ADVERTISEMENT
TechEconomy
Friday, May 30, 2025
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Tech
    • DisruptiveTECH
    • ConsumerTech
      • Accessories
      • Phones
      • Laptop
      • Gadgets and Appliances
      • Apps
    • How To
    • TechTAINMENT
  • Business
    • Telecoms
      • Broadband
    • Mobility
    • Environment
    • Travel
    • Commerce
    • StartUPs
    • TE Insights
    • Security
  • Partners
  • Economy
    • Finance
    • Fintech
    • Digital Assets
    • Personal Finance
    • Insurance
  • Features
    • IndustryINFLUENCERS
    • Guest Writer
    • Appointment
    • EventDIARY
    • Editorial
  • Apply
  • TecheconomyTV
  • Techeconomy Events
  • BusinesSENSE For SMEs
  • TBS
  • News
  • Tech
    • DisruptiveTECH
    • ConsumerTech
      • Accessories
      • Phones
      • Laptop
      • Gadgets and Appliances
      • Apps
    • How To
    • TechTAINMENT
  • Business
    • Telecoms
      • Broadband
    • Mobility
    • Environment
    • Travel
    • Commerce
    • StartUPs
    • TE Insights
    • Security
  • Partners
  • Economy
    • Finance
    • Fintech
    • Digital Assets
    • Personal Finance
    • Insurance
  • Features
    • IndustryINFLUENCERS
    • Guest Writer
    • Appointment
    • EventDIARY
    • Editorial
  • Apply
  • TecheconomyTV
  • Techeconomy Events
  • BusinesSENSE For SMEs
  • TBS
No Result
View All Result
Tech | Business | Economy
No Result
View All Result
Podcast

Home ยป Retailers Need to be Self-enabled to Maintain Control of their Technology Stacks

Retailers Need to be Self-enabled to Maintain Control of their Technology Stacks

By, Peter Ludi, Business Development Executive at redPanda Solutions

Techeconomy by Techeconomy
April 16, 2025
in Commerce
0
PETER LUDI, Managing Director of redPanda Solutions | Retailers
PETER LUDI, nanaging director of redPanda Solutions

PETER LUDI, nanaging director of redPanda Solutions

RelatedPosts

td africa Black Friday

Every Friday is Black Friday: TD Africa Turns Up the Heat on Tech Accessibility

May 27, 2025

EU Warns Shein: Clean Up or Face Sanctions

May 26, 2025

Everyone understands that in order for a retailer to be competitive, it must invest in the best technology to remove friction for customers and employees, provide the agility and capability to take advantage of big events such as Black Friday, improve operational efficiencies and build long-term customer loyalty.

However, many retailers have discovered that a technology solution decision is far more complex than it would seem, and, instead, they should beย investing in self-enablement.

Consider this, a retailer in a city hub, complete with its own power backup and fast connectivity, can deploy a fully cloud-based solution. This is not much unlike the markets that international vendors understand.

However, we are speaking about our unique South African context. redPanda Solutions can say unequivocally that you do not want a cookie-cutter approach that says: โ€œI can do the same thing everywhereโ€.

A retailer outside of the major city regions, with smaller stores in some of the more remote areas, needs the flexibility to work in the cloud and have in-store servers. They need full redundancy to deal with connectivity and power challenges. Retail is unforgiving โ€“ an inability to trade can close doors.

A loss of skills

Unfortunately, when a retailer invests in a new software vendor there is often an acknowledgement that they are going to lose a significant number of staff because they need to be replaced with new skills to deal with new technologies.

Essentially, the retailer needs to move a substantial portion of the services to the vendor, who isย thatย technology stack expert.

This gives rise to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) environments and, in many cases, the loss of valuable skills and IP within a retailer. This causes a cascade of problems later on when there is no one in the organisation who knows why something was configured a certain wayโ€ฆ until itโ€™s too late.

This is not to say SaaS is not the right solution โ€“ in many cases it absolutely is, however, it depends onย howย the SaaS solution is designed and run. When a retailer finds itself in a situation where it no longer retains valuable IP, it loses the ability to do what it once could. If processes fail, no one can remember why something was done in a specific way. There most likely is a very good reason things are as they are โ€” but because the IP is gone, no one can answer why.

Letโ€™s look at the alternative. A retailer that retains its critical skills, and vital institutional knowledge, ensures continuity, productivity, and the ability to make informed decisions. This helps prevent knowledge gaps, process inefficiencies and an increased reliance on external vendors, which can ultimately undermine a retailerโ€™s competitiveness.

By establishing centres of excellence or competency hubs, internal teams can develop deep expertise in core systems and processes, enabling them to troubleshoot issues, optimise performance, and drive continuous improvement.

Effective IP management alsoย protects the organisationโ€™s unique competitiveย advantages, prevents vendor lock-in, and ensures the long-term viability of the technology ecosystem. It ensures skills retention, business continuity, supports customer satisfaction and boosts employee morale, and, importantly, it protects the employerโ€™s reputation.

Vendor lock-in

On the other hand, many retailers in South Africa are dependent on international vendors. Relying on international vendors to provide critical technology solutions and support can further compound many uniquely South African challenges that retailers face.

Unfavourable vendor dependencies can lead to significant business continuity issues, revenue losses, customer dissatisfaction and reputational damage, especially during high-volume periods such as Black Friday.

However, switching vendors when not self-enabled can turn into a costly affair which, in turn, locks organisations into suboptimal relationships.

