Vertex, Inc., a global provider of tax technology solutions, released today Forrester Consulting’s The Cutting Edge of Tax research study, commissioned by Vertex. The study surveyed 400 IT decision-makers in the US and Europe responsible for purchasing tax software in the retail industry. The goal was to better understand IT decision-makers’ current tax technology deployments and the value they see in moving to a containerized edge deployment for tax. 

The survey conducted by Forrester found that 83% of IT decision-makers are interested in a containerized edge tax solution. By combining edge with containerization for tax, a majority of survey respondents expect to see significant benefits. Seventy-three per cent of those surveyed would find a reduced dependency on connectivity and bandwidth a valuable feature of a containerized edge solution, 80% would find more control over automating updates valuable, and 73% identify improved scalability as an expected outcome.

"As retailers continue down their path of digital transformation, IT professionals face many challenges. They must find the right technology to address those issues—including tax software," said Vertex Principal Architect Eric Christian. "Current options like on-premise and cloud deployments offer specific value, but an edge computing and containerization solution offers the best of both worlds. Not only do you have agility, but stability and control as well."

The survey results dig deeper into respondents' significant advantages and disadvantages with their current tax software deployment options—including on-premise and cloud. It concluded that those with cloud solutions benefit from being more agile and cost-effective. However, 50% of IT decision-makers said they face worries about security, and 42% said the reliance on the internet slows them down. In fact, 82% of cloud users said that when they lose internet access, their tax software does not operate correctly.

Of those with on-premise deployments, 68% remain on-premise to keep control of the update process and maintain security. However, these solutions are slower to upgrade, less agile, and reliant on legacy systems.

"The Forrester survey results confirm our understanding that retailers need a way to maximize operational efficiency, improve performance and security, automate all core business processes, and ensure "always on" availability. That is why we launched our Vertex® Indirect Tax O Series® Edge solution. It provides businesses with next-generation tax automation and increased speed while delivering frictionless experiences to consumers regardless of where and when transactions occur," said Vertex CEO David DeStefano.