iQmetrix Looks to the Future with Next-Generation Wireless Retail Technology Innovation

BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 3, 2025--

The next generation of telecom retail technology is being unveiled this week at Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Spain.

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iQmetrix, the only provider of Interconnected Commerce solutions for telecom retail, is exhibiting March 3-5 in the Canadian Pavilion at the world’s biggest mobile event—and is using the event to announce the game-changing evolution of its flagship SaaS technology platform.

After years of working behind the scenes on replatforming its RQ technology suite, iQmetrix is launching its Generation 8 platform—built to eliminate technology bottlenecks, drive efficiencies, and unlock new revenue opportunities for its clients. This evolution to a modern, lightweight platform delivers unmatched flexibility, cross-compatibility, and seamless integration between systems.

Speed, Agility, and Innovation at Scale: iQ Platform

With this next-generation technology, iQmetrix has the power to move faster than ever before. The new iQ Platform will radically accelerate the rollout timelines of new features and tools, streamline the onboarding of new clients, enable much deeper integrations, and deliver unprecedented customization options—giving retailers the tools they need to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving telecom industry. With a headless architecture and truly modular approach, the new platform empowers retailers to modernize their operations without disrupting their tech ecosystem.

One of the biggest foundational advantages of the new platform is its ability to quickly and easily integrate solutions from:

Lauren Wilmsen, Vice President of Product, Retail at iQmetrix, said, “The new platform enables us to get out of our own way, and out of the way of vendors, partners, and clients who want to integrate with our systems.”

Users of the new platform will benefit from two newly structured user interface suites. These are being rolled out in two phases over the coming months:

1. Beyond Point-of-Sale: iQ Storefront

Traditional POS systems merely process transactions. iQ Storefront is the next evolution of front-of-house retail software, designed specifically for telecom. It is device-agnostic, highly customizable and extensible, and built to support the entire retail journey—going far beyond the capabilities of a standard POS.

iQ Storefront will include all the functionality that exists in the RQ point-of-sale solutions today, such as transactions, cash management, bill payments, tax management, activations, and business-to-business transactions. However, iQ Storefront will not act as a simple point-of-sale that starts when a customer makes a purchase in a store. It will enable a true end-to-end journey that encompasses all facets of a customer’s retail experience, and every aspect of the retailer’s journey, from marketing to channel management to integrated payments to reconciliation, and much more.

The lightweight app will allow clients to easily customize unique user journeys and rules that are different for sales reps, store managers, or any other front-of-house role—plus the UIs will be accessible and intuitive, as today’s new generation of retail staff expects. The new platform will also allow for future multi-language and multi-currency options to be enabled within iQ Storefront. The app is device-agnostic, so users can interact with it either on iOS or Android.

iQ Storefront will also include the new iQ Payments solution—a seamless, end-to-end payments solution designed to evolve with your business. iQ Payments gives users a streamlined, single-vendor experience where payment processing, support, hardware, and reporting are all consolidated—simplifying payments management and reducing operational friction. It also enables a mobile-first payment hardware option, supporting businesses’ mobile retail strategies.

2. Revolutionizing the Back Office: iQ Hub

iQmetrix’s trusted back-office solution, the RQ Retail Management System suite, is evolving into iQ Hub—an agile, customizable, lightweight, web-based software designed specifically for telecom retail. Retaining RQ’s essential strengths of telecom-specific inventory management, vendor rebate management, order management, performance management, and more, iQ Hub will add in greater flexibility, deeper customization, and seamless cross-compatibility with third-party POS systems.

As with iQ Storefront, iQ Hub will enable different user journeys for different employee roles and security levels—meaning an inventory manager will see different modules in their UI than a data analyst, for example. This will make the user experience intuitive and adaptable for everyone, no matter who they are, rather than everyone having to fit in with fixed software parameters.

iQ Hub will also greatly improve operational efficiencies by enabling a vast amount more automation—SKU management and price management being just two examples. This will greatly reduce and sometimes eliminate the need for system management, freeing up users’ time and energy to focus on activities that drive their business forward, instead of managing the system.

