Retailers have always relied on technology to improve operations and enhance many aspects of the shopping experience – and that’s truer than ever today. From AI-powered predictive analytics to automated customer service, retailers are increasingly using digital innovations to stay competitive. Today’s retail technologies support every facet of the business, including:

  • Predictive inventory management to optimize purchasing cycles and meet seasonal demand.
  • In-store tools like self-service kiosks, self-checkout, and smart sensors that analyze foot traffic.
  • Efficient transaction processing, whether in-store, on a website, or via an app.

Retailers are highly attractive targets for cyber criminals, as they process high volumes of valuable customer data and continue to invest in new digital technologies, resulting in a growing attack surface.

With this evolving threat landscape SASE is an essential tool for retailers that not only improves security but also supports their technology environments and goals.

Defending an expanding attack surface

Retail chains have myriad devices on their IT networks – employee scheduling systems, inventory management tools, self-service kiosks, customer service computers, and laptops used by remote employees and contractors, just to name a few. SASE protects this expanding attack surface by monitoring traffic, blocking malicious files, and preventing unauthorized access. And there’s no need for additional hardware because security features like firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention, malware protection, and URL filtering are delivered as cloud services.

Scalability and adaptability

SASE provides retail chains with rapid scalability for easy expansion of network and security infrastructure. As retailers grow, adding new branches, cloud services, or remote workers is seamless. The cloud-native architecture allows for quick onboarding of new locations and users without complex network reconfigurations or hardware investments. Importantly, SASE ensures consistent security policies across all environments – whether it’s a new location in a different state or a remote contractor working from home. What’s more, when retailers are ready to adopt new technologies like IoT and AI, they don’t need to also replace incompatible legacy hardware.

Enhanced performance across locations

SASE allows administrators to manage network access and security policies for all locations from a single console, simplifying operations and reducing complexity. And by leveraging Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology to optimize network traffic routing between different locations – HQ-to-store, distribution center-to-store, or store-to-store – retailers can ensure optimal performance based on real-time network conditions.

Cost-effective network security

Traditional network security requires significant hardware investments and ongoing maintenance. SASE transforms this model by delivering security as a cloud service, allowing retailers to reduce their TCO by eliminating complex network infrastructure and the associated overhead. This has a knock-on benefit of simplifying security policy management and allowing network administrators to focus on higher priority projects.

Improved customer data protection

Retailers process volumes of sensitive customer information, making them prime targets for cyber criminals. SASE helps protect sensitive customer information by encrypting data in transit and enforcing a Zero Trust model to restrict unauthorized access. By integrating multiple security capabilities – including firewalls, secure web gateways, data loss prevention, and more – SASE safeguards data against threats such as ransomware and phishing. This also enhances compliance with data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA by offering granular controls, auditing, and reporting capabilities.

A growing list of top retailers are choosing Harmony SASE to help them scale their network security as their businesses grow. Ready to learn how you can do the same? Book a demo today!

 

You may also like