Retailers rank cloud and mobile further down list of priorities when it comes to technology concerns for the year ahead

Retailers rank cloud and mobile further down list of priorities when it comes to technology concerns for the year ahead

Security is still the biggest technology challenge according to 47% of retailers, according to the result of a survey released this week.

By contrast, only 7% reported that cloud was their biggest issue in the recent retail communications survey conducted by Iconnyx, the managed IT and web hosting company.

The biggest technology challenges for retailers were: security (47%), data storage (20%), mobile (17%), e-commerce (10%) and cloud computing (7%).

Security compliance looms large

The retail communications survey, conducted with 60 retailers nationwide, also underlined retailer security concerns, with 57% of respondents ranking Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards compliance as a very important business issue.

Other reported important business issues included answering customer calls, synchronisation between point-of-sale and card payment machines and reducing the overall cost of connectivity to stores.

Tim Walker, Iconnyx managing director, commented: “It’s surprising to see that cloud is low on the list of retailer concerns, given that security and PCI compliance is top of the list.

“This signals that, for retailers, cloud-based technologies are neither seen as a solution or an issue. In either instance, use of the cloud can resolve security concerns and could be explored as a reliable means of addressing retailers’ issues,” Walker said.