How can we reduce the complexity and cost of supporting IT in our stores?
Some retailers experience a significant volume of calls into their store support help desks with problems that are IT-based. Whether it is till failures, PIN-entry devices that aren’t customer-proof or poorly maintained back office computers, there are normally steps you can take to improve the situation.
Fujitsu Services retail industry consultant Sarah Kellett says that it is crucial to identify trends in support issues coming into the help desk, so that you can fix the underlying problems.
A good IT services partner with other retail customers will be able to provide industry benchmarks for the performance of IT. And Kellett adds that giving store staff a channel to make suggestions for improvements to IT and processes can also help, as very often the people using the technology every day in their job are best placed to note any system problems.
She also believes that with tighter budgets retailers need to take another look at which of their systems are really important to the smooth running of stores. She says: “Appraise and audit everything you have got and understand the systems that are really critical.”
Not only can this help to prioritise investment in upgrades and estate-wide repairs and patches, but may also highlight hardware and software that is no longer used.
Kellett adds that software and hardware asset management is a must, not least because retailers may find that they are still paying maintenance contracts on redundant IT.
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