Expert: Retailers should adopt cloud-based services

Cloud computing has increasingly been recognized as an important technological development for a wide range of fields. In a recent Furniture Today report, retail IT expert Ray Allegrezza claimed the retail sector has much to gain by migrating to the cloud.

Allegrezza noted that many businesses are already using cloud-based services without realizing they are doing so. Web-based email services, such as Gmail and Hotmail, and social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are all based on cloud computing.

Retailers can benefit from cloud computing in several ways, according to Allegrezza. Firstly, by adopting cloud computing, businesses can move a variety of services, such as storage of important documents, record keeping and projects, to external servers. These servers, owned and operated by a cloud computing vendor, offer greater reliability and security than what many businesses could afford on their own.

Furthermore, cloud computing can save businesses money, according to Allegrezza. By situating data and applications on a service provider's infrastructure, a business can avoid the need to purchase expensive hardware.

Many companies have already benefited from the advantages of the cloud. According to a recent Forrester Research study, the global cloud computing market is expected to reach a total value of $241 billion by 2020.