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Holiday Retail Booming - Dependable Application Performance is a Must

Matthieu Silbermann

Retail forecasts were on target for the extended Thanksgiving weekend this year, with sales figures for the period indicating it was the strongest start of the holiday shopping season ever recorded . But while Cyber Monday was touted as the best time for online bargains, billions of dollars still went to brick-and-mortar retailers offering steep discounts.

One trend that caught retailers by surprise this year was the speed with which all of the mayhem came to a halt. Traffic at many locations dissipated by mid-afternoon on Black Friday as savvy shoppers took advantage of mobile applications and interactive, in-store sales tools to target bargains within minutes of crossing the threshold.

In-store purchasing systems like tablet-based applications gave retailers the upper hand in helping consumers save time shopping – which is critical as the holiday season comes to a close. Rather than leaving customers to their own devices, a sales associate can use an app to input the consumers' needs and quickly determine what product – and at what price – is the best fit.

This past year, a British consumer technology retailer implemented such a program in their stores. To help streamline operations among 1,300 locations, their tablet-based application relies upon lightning-fast broadband to run tablets used by sales associates on the floor. This helps the customer speed up their buying experience, allowing them to more easily explore other purchases while freeing up sales associates to pursue a greater number of potential leads.

In-store purchasing systems like this are not only great for spotting bargains, but also for speeding up and easing an otherwise frenzied shopping season. This is especially true on such storied shopping holidays as Black Friday when discounted inventories are limited. Once prized sales merchandise is no longer available, shoppers will need all the help they can get in the weeks leading up to the New Year to find suitable alternatives while prices are still low.

Now that the holiday shopping season is in full swing, retailers and buyers alike must ensure that their resources are dependable. Not only will stores need to utilize advanced shopping technology, but also systems to support their apps and devices that are running on all cylinders. An application performance tool can guarantee delivery of actionable visibility and in-depth network and application performance information to IT managers to make sure systems aren't overwhelmed during high periods of traffic. By allowing full control of application flow, IT complexity is simplified and the customer experience is reshaped – hopefully resulting in higher customer spending.

Holiday purchases are estimated to account for 19 percent of all retail sales in 2015, which in total will come to $3.2 trillion dollars, according to the National Retail Federation. The weekend following Thanksgiving only accounts for a small portion of that total, which means retailers need to be on their top game throughout the rest of the month if they want to capitalize on the season's financial potential.

Matthieu Silbermann is Director Product Management at InfoVista.

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Holiday Retail Booming - Dependable Application Performance is a Must

Matthieu Silbermann

Retail forecasts were on target for the extended Thanksgiving weekend this year, with sales figures for the period indicating it was the strongest start of the holiday shopping season ever recorded . But while Cyber Monday was touted as the best time for online bargains, billions of dollars still went to brick-and-mortar retailers offering steep discounts.

One trend that caught retailers by surprise this year was the speed with which all of the mayhem came to a halt. Traffic at many locations dissipated by mid-afternoon on Black Friday as savvy shoppers took advantage of mobile applications and interactive, in-store sales tools to target bargains within minutes of crossing the threshold.

In-store purchasing systems like tablet-based applications gave retailers the upper hand in helping consumers save time shopping – which is critical as the holiday season comes to a close. Rather than leaving customers to their own devices, a sales associate can use an app to input the consumers' needs and quickly determine what product – and at what price – is the best fit.

This past year, a British consumer technology retailer implemented such a program in their stores. To help streamline operations among 1,300 locations, their tablet-based application relies upon lightning-fast broadband to run tablets used by sales associates on the floor. This helps the customer speed up their buying experience, allowing them to more easily explore other purchases while freeing up sales associates to pursue a greater number of potential leads.

In-store purchasing systems like this are not only great for spotting bargains, but also for speeding up and easing an otherwise frenzied shopping season. This is especially true on such storied shopping holidays as Black Friday when discounted inventories are limited. Once prized sales merchandise is no longer available, shoppers will need all the help they can get in the weeks leading up to the New Year to find suitable alternatives while prices are still low.

Now that the holiday shopping season is in full swing, retailers and buyers alike must ensure that their resources are dependable. Not only will stores need to utilize advanced shopping technology, but also systems to support their apps and devices that are running on all cylinders. An application performance tool can guarantee delivery of actionable visibility and in-depth network and application performance information to IT managers to make sure systems aren't overwhelmed during high periods of traffic. By allowing full control of application flow, IT complexity is simplified and the customer experience is reshaped – hopefully resulting in higher customer spending.

Holiday purchases are estimated to account for 19 percent of all retail sales in 2015, which in total will come to $3.2 trillion dollars, according to the National Retail Federation. The weekend following Thanksgiving only accounts for a small portion of that total, which means retailers need to be on their top game throughout the rest of the month if they want to capitalize on the season's financial potential.

Matthieu Silbermann is Director Product Management at InfoVista.

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In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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Today, organizations are generating and processing more data than ever before. From training AI models to running complex analytics, massive datasets have become the backbone of innovation. However, as businesses embrace the cloud for its scalability and flexibility, a new challenge arises: managing the soaring costs of storing and processing this data ...

Despite the frustrations, every engineer we spoke with ultimately affirmed the value and power of OpenTelemetry. The "sucks" moments are often the flip side of its greatest strengths ... Part 2 of this blog covers the powerful advantages and breakthroughs — the "OTel Rocks" moments ...

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The power of Kubernetes lies in its ability to orchestrate containerized applications with unparalleled efficiency. Yet, this power comes at a cost: the dynamic, distributed, and ephemeral nature of its architecture creates a monitoring challenge akin to tracking a constantly shifting, interconnected network of fleeting entities ... Due to the dynamic and complex nature of Kubernetes, monitoring poses a substantial challenge for DevOps and platform engineers. Here are the primary obstacles ...

The perception of IT has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. What was once viewed primarily as a cost center has transformed into a pivotal force driving business innovation and market leadership ... As someone who has witnessed and helped drive this evolution, it's become clear to me that the most successful organizations share a common thread: they've mastered the art of leveraging IT advancements to achieve measurable business outcomes ...

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