My partner Paula and I very recently published our annual store report. In a nutshell? In-store employees are bringing a knife to a gun fight. Customers are walking in off the street armed with knowledge — and the technology to get more in an instant — while store managers continue to be tethered to back room tasks, and on-floor associates flounder to meet consumers’ needs.

What can be done to solve this problem? For starters, retailers can embrace the wireless technologies their customers already have. Early on in the report, retailers told us they are steadily warming to the fact that wireless devices are driving traffic to the store, but that they have become red-hot for tapping those wireless devices’ potential once inside the store, itself. Even further still, they told us they want to use social networking opportunities to engage with consumers while they are in-house. Yet as seen in the figure below, later on in the research, 30% tell us they still have no wireless network — of any kind — available in stores, and only 12% have wireless available for their customers. Wi-fi is the missing cornerstone to a better built (and more relevant) store.

As anyone who has ever tried to access Facebook during peak hours on a cellular connection will tell you — this just doesn’t cut it. In order to interact with customers in any way via the consumer’s personal device, Wi-Fi is an absolute must.

And as the widespread advent of 4G networks promise to increase the amount of content-rich data streaming to smartphones at any given moment, many telecommunications experts believe that the bandwith of cellular networks will soon become even more congested, causing cellular connectivity to become less reliable than the 3G networks of today. If this holds true, free Wi-Fi will become an even more compelling reason for customers to shop your stores.

On the employee side, wireless devices give retailers a means to arm their employees with the training and information they’ve so vocally said they need to compete. They also give the store manager the chance to be where a store manager needs to be most — on the selling floor. While few retailers’ product mix, store footprint, or security infrastructure may be ready for mobile checkout, inventory tasks, performance management, product training and information, receiving tasks — all stand to benefit tremendously. None can operate without a secure wireless network.

For those who are stalling for security reasons, the first step is a thoughtful reconsideration of what can be done in store — for both employees and customers — that does not involve personal, sensitive, or payment data. Next, consider the data that would be most valuable to share with employees and customers, and reevaluate the associated risks. For those stalling for financial reasons, leasing the equipment required to establish an in-store wireless network is a highly viable option.

No matter the scope of any other project under discussion, wireless networks need to be prioritized by every retailer right now.