GK Software establishes alliance with IBM to accelerate retail innovation and enhance customer omnichannel experience with hybrid cloud technology

• — GK’s CLOUD4RETAIL hosted on IBM Cloud to help drive innovation and enhance the omnichannel experience
  — Global relationship for a joint go-to-market

GK Software (FRA: GKS) today announced that it has launched a new collaboration with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to help drive next generation retail underpinned by hybrid cloud technology from IBM and Red Hat. Furthering their work together, the companies will help retailers to innovate and adapt quickly to the digital era by offering consumers enhanced and connected omnichannel experiences.

This relationship will help to provide retailers with an enhanced pathway to retail innovation using IBM’s secured cloud technology and extensive industry services alongside the leading enterprise cloud solution for retail. As part of the collaboration, GK Software’s CLOUD4RETAIL, currently the solution most rolled out to major retailers worldwide in new projects1, is now accessible via IBM Cloud, accelerating hybrid cloud adoption within the industry. This global relationship also supports a joint go to market strategy which enables IBM’s Global Services (GBS) to build integrated solutions and innovative offerings for retailers.

CLOUD4RETAIL is GK Software’s flexible, open commerce platform providing services for the operation of integrated unified commerce environments from in-store and online touchpoints through to mobile devices. The platform is enriched by innovative services such as AI-based dynamic pricing, personalization, fraud detection, and mobile applications. Now optimized on IBM Cloud, the industry’s most secured and open public cloud for business, the extensive expansion and customization options of the various CLOUD4RETAIL services, can be used on a wide range of devices.

GK Software will also extend the deployment flexibility of CLOUD4RETAIL by adopting Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s leading enterprise Kubernetes platform, allowing customers to run GK solutions across hybrid environments – from on-premises to multi-cloud environments and at the edge.

Michael Scheibner, Chief Strategy Officer of GK Software, says: "GK Software and IBM share a long partnership in the retail industry and many common customers. We are very pleased to accompany retailers on their transition to the cloud in cooperation with IBM. We believe that we can make an excellent offer for holistic omnichannel processes based on state-of-the-art technology, especially to long-standing IBM customers."

This position is also underlined by Luq Niazi, Global Managing Director IBM Consumer Industries; "The challenges facing many retailers are extensive; diverse customer expectations, intense competition, increased operational complexity and ongoing cost pressure, all while navigating the disruptions and uncertainty of today’s changing retail landscape. By adopting a hybrid cloud strategy with IBM and Red Hat technology, managed by IBM Services, CLOUD4RETAIL can enable retailers to modernize applications and connect multiple technologies and the resulting data across the store, offering a more personalized and secured experience for shoppers."

About IBM
For further information about IBM in the Consumer Industry please visit:
www.ibm.com/industries/retail

1 See latest rbr research Global POS 2020 (category new POS without installations in hospitality and fuel)