Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has announced the expansion of the technology giant’s public cloud into Europe.
Speaking this week at Microsoft’s Future Decoded conference, which took place at London’s ExCel conference and exhibition centre, Nadella revealed that development of data centres in Ireland and The Netherlands had already been completed and that work on a third centre will begin in the UK in 2016.
The aim of this expansion is to increase data accessibility, which in-turn will change the culture of personal computing and amplify productivity for companies.
At Crimson, we specialise in retail technology strategy solutions so this blog examines how these advancements will affect our contacts and clients in the retail sector.
Addressing a session at the conference, Ben Dowd, Business Director at O2, welcomed Nadella’s announcement.
He said mobile technology had become “the remote control” of consumers’ lives and he said increased mobility of data was needed to support the growing demand of customers – particularly now that smart phones were over-taking laptops in terms how shoppers access the web.
Looking to the future, Dowd suggested that 76% of smart phone users were using their devices for an average of 8 hours and 40 mins a day. This is a both a challenge and a huge opportunity for major retailers.
He said that O2 would be continuing to focus on technology strategy, smart data analytics, and sharing information, in particular they were analysing how to protect brands on social media.
Baroness Martha Lane-Fox, Co-Founder of online holiday retailer lastminute.com and Non-Executive Director at Marks and Spencer, said that new technology should always be used to put customers first – as this was the model that had worked for lastminute.com.
Echoing Lane-Fox’s sentiments, Hywel Sloman, CIO of Arsenal FC, said: “We are a customer service function and if we don't look after our customers they will go elsewhere.”
Arsenal use the same retail technology as fashion retailers Paul Smith and Ted Baker and its stadium flagship store, ‘The Armoury’, completes more international transactions on a single game-day than all of the M&S stores put together.
He outlined his goal to use technology to improve football performance, information for fans (consumers) within the stadium, day-to-day business operations, and eCommerce. This strategy aims to use data to make Arsenal FC an accessible global experience.
In summary, major retailers are planning to use cloud technology to further personalise customers’ shopping experiences. Microsoft intend to support companies and their employees by giving them access to this information wherever they are.
If you would like more information about Big Data or your cloud technology strategy contact Crimson’s IT consultants on marketing@crimson.co.uk or 01675 466 477. Our leading consultants have more than 25 years’ experience working with major UK retail companies.