The case for self-enablement

A retailer is self-enabled when it can take control of its technology ecosystem, reducing its reliance on external vendors. Retailers can achieve this by working with a self-enablement partner on a few, key strategies.

They shouldย adopt open, modular architectures and develop in-house expertise and maintain control over core systems and processes.

A good self-enablement partner will help them negotiate vendor contracts that protect against excessive termination fees, price escalations, and other lock-in mechanisms. Importantly, they will be advised to diversify their vendor relationships whichย enables flexibility to transition to alternative providers without significant disruptionย to the organisation.

A self-enablement partner will ensure that retailers continuously invest in upskilling and retaining internal teams. This ensures the organisation has the necessary expertise in-house to manage the technology ecosystem and any future transitions.

This, by design, reduces a retailerโ€™s reliance on external support.

In other words, the business maintains control over its technology stack.

Self-enablement, then, protects retailers from both suboptimal dependencies and the high switching costs and disruptions associated with switching between vendors.

The net effect of this is a retailer thatโ€™s able to take advantage of the rapid advancements in retail technology more effectively and efficiently.

These include advancements in areas such as cloud computing, edge computing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.

The result is improved agility, scalability and innovation as retailers adapt to changing customer behaviour, demands and market conditions.

Loading

Advertisements
MTN ADS

0Shares
Tags: external vendorsInternet of ThingsPeter LudiredPanda SolutionsSaaSSoftware as a Service
Previous Post

Moniepoint Breaks into UK Remittance Market, Targets African Diaspora with MonieWorld

Next Post

Revwit: Ex-Interswitch and Microsoft Employees are Building B2B Sales Assistant for Africa

Techeconomy

Techeconomy

Related Posts

td africa Black Friday
Commerce

Every Friday is Black Friday: TD Africa Turns Up the Heat on Tech Accessibility

by Destiny Eseaga
May 27, 2025
0

TD Africa, a trailblazer in technology distribution and innovation across Africa, has launched an exciting weekly campaign titled 'Black Friday...

Read more
EU Warns Shein: Clean Up or Face Sanctions

EU Warns Shein: Clean Up or Face Sanctions

May 26, 2025
How Businesses In Africa Are using automation | leveraging data

How Businesses in Africa Are Finally Closing the Efficiency Gap with Automation

May 22, 2025
Temu and International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition - IACC

Temu Signs MoU with IACC to Strengthen IP Enforcement

May 22, 2025
MaxAB-Wasoko acquires Fatura

DEALS: MaxAB-Wasoko Acquires Fatura, Advancing Bold Ambition for Pan-African E-Commerce Consolidation

May 19, 2025
My Airtel App + eShop

Airtel Adds eShop Feature in Upgraded My Airtel App

May 16, 2025
Next Post
Revwit Founders

Revwit: Ex-Interswitch and Microsoft Employees are Building B2B Sales Assistant for Africa

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Techeconomy Podcast

Techeconomy Podcast
Techeconomy Podcast

Infowave is brought to you by TechEconomy. Every week we will bring new stories from startups and influencers who are shaping and changing the world we live in. We’ll also bring you reports on topics you should know.

Follow us @techeconomyng for more.

TECH TALK EPISODE 2
byTecheconomy

PRODUCTIVITY AND WORK-Life Balance

TECH TALK EPISODE 2
TECH TALK EPISODE 2
May 22, 2025
Techeconomy
CYBERSECURITY ESSENTIALS
April 24, 2025
Techeconomy
Digital Marketing Trends and strategies for 2025 and beyond
February 27, 2025
Techeconomy
Major Lesson for Techies in 2024 and Projections for 2025
December 6, 2024
Techeconomy
Major Lessons for Techies in an AI-Driven World | Techeconomy Business Series Highlights
November 26, 2024
Techeconomy
Maximizing Profitability Through Seasonal Sales: Strategies For Success
November 8, 2024
Techeconomy
Techeconomy Business Series
October 15, 2024
Techeconomy
PRIVACY IN THE ERA OF AI: GETTING YOUR BUSINESS READY
May 30, 2024
Techeconomy
Unravel the Secrets of Marketing Everywhere All At Once with Isaac Akanni from Infobip | Infowave Podcast Episode 1
February 9, 2024
Techeconomy
The Role of Ed-tech in Life Long Learning and Continuous Education
October 19, 2023
Techeconomy
Search Results placeholder

WHAT IS TRENDING

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_MCUwS2woc&list=PL6bbK-xx1KbIgX-IzYdqISXq1pUsuA4dz

Follow Us

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Privacy Policy

ยฉ 2025 Techeconomy - Designed by Opimedia.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Tech
    • DisruptiveTECH
    • ConsumerTech
      • Accessories
      • Phones
      • Laptop
      • Gadgets and Appliances
      • Apps
    • How To
    • TechTAINMENT
  • Business
    • Telecoms
      • Broadband
    • Mobility
    • Environment
    • Travel
    • Commerce
    • StartUPs
    • TE Insights
    • Security
  • Partners
  • Economy
    • Finance
    • Fintech
    • Digital Assets
    • Personal Finance
    • Insurance
  • Features
    • IndustryINFLUENCERS
    • Guest Writer
    • Appointment
    • EventDIARY
    • Editorial
  • Apply
  • TecheconomyTV
  • Techeconomy Events
  • BusinesSENSE For SMEs
  • TBS

ยฉ 2025 Techeconomy - Designed by Opimedia.

Translate ยป
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.