Synopsis
This report presents the findings from a survey of 168 retailers regarding their approach to Information & Communications Technology (ICT) procurement. The survey investigates the way that retailers like to purchase technology, as well as the major IT and business objectives influencing their IT investment strategies.
Scope
Provides insights into retailers’ preferred buying approaches.
Comprehend the business objectives that retailers are looking to achieve through their IT investment strategy.
Appreciate the IT objectives that retailers are looking to achieve through their IT investment strategy.
Understand the factors that are influencing retailers’ decision to select an ICT provider.
Understand which organisational roles influence ICT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets.
Summary
Why was the report written?
To highlight the criteria on which retailers select their ICT providers as well as the roles which have influence while making ICT purchasing decisions.
What is the current market landscape and what is changing?
Retailers favour the deployment of almost all technologies on-premise; however the adoption of hosted services is also gaining momentum.
What are the key drivers behind recent market changes?
With the increasing adoption of a multi-channel retail strategy, the demand for hosted services is expected to witness an upward momentum as retailers look to expand into new markets whilst at the same time reducing their costs.
What makes this report unique and essential to read?
Kable Market Research Market Research has invested significant resources in order to interview CIOs and IT managers about their IT Procurement. Very few IT analyst houses will have interviewed 160+ ICT decision makers in the retail industry in H2 2012.
Reasons To Buy
Given the competitive nature of the retail sector, it is highly important for retailers to gain efficiencies in their normal business operations. This is evident from the survey as respondents assign the highest rating to the business objective of raising efficiency.
Retailers dealing with constrained ICT budgets are looking to deploy technology solutions that offer value for money. They are therefore selecting ICT vendors who can offer quality products at the most realistic prices possible.
Kable Market Research’s survey reveals that 48% of retailers have a somewhat complex ICT infrastructure and 15% of retailers state that their ICT infrastructure is very complex, primarily due to the increasing adoption of disparate and redundant technologies.
According to Kable Market Research’s survey, the IT objective of ‘better demonstrate the value of IT to the business’ has been assigned a decent level of importance by retailers with a rating of X out of 4.
Analysing the data by size of respondent shows that large retailers are more inclined to adopt a hosted model, with 40% of respondents preferring hosted services compared to 34% of small and medium-sized retailers.
Table of Contents
1 Enterprise ICT investment trends
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Survey demographics
1.3 ICT budget changes
1.4 ICT investment priorities
2 ICT procurement trends
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Purchasing channels
2.3 Business objectives influencing IT investment strategy
2.4 IT objectives influencing IT investment strategy
2.5 ICT provider selection
2.6 Influencers
2.7 ICT infrastructure environment complexity
3 Summary
3.1 The need to improve efficiency and enhance customer experience is driving investments in advanced technologies in the retail sector
4 Appendix
4.1 Definitions
4.2 Further reading
4.3 Contact the authors
List Of Tables
Table 1: Retail – enterprise ICT survey geographic breakdown
Table 2: Retail – enterprise ICT survey breakdown by size band (number of employees)
Table 3: Recent and expected ICT budget changes among retailers
Table 4: Current and future investment priorities of retailers across core technologies
Table 5: Retailers’ preferred approach to buying technologies
Table 6: Business objectives which influence retailers’ IT investment strategy
Table 7: IT objectives which influence retailers’ IT investment strategy
Table 8: Factors influencing retailers’ decision to choose an ICT provider
Table 9: Influence of organizational roles in making ICT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets
Table 10: Complexity of the ICT infrastructure in retailers
List Of Figures
Figure 1: Retail – enterprise ICT survey geographic breakdown
Figure 2: Retail – enterprise ICT survey breakdown by size band (number of employees)
Figure 3: Recent and expected ICT budget changes among retailers
Figure 4: Current and future investment priorities of retailers across core technologies
Figure 5: Retailers’ preferred approach to buying technologies
Figure 6: Business objectives which influence retailers’ IT investment strategy
Figure 7: IT objectives which influence retailers’ IT investment strategy
Figure 8: Factors influencing retailers’ decision to choose an ICT provider
Figure 9: Influence of organizational roles in making ICT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets
Figure 10: Complexity of the ICT infrastructure in retailers
