How Growing Franchisee Influence Is Pushing Cloud Computing in Retail IT
Cloud computing, where computers are bound together to provide sophisticated IT-related services through the Internet, is being pushed by franchisees, who are now scrambling for more sophisticated ways to monitor and control retail costs.
One IT manager from a large national chain known for heavy franchisee involvement explained (in rather politically incorrect terms) why cloud computing is now booming.
When the dollars were flowing freely, having sophisticated reporting wasn't seen as a priority. "Some didn't care about their labor or inventory. A third of our franchisees couldn't have told me what their product costs were," the exec said.
But as the economy has soured, the amateurs, if you will, bailed and were replaced by more professional franchisees, who know retail and spreadsheets and who insist on knowing precise product and labor costs. It's the combination of a freefall economy coupled with more sophisticated franchise owners that is pushing demand for IT.
Even though these new owners want lots of data, they don't have IT support on site and they want their workers to focus on the core retail elements. Hence, cloud computing leveraging virtualization and pulling POS data into the cloud is the right strategy for these people at this time.
With the one-two punch of a slumping economy and the hit of high costs, franchisees are now wanting much more control in monitoring cost trends, while wanting to pull IT support costs of such technology away from their stores.
A great story by Evan Schuman. Read the full details at StorefrontBacktalk
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