Both iQ Hub and iQ Storefront will draw from the latest AI-driven innovations that iQmetrix is developing—such as AI-powered customer lifecycle management and customer personalization, and AI-driven product inventory and demand management. The new platform also allows for easy integration of all solutions as they arise, constantly improving the system in an organic way.

A Learning System Created Through Community

One of the greatest advantages of this next-generation platform is that, as products and features are developed and as partners and clients plug their tools and systems into the platform, it becomes a living, evolving system. This concept is truly at the heart of Interconnected Commerce—an ecosystem of technology that is greater than the sum of its parts, because the interconnections between all the stakeholders and systems mean its benefits become exponentially better for all users.

As this technology is launched, existing iQmetrix clients can rest assured that they will not see any disruption in their current RQ technology solutions that support their daily operations. RQ will continue to be in full operation before and during any migration to the new platform.

Christopher Krywulak, Chief Executive Officer at iQmetrix, said, “We are thrilled to be reimagining how we create great experiences for our clients and their customers with our Generation 8 technology platform. This next-generation platform has always been part of our long-term strategy, and we are taking a thoughtful approach to ensure a smooth transition while maintaining the reliability of our existing system.”

Key iQmetrix clients will be the first to see demos and get the chance to beta-test the technology in the coming months, and the new platform and user interfaces will be showcased to the wider industry at SummitX 2025 in California this October. Those who want to learn more before that time are encouraged to reach out to their Account Manager, if they are an existing client, or contact us to find out more at www.iqmetrix.com/demo.

MWC Barcelona attendees are warmly invited to visit iQmetrix in the Canadian pavilion, March 3-5, 2025. To find out more about iQmetrix Interconnected Commerce solutions, visitiQmetrix Interconnected Commerce.

About iQmetrix

iQmetrix is the only provider of Interconnected Commerce software solutions for telecom retail. Interconnected Commerce is a complete set of software and technologies that are modular, flexible, and have telecom-specific capabilities, enabling telecom retailers to provide an uplifting experience for their customers. We empower telecom retailers to transact, activate, and fulfill products, as well as operate their business, and unify the online and in-store experiences. We interconnect the entire industry, bridging carriers, retailers, manufacturers, and a huge ecosystem of vendors and external system integrations.

For 26 years, we’ve been passionate about helping the leading brands in telecom to grow by providing best-in-class software, services, and expertise that enables them to adapt and thrive. Our solutions powered $17BN in sales last year, handling nearly 53 million invoices and more than 28 million activations, and are used by more than 370,000 telecom retail professionals across almost 1,000 clients. iQmetrix is a privately held software-as-a-service (SaaS) company with employees in Canada, the U.S., India, and Europe. For more information, please visit www.iqmetrix.com.

The next generation of telecom retail technology is being highlighted by iQmetrix this week at Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Spain. Image: iQmetrix

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sluggish December hiring concluded a year of weak employment gains that have frustrated job seekers even though layoffs and unemployment have remained low.

Employers added just 50,000 jobs last month, nearly unchanged from a downwardly revised figure of 56,000 in November, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate slipped to 4.4%, its first decline since June, from 4.5% in November, a figure also revised lower.

The data suggests that businesses are reluctant to add workers even as economic growth has picked up. Many companies hired aggressively after the pandemic and no longer need to fill more jobs. Others have held back due to widespread uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies, elevated inflation, and the spread of artificial intelligence, which could alter or even replace some jobs.

Still, economists were encouraged by the drop in the unemployment rate, which had risen in the previous four straight reports. It had also alarmed officials at the Federal Reserve, prompting three cuts to the central bank's key interest rate last year. The decline lowered the odds of another rate reduction in January, economists said.

“The labor market looks to have stabilized, but at a slower pace of employment growth,” Blerina Uruci, chief economist at T. Rowe Price, said. There is no urgency for the Fed to cut rates further, for now."

