Using the Internet of Things to Connect With Customers, Business

This month’s free Conexxus webinar also tackled employees using their own devices for company business.

October 13, 2017

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – How can convenience retailers implement the Internet of Things (IoT into their business? Yesterday’s Conexxus free webinar, “Internet of Things and Bring Your Own Device in Your Business” explained the ins and out of connecting devices inside your business—and with your customers.

Speaker Jeff Gibson with ControlScan shared how the retail segment’s IoT impacts the customer experience through customer engagement, buying habits, loyalty programs and automated checkout. On the operations side, IoT can help with energy, equipment and inventory management, as well as security and marketing. The IoT adds value through data capture, which can help retailers see trends and provide the ability to troubleshoot before issues pop up.

All of this means that retailers need to be on top of security. Here are some areas to keep secure.

  • Endpoints: protecting data at rest and in transit, restricting access, managing patches and developing security polices around the endpoints.
  • Network: segmenting endpoints, restricting access to known destinations, monitoring network traffic and installing intrusion prevention and detection systems.
  • Cloud providers: knowing their security policies, authentication processes and your data rights.
  • End-user applications: reviewing security policies, authentication processes and scability.

Before diving into IoT, think about what you want to accomplish, who needs to be involved, what are the risks, and when you want it up and running.

What should employees use for work: Their own device or a company device? That’s the first question to answer. “Retailers have to adopt a strategy to keep their data safe when employees use devices at work,” Gibson said. He recommended using an enterprise mobility management (EMM) system to secure and enabling employee use of smartphones and tablets. To plan for bring your own device, think about who will have access to email, for example.

For more information, you can listen to the recording of “Internet of Things and Bring Your Own Device in Your Business” here.

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