FAQs: Why are Retail Technical Services Essential to Online Businesses?

As the pressure on store estates builds and margins are squeezed, rather than cutting your IT budget, now is the time to be investing in it for optimum trading power.

Still not convinced? We’ve put together our top retail technical services FAQs.

Q: Help! How do I maximise system uptime?

A: Any disruption to trade has an impact on profitability and progress, as well as creating poor customer experience for those who value reliability and consistency. The way to combat this is to ensure that all updates and changes are targeted towards times where trading is quietest, and that functionality is optimum at the points it is most needed. Taking an approach that holds this idea at its core ensures that customers are much less likely to come into contact or be impacted by any technical issues.

Q: What happens if there’s an issue at Head Office?

A: Alongside the issues that customers may face, which need to be tackled as quickly as possible, lie the potential internal issues. IT support can help with this, acting as a central focus point where all technical issues can be logged and responded to. This may be anything from issues with emails and logins, to systems not responding as they should do. Retail Assist also offer the ability to take on the role an internal IT team could, meaning that savings on recruitment time and expenses can be made.

Q: How important is it to maintain the latest versions of software?

A: In a word, very! A large part of ensuring any retail system functions as it should is maintaining it with the latest versions of software or updates available. As this is an ongoing task that requires constant monitoring and awareness, it’s very easy to let things pass by. Updates may be missed or might cause confusion and disruption if they are not anticipated. Security issues might also be encountered. Using retail technical services makes sure that this won’t happen and that anything that needs to be done is handled in an expert and efficient manner.

Q: Do we have to wait for something to ‘go wrong’ before changing our technology?

A: The need to react to any issues swiftly can be reduced by taking a proactive approach to technology. Retail technical services take on a policy that is not simply reactive, constantly looking for ways in which things can be improved and developed before issues occur. A policy of continuous improvement is implemented with regular review of processes and procedures that have so far been used. This allows for comprehension of what has worked and what hasn’t – and where potential issues may lie. As these potential issues are identified before they even manifest themselves, the retailer and the customer can continue unscathed, with business trading as usual.

Q: Why should my retail business employ the use of retail technical services?

A: Retail technical services’ ultimate advantage is their specialism and skills. The ability to provide advice, support and assistance when it is needed most means that retailers can be given peace of mind without having to know everything themselves. In a similar manner, the customer experience is greatly enhanced by them having no need to worry about what goes on behind and around their transactions; they simply want them to be as easy, efficient and secure as possible. If this occurs, satisfaction levels will rise. Making use of the skills that retail technical services bring is the best way of ensuring that this happens.

Want to hear more about how our technical services team can help your online retail business? Click here or email info@retail-assist.co.uk.