends and certain seasons, holidays and promotional cam-
paigns. Using traditional IT infrastructure to accommodate the peak
demand periods would mean idling the IT capacity for long periods.
One major advantage of cloud computing is that the IT infrastructure
can be designed for normal activity and additional compute resources
can be sourced on demand to handle the high demand periods.
3
RELIABILITY
With a managed service platform, cloud computing is much more reli-
able and consistent than in-house IT infrastructure. Many cloud pro-
viders provide 24/7/365 support and 99.99% availability to ensure that
any issues are dealt with quickly. Retailers can benefit from a massive
pool of redundant IT resources. Also, if a server fails, hosted applica-
tions and services can easily be moved to any other available server.
4
EFFICIENCY
5
QUICK
DEPLOYMENT TIME
Cloud computing options allow employees to work from anywhere in
the world at any time through devices that are able to have access to
the internet. Employees will always have access to data in real-time. IT
resources are delivered quickly and efficiently whenever and wherever
the retailer needs them at a cost-efficient price.
One of the biggest advantages of a cloud based system is that it can
be easily setup in a very short period of time. The addition of new
instances can be performed very quickly. In a cloud environment,
software can easily be integrated. Hence, minimum effort is required
to customize and integrate the applications.
TOP 5 ADVANTAGES OF CLOUD COMPUTING
4. 03 | How the Cloud is Revolutionizing the Retail Industry
THE ECONOMICS OF CLOUD COMPUTING:
Proponents of cloud computing argue that one of the best rea-
sons to convert is that using it gives one the ability to save money
due to 4 reasons: allowing for more focus to occur on core activi-
ties, lowering the opportunity cost of running technology, allow-
ing for a shift from capital expenditure to operating expenditure
and lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO) of technology.
1. Allowing for More Focus to Occur on Core Activities
Most economic advantages are related to this concept. Studies
have suggested that as much as 80% of an IT department’s time
is engaged in activities not related to business, such as patching
systems or performing data backups, while only 20% of the time
is devoted to actually running applications. Since running applica-
tions is directly related to revenue-generating activities, cloud
computing can save money and improve productivity.
2. Lowering the Opportunity Cost of Running Technology
Opportunity cost is defined as:
“The added cost of using resources (as for production or specula-
tive investment) that is the difference between the actual value
resulting from such use and that of an alternative (as another use
of the same resources or an investment of equal risk but greater
return)”
In other words, determining an opportunity cost involves com-
paring the total economic gain or loss (including increasing
profits) of implementing a technology vs. the total economic gain
or loss of another technology.
In terms of cloud computing, this represents comparing imple-
menting a cloud computing software program vs. keeping a
large in-house IT department to maintain owned technology. The
opportunity cost of keeping in-house IT is done by calculating the
current profits and costs.
Determining the opportunity costs of cloud computing is an-
other matter. Since the mechanisms of in-house IT are already in
place, initially it may appear that cloud computing would increase
costs and therefore be inherently foolish to engage in. However,
after including the shift away from time devoted to technology
maintenance to running business applications, it quickly becomes
apparent that in most situations, cloud computing increases
productivity and therefore increases the amount of profit made
by a company.
3. Allowing for a Shift from Capital Expenditure to Operating
Expenditure
There are countless advantages to moving away from capital
expenditures towards operating expenditures. Cloud comput-
ing is a recurring expense. With in-house hosting, the server and
software purchased is fully committed to, and depreciates in
value over time.
Copyright 2015 Raymark Xpert Business Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
“Ultimately, the cloud
is the latest example
of Schumpeterian
creative destruction:
creating wealth for
those who exploit it;
and leading to the
demise of those that
don’t.”
- Joe Weinman,
author of the book
“Cloudonomics”
5. 04 | How the Cloud is Revolutionizing the Retail Industry
Regardless of how much it is being utilized, the ongoing costs (by
way of depreciation or financing costs) still need to be taken into
account.
