EAs must discover how to reconcile the
decentralized, independent needs of retail
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The following is a review of trending challenges of
the retail industry identified from business (B2B) and
consumer (B2C) markets and as observed from the
perspective of Enterprise Architecture (EA). Target
groups include retail businesses and Enterprise
Architecture.
The paper highlights particular opportunities for the
application of Enterprise Architects in orienting the
innovation strategies of retail businesses. It aims to
improve awareness on the practice of EA and its
relevance to retailers seeking to enhance application
management and an understanding of business
capabilities. As well, it surveys available
technologies that offer potential to streamline
enterprise-level processes for all parties so to
minimize operation costs and better customer
experience.
It is concluded that a strong partnership between
EA programs and all varieties of decision-makers
can help retail businesses ride the waves of digital
transformation to profit from investments in
essential new technologies. The paper additionally
recommends that EAs guide retail enterprises using
modern EA Management
INTRODUCTION
The business practices of the retail industry have
evolved in the past decades. Once ruled by the static
process of planning > buying > moving > selling,
today’s retail is defining itself according to the on-
demand customization standards wanted by
customers. As such, an array of new technologies is
sought by large-scale retail enterprises to implement
business processes capable of satisfying bespoke
client standards.
Heightened competition, aggressive brand
awareness, sophisticated customer loyalty
programs, and instantaneous customer service is all
cited as key reasons for modernizing infrastructures
to accommodate “omni-channel” business models.
The modern infrastructure is also expected to focus
on customer-centric models in this so-called era of
Retail 5.0, an idea defined by personalized devices
and services¹.
New strategies based on the adoption of novel
technologies must always be configured with an
enterprise’s clearly delineated set of fundamental
habits—or, what is commonly known as “Business
Capabilities”. Knowing what a company does well,
and what it must continue to do well despite whatever
transformation is embarked upon, is a necessity
during the consideration of bold new Agile
architectures².
It is a pre-requisite that has catapulted the need for
Enterprise Architects (EAs) across the retail industry.
franchises to the overarching quality standards of
indispensable business capabilities. Caution must
be imposed in the forms of tangible and accessible
guidelines before foolheartedly launching ad-hoc
solutions without long-term value just in hopes of
luring new customers³. It is the goal of modern EA
to forestall such mistakes by steering retailers along
logical paths to longevity using the consensus of all
stakeholders and their collected technical expertise.
This white paper attempts to bring awareness to the
application of EA in solving the problems of retail
today. It identifies trending challenges and illustrates
solutions in the hopes of assisting EAs immersed in
the unpredictable yet profitable world of retail.
EXISTING CHALLENGES IN
RETAIL INDUSTRIES
Challenge I: Poorly consolidated systems
for connected retail
Perhaps more than other industries, global retail
supply chain networks consist of stakeholders with
incredibly precise and regional ways of designing IT
and Business processes. Failing to put forward
standardized back-end approaches for all creates
unfortunate complexities that are near-impossible to
resolve if left unnoticed4.
Consider, for example, the length of time it takes to
integrate just two units with conflicting technologies
and then scale this problem upwards to imagine
governing an international network of designers,
each with individual levels of technology standards.
Before the luxury of predictable order completions
can even be assured—an inarguable standard of
modern retail—the capabilities of these systems
must be assessed. And in order to assess these
systems to generate an accurate view of the state of
your operation, every user in this vast network of
technologies must be connected to provide supplies
of current data.
A common roadblock to systems consolidation in
multi-national retail industries is the varying stages
1Kowalkiewicz, M, Rosemann, M, & Dootson, P (2017). "Retail
5.0: Check out the future. QUT PwC Chair in Digital Economy