Methodology ( Write 5 pages) Research Topic: “Information Technology Issues Facing Retailer Business” Watch the video “Exploratory, Descriptive and Explanatory Nature of Research” Optionally, watch the video "What is Descriptive Research?" Optionally, w

In essence, information technology is crucially critical to operations in many companies and a power to accelerate growth when used effectively. However, if things are not going well with the information technology retailer business tools can become expensive and frustrating roadblocks to realizing the business goals. Today's tech-savvy consumers expect retailer business to provide the best and improved shopping experience possible. Customers want seamless channel functionalities, comparison-shopping, personalized shopping recommendations, and privacy. In order to accommodate these increasing demands, retailers are forced to come up with new tactics and employ new technological features, many of which continued trials and errors testing.

Information technology issues facing retailer businesses

In their scholarly article, Weill & Clair (2010) note that according to a report by the Forrester Consulting, 90 percent of the 250 manufacturing and retailer decision-makers surveyed suggested that they are facing significant barriers when making initialization of Omnichannel capabilities. The discrepancy between what consumers need and what retailers provide is considerably bigger in comparison to the issues with inventories. The authors suggest that about half of consumers make their purchases online and pick them in-stores in order to eliminate shipping-related costs. However, only 30 percent of retailers meet this demand.

The authors opine that implementation of Omni channel commerce can greatly help in maintaining a real-time inventory management. Omni-channel marketing provides the retail businesses with an ability to track the engagement they have with the buying through multiple channels. The retailer can be able to track what their customers click on, websites they visit, and items they like or dislike and their overall buying habits.

Overdependence on smartphones

Dhar & Sundararajan note that the power of data is not based on the quantity but is dependent on how retailers use it. Therefore, it is important for buyers to adopt tactical approaches in order to pull insights from the information and hence offer a personalized experience to their customers.

The authors argue that dependability on the smartphone is rapidly increasing and for the lack of mobile-friendly sites, retailers will lose out. For instance, in the United States alone, about 60 percent of adults own the smartphone, and 15 percent of these people rely solely on it for internet accessibility.

Unorganized and bulky sites

Weill makes an assertion that design of mobile websites plays a significant role in engaging customers. For instance, note Weill & Clair (2010), unorganized, bulky mobile sites can affect the users' experience and brand perception. In consideration of Omnichannel, it is important for your mobile websites to be well designed in order mirror the feel, look, and functionality of both your store locations and the main website. It is important for the retailers, note Weill & Clair (2010), to consider evaluating how their customers use their mobile sites and adjust them accordingly to fitting their buying habits.

In addition to making an assessment of how buyers user mobile websites, it is crucial for retailers to make informed decisions about what marketing techniques can attract the buyers' attention.

Limited utilization

In their article, Harrison & Mykytyn (2014) note that mobile shopping applications are gaining popularity among the retailers. This allowed consumers to download business apps and hence eliminate search engine, and offer customers a direct channel to your business store. However, this comes with its downside too, suggest Harrison & Mykytyn (2014). The reason behind this is that seeking out customer support help is not easy; sending an email to the support team or engaging them directly via a live chat is practically difficult via mobile. The limited utilization of rich media is another serious challenge. Viewing of product videos, 360-degree zooming in on an image is a big challenge, of which most consumers try to avoid. Many retail businesses have started providing mobile loyalty programs, which encompass, for instance, mobile coupons, a mobile ‘punch card" and text message.

Double entry

Brynjolfsson & Hitt suggest that most of the new technologies that are released daily do not play with older applications or systems. Therefore, this can result in double-entry of data in having to consider multiple places for gainful information and many other such inefficiencies. In addition, retailer businesses are forced to have a reliable backup and disaster recovery plans in order to recover and safely deleted files in case of server crash or power outage. When the IT providers and departments have a better process for tracking issues, they can be able to make an analysis of data and hence identify involved trends. However, note Brynjolfsson & Hitt, when they dig into the issue they find the issues are a symptom of a higher magnitude.

Exploiters

Liftman & Lewis argue that hackers and exploiters are becoming more sophisticated and hence retailer businesses are in grave danger. Most of the retail businesses have their trade secrets, customer information, and confidential communication and HR records stored on their company's computer systems. According to Liftman & Lewis, businesses incur excessive cost in ensuring security and safety of their business data.

Warrington & Abgrab suggest that there is a notable disconnection between IT and business leaders. Even though the leaders may see the bigger picture, they sometimes fail to work with the IT experts to make sure that they can accomplish their objectives without the interference of technology. Organizations would be much different, note Warrington & Abgrab if the technology and business were aligned with the organization without any form of constraint.

Lack of continuous maintenance

According to Doms and Jarmin (2004), it is important for the retailer businesses to ensure that there is continued maintenance of their computer systems in ensuring that they run securely and properly. They note that with a right IT process, challenges may be predicted early in advance, planned for and even resolved before they become urgent. They express a view that many retailers struggle with unnecessary data overload since it is a requirement for them to collect and sift through the mass amount of data and hence convert the data into useful information. For this reason, Kleindl (2010) notes that business retailers need to increase transparency between computer systems and obtain improved tracking devices as a way of integrating systems from the manufacturers through to their consumers when obtaining sales and customers information.

Summary

Due to radio frequency electronic/identification product coding, the process of the supply chain is becoming more intelligent. Therefore, it is important for the retailers to enable the use of real-time data to watching inventory levels. Additionally, identification of radio frequency allows companies to be able to safeguard their shipments and hence allow for the tracking of the products by the manufacturers. The government requires every retailer business involved in credit payment processing to complying with PCI Security Standards. If a store or retailer collects card information that is compromised, they may end up losing the ability to accept credit card payment. Other such consequences include insurance claims, lawsuits, government fines and canceled accounts, suggests Kleindl (2010).

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