Estimated costs of infrastructure for two application servers, two database servers and a load-balancer
across internal, managed and Cloud deployment models. Source O’Reilly Media: George Reese
Putting aside enough capital for a large purchase is difficult,
especially for small and medium size retailers. The cloud model
bypasses this limitation and allows software to be implemented
with minimal financial constraints.
4. Lowering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of Technology
With the cloud model, most costs are up-front and readily calcu-
lated. Most importantly, retailer businesses can focus their time
and energy on their core business without the worries of own-
ing, maintaining and running a server with an internally hosted
retail platform and various software. The convenience of 24/7
IT support for head office infrastructure, network and software
upgrades, along with included remote backup services are also
important advantages. The retailer can now manage their us-
ers and products anytime and anywhere. Store inventory and
store statistics are available in real-time and accessible from any
device.
Lastly, a sometimes forgotten benefit of cloud technology is that
it enables collaboration through its omnipresence. Because the
cloud has the capacity to be everywhere at the same time, it en-
ables collaboration. In the past, this collaboration was more dif-
ficult to access with a traditional disconnected IT environments.
Cloud computing now makes it possible for retailers to meet their
consumers’ expectations during all phases of the omni-channel
shopping experience. There are significant economic benefits to
be gained from a move to cloud computing. Retailers benefit in
two distinct ways: directly through reduced costs and indirectly
by allowing for increased focus on core business functions.
“We are at the beginning of the age of planetary computing. Bil-
lions of people will be wirelessly interconnected, and the only way
to achieve that kind of massive scale usage is by massive scale,
brutally efficient cloud-based infrastructure.” - Dan Farber, Editor
in Chief CNET News
Copyright 2015 Raymark Xpert Business Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
6. 05 | How the Cloud is Revolutionizing the Retail Industry
GENERAL
1. What’s the difference between Raymark’s cloud solutions?
Raymark’s cloud solutions offer retailers a great package to get
started quickly using the newest mobile retail technology with
no upfront investment, no long-term commitment and minimal
setup. The software, features and user experience are the same
whether you decide to host the solutions yourself or let Raymark
take care of it.
HARDWARE
2. Which devices/operating systems can I use?
The solution provides full device-agnostic functionality enabling
you to run completely wireless stores. Raymark’s cloud solutions
for retail can be accessed on PC, iPad, Android or Windows Tab-
lets. Its real-time capabilities make it a must-have for up-to-the
second access to product and customer information.
PLANS
3. What services are included with the plans?
• 24/7 applications usage
• Daily import of account data
• Data & apps servers hosting
• Managed services
• 24/7 help desk & maintenance
• 24/7 access to online documentation
• 24/7 access to RITS (Raymark Issue Tracking System)
4. Which features are included?
For a full feature listing, please consult the Raymark website. The
full suite of Raymark applications is available on a host server or
hosted in the cloud. Our solutions are available as single mod-
ules or as an end-to-end suite.
IMPLEMENTATION AND DATA INTEGRATION
5. What’s the implementation time?
Some retailers can get up and running within 3 weeks. This
largely depends on the number and complexity of integrations
with third party systems you will require.
6. Can the data in the solution be integrated with current
software?
Raymark’s easy-to-use integration tool can be used to map
existing data stores for elements such as associates, customers,
products, stores and transactions.
7. What is the downtime needed for maintenance?
Minimal. If ever required, a time would be selected when the
business activities would be least affected.
STORE OPERATIONS
8. What changes do I need to make in the store in order to imple-
ment Raymark Cloud?
All you need is a secure wireless internet connection to use Ray-
mark Cloud in your stores. Most often, no changes to the existing
hardware infrastructure are required.
9. What happens if there’s a lost internet connection?
In the event of a lost internet connection, you can continue to
run Mosaic Point of Sale by connecting with Raymark’s stand-
alone solution, installed on any PC in the local network. The
standalone solution includes a subset of the centralized data-
base stored locally, with minimal information in order to keep
the store operating in the case of an outage. When internet is
restored, data will automatically by synchronized with the central-
ized database.
Copyright 2015 Raymark Xpert Business Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
7. Raymark meets the needs of retailers searching for a rapidly deployed, fully-integrated retail
software suite with our cloud-based hosted and managed services. Reliable and affordable,
all Raymark solutions are available as a subscription-based service (Software as a Service, or
SaaS) that reduces the upfront capital investment associated with retail enterprise software.
Focused on responsive customer support and dependable, dedicated server management,
Raymark ensures the security and scalability of your applications and data, providing you with
reliable hosting services throughout your enterprise.
What can Raymark Cloud do for you?
Data Access and Control
You retain ownership and control of all your data: customer,
product, transaction, etc. Your data is 100% secure and will never
be accessed or shared with anyone.
Minimize Onsite IT Support
24/7 help desk support, service management of your new data
center, software maintenance and server management.
Centralized
A centralized database for all store and head office functions and
centralized hosting.
Minimize Total Cost of Ownership
No large upfront capital investment or complicated
infrastructure.
Simple and Rapid Deployment
Get back to the business of retail and let us take care of the
technical tasks.
Training and Documentation
Learn best practices for efficient use of Raymark solutions with
access to user documentation, release notes and customer
forums through Raymark’s Customer Portal. Additional
individualized training is always available upon request.
Retail Business Challenge
We need software to manage our business, but don’t want
to implement a large infrastructure or undertake high
upfront costs.
Raymark Solution
For a single monthly fee, a web-based, hosted solution
provides full retail functionality while eliminating the
need for large upfront capital investment or complicated
infrastructure.
Proven Retail Benefit
Most organizations devote 80% of IT resources to simply
maintaining the status-quo. Implementing Raymark Cloud
provides the benefits of an in-house IT department without
all of the costs.
Copyright 2015 Raymark Xpert Business Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Raymark Services
Raymark Cloud
EMPOWERING RETAIL
8. Raymark North America
5460 Côte de Liesse Rd.
Montreal, Quebec
H4P 1A5, Canada
www.facebook.com/RaymarkRetail
www.linkedin.com/company/Raymark
www.twitter.com/RaymarkRetail
t. 514-737-0941
f. 514-737-0014
Toll Free: 800-346-7296
info@raymark.comwww.raymark.com
Secure Hosting Services
• Certified, secure infrastructure
• Dedicated network
• Secure, redundant data centers
• Microsoft hosting environment
• Fast provisioning
• Control panel for Windows servers
Features
Enterprise Reporting &
Business Intelligence
Planning & Inventory
Management
Customer-Centric
Retailing
Web Services API
Store Operations
Data Model Business Logic Workflows Integration
Solution Framework
point of sale &
store operations
associate
management
mobile e-payment
consumer
mobile
mobile
clienteling
clienteling CRM
merchandising replenishment
warehousing
& distribution
purchasing merchandise
planning
assortment
planning
financial
link
reporting
business
intelligence
Raymark
Database
Raymark BI
Cubes
Freedom and Security
• High availability
• Customizable configuration
• Automated backups
• Customizable configuration
• Free software updates
• All software maintenance is included
Around the Clock Service
• 24x7 customer support
• 24x7 server monitoring
• 24x7 access to applications
• 24x7 access to all data
9. Raymark
5460 Côte de Liesse
Montréal, Québec
Canada H4P 1A5
T: 1-800-346-7296
F: 1-514-737-0014
E: info@raymark.com
W: www.raymark.com
For 25 years, Raymark has been empowering retail with leading-edge
enterprise software solutions that help the world’s most prestigious
international retailers optimize stock turns, build customer loyalty, and
increase sales. Raymark develops and markets the ultimate suite of flex-
ible and interconnected applications deployed in a centralized environ-
ment and offers professional turnkey solutions including implementa-
tion, training and customer support. www.raymark.com