KJR is pleased to share that we have renewed our membership with the National Online Retailers Association, or NORA Network.

This year more than ever, the technology behind retail can make or break its success. With customer experience at the heart of retail, companies must be able to deliver a product that satisfies evolving customer needs and expectations. A recent report from KPMG into Global Retail Trends in 2020, identifies changes necessitated by COVID-19 and that ‘companies now need to be good at not just buying and selling products, but also at things like online fulfillment, home delivery, data analytics, AI, machine learning and process automation.’

KJR’s CTO Mark Pedersen sat down with Peter Knock of the NORA Advisory Council recently to discuss how digital technology has transformed our everyday lives, and the necessary transitions that have occurred as the result of the unique challenges presented in 2020. Watch the full clip right here, or read our highlights below:

Digital transformation has always been a part of KJR’s DNA. As Mark explains, “we were founded in ’97 in Queensland and are now national, but we saw then that there was going to be this increasing embedding of digital technology in everyday life”. Ensuring that these experiences are working and secure has an impact on individuals as well as our economy.

This year has also necessitated new ways of working, and new digital solutions. As part of this, Mark outlines how KJR was able to assist client Doctors on Demand with their increased demand. “We work across that scalability, performance, security space. We did a piece of work with Doctors on Demand, an Australian-based, telehealth platform. Understandably, their traffic trebled within a matter of weeks”. Along with increased demand was a commitment to ensuring security. “There’s also a huge focus on security on those sort of platforms, so we were able to assist them with that kind of transition. And that’s the kind of thing that we live for really, is to help people get where they want to go – quickly and with confidence.”

As Peter points out, the fundamentals of KJR are about confidence. This is particularly important in the retail space, where an abundance of choice regarding platforms and their integration can be tricky. Risk management is also an important part of this process, and is key to KJR’s offerings, assisting businesses to be able to better understand and manage their digital risk.

As Mark identifies, effectively managing data and analytics are also key to e-commerce trading. “You’ve got all of that e-commerce data floating in, you want to wrap some AI around that, you want to put some analytics around that. How do you do that quickly, how do you make sure that it’s going to scale, how do you make sure that it’s actually accurate?”

KJR are also well placed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes, with experience working with both big-name brands at the “top end of town”, as well as being agile and responsive enough to offer solutions to smaller businesses. This ability to scale doesn’t just apply to the size of businesses, with KJR offering the flexibility to advise on specific elements of a business, as well as being able to scale up to address the needs of a business more holistically.

At the end of the day, Mark’s philosophy is all about trust. “Trust is absolutely key…we certainly put that at the heart of our business”.