RETAIL TECH ICONS: BRINGING IN INNOVATION AND SCALABILITY

Asurvey of 1,420 IT executives across Europe, Asia and the Middle East found that there has been a 59% rise in investment in technology by retailers during 2022.

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Respondents in the survey revealed that over the next 12-18 months, they plan to invest in the cloud (75%), security (57%) and digital transformation (48%).

In 2021, Deloitte quizzed 50 senior retail executives across multiple subsectors about their priorities over the next 12 months. Reimagining the workforce, supply chain resiliency, and digital revolution emerged among the top three. Despite the di erence in functional areas, it boils down to investment in technology.

Big Box retailers are even going a step ahead and investing in technologies like Metaverse which are still in their nascency. For instance, Reliance’s Jio Platforms invested $15 million in the ‘Metaverse’ by buying a 25% stake in Two Platforms, a Silicon Valley-based deep tech startup.

There’s no denying the fact that technology is central to every retailer’s growth story. No exception.

The rising importance of technology in transforming and growing the business has changed the roles of those in-charge of tech operations in a retail business and expectations about them.

No longer are CIOs department heads of a support function, they are fair and square in the driver’s seat and need to be more than just subject-matter experts. According to International Data Group (IDG)’s “State of the CIO Study 2022,” 58 % of workers outside of IT describe their company’s CIO as a “strategic advisor who proactively identi es business opportunities and makes recommendations.”

Today’s CIO must know how to leverage technology to create value for the business.

CIO: The Partner in Growth