Mary Freeman
No Longer with Cisco
Articles
Back to School 2017 Takeaways on the Customer Experience
3 min read
Back to school (BTS) 2017 is officially in the books, and retailers are getting ready for the upcoming holiday season. Now is the time to reflect on key lessons learned for retailers. This year’s back-to-school sales were projected to be the most successful in the last five years, with total combined spending for college and […]
Blockchain in retail: Cisco launches new IoT alliance
3 min read
You’ve probably been hearing a lot about blockchain in recent months. The technology offers new opportunities for better security for retailers, but so far it does not have a...
Ransomware Attackers Strike Again
1 min read
After last month’s WannaCry cyberattack, a new ransomware attack shut down systems across Europe this week. Get the latest on the attack and steps you can take to strengthen your security.
Programmable Retail: Writing Intentions and Reading the Status of Your Business from the Network
1 min read
These are certainly not easy times to be a retailer. Recently, our colleagues in Europe started to think about how to address many of today’s issues with “programmable retail,” the ability to write intentions and read the status of your business from the network. The weather, what a celebrity wore, a winning recipe from a […]
Turning Retailers into Superheroes: Join Us at Cisco Live
2 min read
Today we hear about “transforming the customer experience,” but for developers and IT staffers, what does this really mean? Join us in Las Vegas at Cisco Live on June 25-29, where...
The 5 Critical Components of a Secure Store
2 min read
In my last blog post, we discussed how the Cisco SAFE methodology can help you to implement a reliable security solution for your store. This approach can help you define and address each threat to the retail branch with corresponding security capabilities, architectures, and designs – guiding you to a complete security solution against everything […]
Securing Your Retail Network with Cisco SAFE in the Age of WannaCry
3 min read
Thousands of companies around the globe were affected this week by a major ransomware attack called WannaCry. Ransomware is a type of cyberattack that encrypts data until the user pays a specified fee, and is one of the industry’s top evolving cyberthreats. As these and other threats continue to proliferate, the Cisco SAFE Threat Defense […]
The Worst Problem in the Retail Industry? Turnover.
3 min read
Retail has one of the highest turnover rates in any industry. The Hay Group reports a median turnover rate of 67 percent for part-time retail employees.[1] I doubt any of us would be too challenged to list the problems driving this high turnover: Retail jobs are considered boring and repetitive, with little training and low […]
How to Better Manage Store Staff with Real-Time Analytics
2 min read
A few weeks ago at NRF 2017, we spoke with a number of retailers looking to improve the customer experience in their stores. Challenged by today’s online competitors, brick-and-mortar retailers are doing their best to reimagine their stores with new services and technology. However, we also found that many of the same retailers were overlooking […]