Store managed services
Efficiency and profitability in retail
Traditionally, retailers have managed technology on a store-by-store basis. This approach is straining under increasing in-store complexity and economic pressures demanding efficiency and profitability. High costs associated with resources, including continuous training on new technologies, adds to the high cost of maintaining in-store technology. IBM offers integrated retail IT support to help your business improve operating margins and reduce labor costs, while improving service levels, and meeting customer demands for service quality.
Optimize store IT operations
Retail demands high levels of availability for store technology-for example, customers cannot complete purchases if the point-of-sale system is down. The store managed services solution is built around service-level agreements that help ensure that your systems are up and running and that you are able to meet customer demands in a secure environment with a focus on consistency in the face of business variability.
The solution is designed to support your customer service desks, kiosks, point-of-sale hardware and applications, and facility operating systems. By gathering data from these points of technology throughout and across your store operations, our solution can help your business become more instrumented. This increased visibility can help you anticipate critical situations before they happen.
Automated and remote monitoring, break-fix support and security services track and monitor these operations to maintain availability, and can alert you to any potential outages so immediate action can be taken to avoid costs due to loss or outages. We can help interconnect your store across all of its partners, vendors, services and multiple locations, eliminating redundant roles, business applications and technology-providing a single point of accountability for your IT operations.
The business insights and performance indicators gathered from across all touch points can help you make more intelligent decisions about resource and labor management, store operations and infrastructure maintenance requirements.
Maintain your focus on retailing—we can take care of the rest
The store managed services solution is built around store support with a continued focus on root cause analysis and preventive maintenance. Our solution can help your retail business:
- Meet service level availability levels for store operations across variable business demands.
- Simplify store-level management across multiple technology vendors and point solutions.
- Enable business growth and global expansion by managing increased business and technology complexity through a trusted partnership.
- Lower IT costs to support business growth and profitability.
- Optimize infrastructure to support business demands for growth and improved SG&A.
Components of store managed services
IBM provides end-to-end implementation, project management and oversight of store managed services on a global basis. Our expertise includes application design, development and implementation, integration and management services and local language support. The store managed services solution is a bundled service offering that can include:
- Governance, service-level agreements, key performance indicator assessments, process improvement and measurement tools.
- Vendor management, including procurement policies, cost management and asset management.
- Customer service desk services for immediate support.
- Store application support for maintenance and enhancements.
- Remote availability monitoring, providing remote monitoring, systems management and network management.
- Security services designed to help improve information and operating security by outsourcing security operations or supplementing your existing security teams.
- Store hardware maintenance including break-fix services, warranty management and preventive maintenance.
- Hardware services, including procurement, installation, refurbish and disposal.