Retail Application: How To Deliver Your Retail Application To Any Device

Retail Application

The retail industry is facing the challenge of managing a range of devices that require access to retail applications. Furthermore, VDI network complexity is a challenge, and expensive VDI solutions cut into the margins. With Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) virtual desktop and application delivery, retailers can affordably publish retail software solutions to any device with ease.

How to Deliver a Retail Application to any Device?

retail applicationThe retail industry is one of the few verticals that have been closely following technology trends and innovations. Whether for enterprise resource planning (ERP), bring your own device (BYOD) initiative or customer relationship management (CRM) tools, the retail segment has often implemented the latest software solutions.

Moreover, cloud technology has brought an innovative change in the business procedures of retail businesses by helping them sell products and manage inventory more efficiently. According to Statista, a leading company for statistics, market research, and business intelligence, the retail application cloud market was worth $14.46 billion in 2015. This value is expected to reach $15.76 billion by 2020. Technavio, a leading market research company, predicts that the retail cloud security market would grow at a CAGR of 20.91% between 2016 and 2020.

Desktop POS to Mobile POS

A Desktop POS system runs on a PC, either as a web application or a desktop application. Hardware components such as credit card readers, barcode scanners and cash drawers can be attached to a Desktop POS. Depending on the vendor, a Desktop POS will have features such as inventory management, CRM and reporting and analytics functionality. Desktop POS systems are suitable for cash counters in retail shops. A mobile POS, on the other hand, is when the POS terminal is a mobile device, such as a smartphone or a tablet. Mobile POS or mPOS is attached to transaction peripherals such as credit card readers and receipt printers. Mobile POS systems are portable and most suitable for accepting payments outside a store on-the-spot and in small shops with limited space.

Parallels RAS allows retail businesses to improve productivity by making desktop retail applications accessible on-the-go, from any geographic location, via any mobile device. Using Parallels RAS for application delivery, businesses can change their existing Desktop POS to a Mobile POS while ensuring a consistent user experience across all devices.

Application publishing challenges for retail

The retail sector is facing several technology-related challenges. The industry has to evolve constantly to meet innovations, and it must be agile enough to deliver customized retail solutions for shoppers. First, most retail organizations use customized retail applications that should be accessible to staff across multiple stores in several geographic locations. It means the organization has to centrally host resources and publish them to remote offices. In addition, all teams through supply chain management should be able to access resources in order to provide efficient inventory services. Furthermore, in today’s highly competitive world, margins have significantly reduced, and retail organizations can no longer afford to invest in large IT budgets.

Retail application infrastructure should be highly scalable because IT administrators could difficultly forecast how the demand on shared resources will scale up, due to many promotions or seasonal offers that create more or less customers in the store at any given time. In addition, retail businesses collect and store large amounts of information that has to be effectively analyzed to offer a customized solution to customers.

Moreover, retail stores deal with multiple vendors, which means a comprehensive supply chain management system should be in place that caters to all kinds of devices. Most importantly, retail software solutions are mainly Windows-based while the end-user mobile devices are normally non-Windows based. This means the retail store must be able to affordably publish retail applications to any device in a quick and seamless manner.

Why Parallels RAS best suits retail businesses on the cloud?

Parallels RAS is a comprehensive virtualization solution that makes virtual desktop and application delivery easy and affordable. Designed with ease of use in mind, Parallels RAS can be deployed within minutes. Being cloud-ready, Parallels RAS supports retail application deployment through Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure as well as private cloud deployments.  While the tool supports a range of devices, the end-user experience is rich and consistent across all devices. Moreover, IT management is simplified and a higher level of security is maintained while using the legacy infrastructure.

Amazing benefits offered by Parallels RAS:

Leader in cross-platform solutions

Parallels is a leading provider of cross-platform solutions across the globe. Parallels RAS enables retail stores to centrally host applications on a central server, virtualize them and deliver them to any device with ease. The close affinity with the Windows environment makes Parallels RAS an easy choice for IT administrators. In addition, Parallels RAS supports all major browsers and hypervisors and a range of devices including iOS, Android, MAC, Linux, and Chromebooks. This means IT administrators using Parallels RAS can virtualize any Windows-based retail application and publish it to any device. With Parallels RAS, staff and all members of the supply chain team can access the retail application from any device, any time and from any location.

Affordable by retail businesses of all sizes

All retail businesses from large to small must keep an eye on the IT budget. However, Parallels RAS costs only 1/3rd of the cost of other leading virtualization solutions available on the market. Moreover, this tool allows IT administrators in retail organizations to continue using legacy infrastructure without investing in hardware. Another advantage is that retail organizations can use devices running on various OS and still build a comprehensive VDI network across retail stores. Any Windows-based retail application can be easily published on any iOS or Android device with ease. By virtualizing computing resources, retail businesses can deliver more efficient services to their customers while using less resources.

Simplified IT management

The primary goal of a retail store is to increase sales, profits and overall success for the company. While managing IT networks is not a top priority for the retail locations, it is important to make sure information is secure and easily accessible to employees. While the retail stores make business, Parallels RAS takes care of IT management. The technology solution is simple to deploy, use, and comes with many automated features. For instance, the solution scales to meet surging consumer demands with automated load balancing and a set of intuitive wizards automates terminal server configuration during the installation process.

Download a free 30-day trial of Parallels RAS to publish your retail application to any device right now.


References

Revenue from the enterprise applications market worldwide in 2015 and 2020, by vertical industry (in billion U.S. dollars) | statista.com

HOW CLOUD COMPUTING IS CHANGING THE RETAIL GAME | cloudtweaks.com

Buying In the Cloud: How Cloud Technology is Revolutionizing the Retail Industry | business.com

Global Cloud Security Market in the Retail Sector 2016-2020 | reportbuyer.com

Cloud Epos and the challenges of retail’s toughest environments | talkingretail.com