Top 3 Imperatives for Investing in IT During the Downturn

By  Eric Bozich, vice president, project management, Qwest
Today, the bar has been set especially high for retailers to make their networks as secure and efficient as possible to protect both their own assets and their customers' data. Considering the unprecedented challenges that hit retailers this year, it is now more important than ever to establish IT priorities that can positively impact business goals and bottom line results.

Retailers know all too well that one network outage can grind transactions to a halt, cause major loss at the point of sale and create unhappy customers who take their business elsewhere. Retailers who understand this are viewing the current economic downturn as an opportunity to invest in their future success.

Successful retailers are embracing more sophisticated - and PCI compliant - services. Among many IT priorities to consider in 2009, businesses should focus on three operational imperatives:

1) Supporting Online Financial Transactions
In an industry dependent upon customer service, successful retailers are building more advanced customer relationship management capabilities into their online applications. The network 'cloud' will be the grand buzzword for IT in 2009. IT leaders will industrialize the enterprise technology platform for their hosting, managed network and security, cloud computing and software as a service needs.

2) Delivering Non-Stop Transaction Service
Retailers know too well that disruptions in network operations can cost millions of dollars in direct and indirect losses, and that delivering fast, anytime transaction services depends on a robust, flexible network. Business continuity and disaster recovery solutions are constantly evolving and must be examined on a continual basis to make sure network survivability matches business needs.

3) Reducing Operating Expenses
With increasing pressure to improve productivity and profitability, IT managers know that they must achieve the first two imperatives while reducing costs and improving resource utilization. Utilizing existing network technology without a large retrofit of equipment is an ongoing priority, but especially for 2009.

Today's economic climate requires retailers to keep a strict eye on the bottom line without compromising IT initiatives that can lead to productivity, increased security, better service and even growth.

Eric Bozich is vice president, product management, Qwest and works with retail customers to build networking and IT strategies and solutions that support their business needs.