Some Federal Reserve officials are concerned that inflation remains above their target of 2% annual growth, and hasn't improved since 2024. They support keeping rates where they are to combat inflation. Others, however, are more worried that hiring has nearly ground to a halt and have supported lowering borrowing costs to spur spending and growth.

November's job gain was revised slightly lower, from 64,000 to 56,000, while October's now shows a much steeper drop, with a loss of 173,000 positions, down from previous estimates of a 105,000 decline. The government revises the jobs figures as it receives more survey responses from businesses.

The economy has now lost an average of 22,000 jobs a month in the past three months, the government said. A year ago, in December 2024, it had gained 209,000 a month. Most of those losses reflect the purge of government workers by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Nearly all the jobs added in December were in the health care and restaurant and hotel industries. Health care added 38,500 jobs, while restaurants and hotels gained 47,000. Governments — mostly at the state and local level — added 13,000.

Manufacturing, construction and retail companies all shed jobs. Retailers cut 25,000 positions, a sign that holiday hiring has been weaker than previous years. Manufacturers have shed jobs every month since April, when Trump announced sweeping tariffs intended to boost manufacturing.

Wall Street and Washington are looking closely at Friday's report as it's the first clean reading on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.

The hiring slowdown reflects more than just a reluctance by companies to add jobs. With an aging population and a sharp drop in immigration, the economy doesn't need to create as many jobs as it has in the past to keep the unemployment rate steady. As a result, a gain of 50,000 jobs is not as clear a sign of weakness as it would have been in previous years.

And layoffs are still low, a sign firms aren't rapidly cutting jobs, as typically happens in a recession. The “low-hire, low-fire” job market does mean current workers have some job security, though those without jobs can have a tougher time.

Ernesto Castro, 44, has applied for hundreds of jobs since leaving his last in May. Yet the Los Angeles resident has gotten just three initial interviews, and only one follow-up, after which he heard nothing.

With nearly a decade of experience providing customer support for software companies, Castro expected to find a new job pretty quickly as he did in 2024.

“I should be in a good position,” Castro said. “It’s been awful.”

He worries that more companies are turning to artificial intelligence to help clients learn to use new software. He hears ads from tech companies that urge companies to slash workers that provide the kind of services he has in his previous jobs. His contacts in the industry say that employees are increasingly reluctant to switch jobs amid all the uncertainty, which leaves fewer open jobs for others.

He is now looking into starting his own software company, and is also exploring project management roles.

December’s report caps a year of sluggish hiring, particularly after April's “liberation day” tariff announcement by Trump. The economy generated an average of 111,000 jobs a month in the first three months of 2025. But that pace dropped to just 11,000 in the three months ended in August, before rebounding slightly to 22,000 in November.

Last year, the economy gained just 584,000 jobs, sharply lower than that more than 2 million added in 2024. It's the smallest annual gain since the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the job market in 2020.

Subdued hiring underscores a key conundrum surrounding the economy as it enters 2026: Growth has picked up to healthy levels, yet hiring has weakened noticeably and the unemployment rate has increased in the last four jobs reports.

Most economists expect hiring will accelerate this year as growth remains solid, and Trump's tax cut legislation is expected to produce large tax refunds this spring. Yet economists acknowledge there are other possibilities: Weak job gains could drag down future growth. Or the economy could keep expanding at a healthy clip, while automation and the spread of artificial intelligence reduces the need for more jobs.

Productivity, or output per hour worked, a measure of worker efficiency, has improved in the past three years and jumped nearly 5% in the July-September quarter. That means companies can produce more without adding jobs. Over time, it should also boost worker pay.

Even with such sluggish job gains, the economy has continued to expand, with growth reaching a 4.3% annual rate in last year's July-September quarter, the best in two years. Strong consumer spending helped drive the gain. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecasts that growth could slow to a still-solid 2.7% in the final three months of last year.

FILE - A hiring sign is displayed at a grocery store in Northbrook, Ill., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)