No industry or business was untouched by the COVID-19 pandemic, and retail was no exception. The pandemic accelerated the retail industry’s already growing digital transformation trends to meet changing customer expectations. Correspondingly, chief information officers (CIOs) have made a leap from tech leaders to business drivers to help the retail sector keep pace with industry changes. This article at CIO Dialogues discusses how CIOs are championing digital 2.0 through their strategic business initiatives to shape the future of retail.
Achieving Long-Term Success Through Strategic Business Initiatives
“While giving more thrust towards modernizing their IT infrastructure, most IT leaders, across sectors, are leveraging the cloud in the current scheme of things as they compete to thrive in this new remote work environment,” explains the author. Today, CIOs capitalize on social listening, enterprise content management, and mobility to engage customers according to their preferences of when, where, and how.
Strategic Business Initiatives for Retail Digital Transformation
Consumer habits have changed drastically in recent years. In the pre-pandemic era, customers’ primary focus was always the touch, feel and experience inside the store. Studies reveal that e-commerce has grown three times faster than in 2020, translating to far more consumers purchasing products before seeing them. Therefore, creating robust strategic business initiatives, a stronger brand, and offering a better immersive customer experience based on digitization is essential.
What Next?
Retail CIOs must focus on data modernization and analytics to handle the enormous volumes of data. Furthermore, CIOs must review the remote access policies and tools, the migration to cloud data centers, and SaaS applications to secure digitization efforts. This also minimizes in-person interactions.
Retail CIOs’ responsibilities have increased since 2020. Strategic business initiatives and digital innovations have enabled organizations to survive unprecedented challenges. To learn more about digital trends reshaping the future of retail, click on https://www.ciodialogues.com/index.php/technology/cios-are-championing-digital-2-0-to-shape-the-future-of-retail/.
