Open Source and the Imperative of IT Integration for Retailers

Further trends increasing the need for sophisticated IT solutions within the retail industry include the following:

• The increasing complexity of retail chain economics, often composed by a mix of fully owned, franchised and fully independent outlets, introduces the necessity to respect the autonomy of store mangers and to empower them to manage each store as an independent business unit.
• On the other hand, the ever-increasing importance of brands reinforces the need to centralize and control the image of a retailer and its products.
• The proliferation of customer access points — e.g., brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce sites, mobile sites and apps, social media — amplifies the need to ensure a consistent customer experience.

Solutions to these problems have been available for some time to the larger retailers and brands. Today, cloud computing and open source bring best-in-class solutions within reach of every retailer and brand, no matter the size. Consider the following: