by Scott Kreisberg, CEO One Step Retail Solutions

When I first started One Step, DELL and all of the other current hardware providers didn’t exist, so I was building computers in my mom’s garage because businesses needed them.  I knew then that providing computer hardware alone was not a strong enough value, so I became a VAR (value added reseller) for the retail industry.  A VAR takes two or more technologies that independently have a lower value but when you integrate them together and add professional knowledge and experience they then have a significant value.  I chose retail because I grew up in the retail industry and in fact it is how I worked my way through college. I took my higher education and applied it to the experience I had.

For the better part of two decades this model was successful and I grew to a nationwide POS technology VAR but then two significant events occurred that set my industry on its head.  The first was the 2008/2009 recession which wiped out 1/3 of my clients in one year and the second was the adoption of cloud technologies which took off around 2013.  Many of my peers did not adjust their business models and have either shrunk or simply gone out of business.  Those of you that know me personally know one thing about me and that is I am passionate about helping my clients be one step ahead of the competition.  While others like reading the next best mystery novel I love reading about technology and retailing trends.  My focus in life is seeing the future direction of both technology and retail and constantly adjusting my company to be on the forefront of it all.

Well this brings me to the heart of this article and that is, what is One Step’s focus today and for the near future?  Over the past few years, I have focused the company on technologies that embrace and take advantage of the cloud.  Not all industries are conducive to the cloud for a number of reasons, but retail is well designed to be plugged into it.  I recently wrote an article on the Amazon effect that was widely acknowledged as spot on. I believe that those retailers that don’t adjust will be at risk of going extinct.  As consumers continue to shift their buying habits to the cloud, retailers must adjust the technologies they are using to get their share of the pie.

The technologies used today by retailers to attract, service and retain consumers is completely different than those used five and ten years ago.  As such, One Step had to adjust what products we provide and how we provide then to our clients.  Over the past few years we have taken on a number of products and introduced new services that are 100% cloud based.  We had to learn a new set of knowledge and go through the school of hard knocks to gain the hands-on experience to bring all of this new technology to life.  The good news is we are way past that learning curve and we have matured into what is now called a “Cloud Service Provider” (CSP).

A cloud service provider is a company that offers components of cloud computing to other businesses.  Our focus is the same, we are here to help independent retailers survive and grow by empowering them with the technology that “the big guys” are using.  Today consumers are less loyal to businesses because the personal face-to-face, old-school way of doing business is quickly evaporating.  I am hopeful that traditional brick and mortar retailing will experience a revival, but until that day occurs more and more purchases are being made virtually.  The technology needed to provide today’s consumers with a true Omni-channel experience is completely different. A retailer will need to decide on if they want to invest in cobbling together a patchwork of complicated technologies or simply migrate to a true cloud designed infrastructure.

One Step now focuses on cloud services and provides a complete suite of cloud technologies.  From migrating to cloud servers to 100% cloud POS, and moving traditional applications like Office all up in the cloud, we are here to help you to be competitive and relevant.  If you have not visited our website in a while, I highly suggest you check out the “new” One Step as well as subscribing to our blog and connecting up with our Facebook and Twitter pages because we post valuable content often to help you grow your business.