Improving your Business with an Azure SaaS eCommerce Solution

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Wholesome Personalization

Using artificial intelligence in eCommerce has emerged only recently as a way to increase sales, by predicting what customers want and offering it to them before they even think they might need it. Microsoft has been working on machine learning and analytics tools, offering the ability of obtaining and processing large amounts of data and creating predicative customer behavior models. This allows for a personalized approach when it comes to online shopping, creating a shopping experience arguably similar to the lush experience of a personal shopping assistant.

Offering Complimentary Services

Anyone who says they do not like freebies is lying. Microsoft is offering complimentary services to those who choose to trust their eCommerce to Azure operations, resulting to lower costs and other benefits like the ability to have a unified data model across channels of operation. What this leads to is the ability for a better analytical insight and the ability to use data across different channels without the need for further integration, both translating to reduced cost and labor.

Optimization

Having a flourishing eCommerce platform does not only require a great front-end service. The whole supply chain needs to be well-greased, from management of the inventory, to sales reports, marketing and customer data. Azure can provide optimization of your business’s supply chain and reduce support-associated costs, time, and extra workload.

Scale-up or Scale-Down on the Go

An important feature of SaaS, or cloud-based eCommerce platforms is the ability to scale-up on demand, compared to the static, manual infrastructure of on-premise services. What if someone told you that you could follow your eCommerce needs expansion or contraction the same way your body adapts to breathing? Microsoft can offer that, by being able to automatically allow your business to handle increased or decreased demand due to size or seasonal factors, in a predictable or unpredictable manner.

The Hidden Importance of Integration

We have already mentioned that integration can optimize your eCommerce business aspects and make your platform adaptable to your business needs, but is that all there is? Most certainly not. Other important aspects integration can offer are the following:

• Traffic analysis: being able to see who is buying your products, what exactly they are after, and when they buy it, allows you to understand customer behavior patterns and adapt your eCommerce services accordingly, driving more customers to purchases.
• Better infrastructure: integrating Azure with your ecommerce platform can only lead to benefits for your business, from on-site customer behavior analysis, to streamlined transactions, and automated IT infrastructure.
• Better “search” abilities: helping your customers to find what they are looking for is of immense importance for your eCommerce, hence providing a site-wide search function, with the ability of autocomplete, show synonyms, include filters and tags, and being easy to navigate is key for higher conversion rates.

Potential Issues you Might Encounter During Integration and How to Avoid them

As discussed, integrating Azure Solutions to your eCommerce platform can be beneficial and useful for your business. However, there are some areas where you need to be careful, in order to avoid issues with integration.

• Planning: the integration process might be automated and sound straightforward, but it is not that simple. Planning ahead and trusting the experts can save you both time and money, and protect you from unforeseeable complications, such as data loss or service disruptions.
• Data security: during integration classified data might unwillingly become available to unauthorized users. This can be prevented by using extra layers of protection, such as security rules, reinforced access and network activity monitoring, use of third parties offering specialized security services.