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Home > Communications > Access Technology > LAN/WAN Technology
North American Retail Vertical Communication Service and Solution Markets
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| Published Date:
July 2007
Published By:
Frost & Sullivan
Page Count:
52
Order Code:
R1-5987
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Research Overview
This Frost & Sullivan research service titled North American Retail Vertical Communication Service and Solution Markets is based on a Web-based survey of retail IT and telecommunication professionals. It provides key insights into current and future adoption of communication services and solutions, major challenges to adoption, business priorities, vendor choice, and procurement criteria. In this research service, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the following technologies: voice systems/services, data systems/services, Internet services, business process applications, managed/hosted services, business continuity and disaster recovery solutions.
Technologies
The following technologies are covered in this research:
- Voice systems/services
- Data systems/services
- Internet services
- Business process applications (CRM/ERP/SCM)
- Managed/hosted services
- Business continuity and disaster recovery solutions
Market Overview
Retail Vertical Sees Growing Adoption of WLAN Technology
The adoption of wireless local area network (WLAN) technology has long been hindered by companies’ perception of it as an insecure means of data transfer. However, improvements in the technology resulting in enhanced security and reliability of these networks have considerably altered these perceptions and enterprises are becoming more comfortable adopting WLANs. Some industries have displayed a keener interest in WLANs than others - notably, verticals such as retail and healthcare that have a highly mobile workforce requiring both flexibility and convenience in their operations. Retailers are likely to deploy WLANS not only to transfer data, but also to overlay voice on these networks. VoWLAN has also experienced significant penetration in the retail vertical.
Current trends in the retail vertical reveal increasing adoption and extensive deployments of WLANs. "According to an end-user survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan, nearly 50.0 percent of retailers that participated in the survey have already deployed this technology, while about 20.0 percent of them expressed intentions to deploy WLAN in the next one to two years," notes the analyst of this research service. Based on the results of this survey, WLAN is likely to be the second-most adopted technology in the retail vertical by 2009. Future adoption will be boosted by the efforts of equipment vendors to address important issues such as security, thus far a major deterrent to enterprises, as well as by the ratification of the 802.11 standard. Some vendors have also developed retail-oriented devices to work on these networks.
Benefits of Next-generation Communications Drive Enterprise Spending on these Services and Solutions
"The need for quicker transaction processing, the move toward centralized hub-and-spoke model of operations, and customer relationship management are some of the top priorities of retailers that are driving spending on communication services and solutions," says the analyst. Enterprises have realized that the benefits of IP communications extend beyond cost reduction. Next-generation communications provide a significantly enhanced communication experience due to advanced features and applications. Unified communications is a major priority for most enterprises today and the convergence of voice and data that IP communications provide points to greater integration in future.
However, the retail vertical has some specific needs that are likely to dictate their choice of communications technology. This is also leading to a trend among vendors to develop customized applications for particular businesses. Since retailers usually have multiple sites, voice communication is mission-critical for efficient store management and operations. Companies in the retail industry are also often constrained by cost issues, and since IP telephony offers a cost-effective solution, voice trunking between various sites is likely to be a popular solution for this industry.
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