Retailers are under tremendous pressure to integrate the store into a complex selling environment that is data-centric in nature. Increased communication between management and employees, digital twin technologies throughout the enterprise, network-centric applications, customer and employee access to the internet via the corporate network, a constant flow of new data types over the network (video data, IoT data, etc.) – the list of demands keeps growing. All of these operational capabilities make significant demands on a retailer’s network. As a result, retailers need a network roadmap that they are in control of for a dynamic and well-managed network that can grow with the business.

This report examines the associated challenges and opportunities of this new reality.