Rogers Standardized their POS Hardware/ Software For Maintenance Ease with DigiPos | | Standardize POS Hardware/Software For Maintenance Ease - This 450-store retailer plans to save $300,000 to $800,000 per year in support costs by installing analogous hardware and software in its stores.
As seen in Integrated Solutions For Retailers, July 2007
Written by: Laurie Pasquerell
The benefits of standardizing hardware and software throughout a retail chain are many. They include swift troubleshooting capabilities and readily available hardware replacements, which lead to greater overall system reliability. However, finding the time, resources, and budget to install standard equipment in a growing chain is challenging, especially when trying to eliminate downtime. An acquisition of new locations can become the opportunity to transform systems. Rogers Retail was presented this opportunity, and the specialty retailer equipped 93 newly acquired locations with standard hardware and software, literally overnight.
Rogers Retail is a Canadian retailer that previously exclusively did business as Rogers Video, a 300-location video rental retailer. After acquiring other companies and diversifying its product offerings to include wireless, VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), and cable products and services, it’s grown to 450 stores doing business under three brands: Rogers Video, Rogers Plus, and Fido. Due to the retailer’s manner of growth (primarily via acquisitions), its stores use an assortment of hardware and software.
In 2005, Francois Chevallier, VP of retail systems for Rogers Retail, standardized the software for the Rogers Video stores by installing the latest version of POS software with Win/DSS (for distributed store systems) and MMS (merchandising management software) from JDA, which enabled back office, store inventory, and customer data tracking. Additionally, the Chase Paymentech debit/credit card system was integrated into the hardware. “At that point, we replaced some of our aged hardware, but many of the POS machines were not yet at the end of their life spans, so we just updated the software,” says Chevallier. “At the same time, I was looking for POS hardware with a small form factor and a high degree of reliability. That’s when I found DigiPoS POS equipment, but it was too late to convert to the DigiPoS hardware during the POS installation.” Until this year, Chevallier never found a good opportunity to perform a mass equipment replacement at Rogers Video stores, and transitioning another PC configuration into its current mishmash of equipment would have simply made maintenance even more cumbersome. |
