RetailT
echnology
But the lower specification nature of the till hardware means reliability is much less of an issue. And maintenance or swapping out of kit is something the company should be able to manage more effectively themselves with non-technical staff, rather than having to call in IT experts. The positive impact of the new systems
on reducing the company’s carbon footprint is an additional plus. Companywide visibility of real-time data is also facilitating greater centralised reporting and control and enabling more accurate, quicker replenishment that feeds through to improved sales and profitability. The design of the system enables faster
and cheaper deployment of software and upgrades. This has already been experienced first-hand, as upgrades have been performed in the live environment. As markets or business requirements
change, new functionality will be developed and deployed swiftly and easily without the need for store visits and ensure that the company can capitalise on market
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opportunities, maximising both sales and profits. This will be a benefit that will crystallise more cost savings over the coming months, as the geographic spread of the business will increase significantly with the opening of the Gloucester services. The nature of Westmorland’s motorway
services business is such that any failure of the system preventing trading would have serious consequences. Most cloud systems need a fall back solution or web server to ensure trading can continue should there be a break in the communications infrastructure. However, the architecture of Accord
Momentum ensures that any loss of the cloud infrastructure is automatically sensed and the PoS continues to operate transparently to the user and customer, retaining all functionality, performance and appearance without the need for a fall back solution. Once the cloud service returns Accord Momentum auto-senses this and automatically re-synchronises all data to retain system integrity.
Jon Lees, Westmorland retail systems
manager, commented: “It gives us the best of both worlds, allowing us to take advantage of the cost and delivery benefits of a cloud- based solution, but with the reassurance that we can continue to trade in exactly the same manner whatever happens to the communications infrastructure.” Based on the success of the
implementation at Tebay, Westmorland plan to roll out Accord Momentum to the rest of its retail outlets in the north, with the deployment carefully planned and timed to avoid its busiest trading periods and to ensure customer service is in no way affected during the roll out. In addition, the company’s new Gloucester Services on the busy M5 motorway, the north side services of which will be opening this year, will operate solely with Accord Momentum tills in both the north and southbound services retail outlets, allowing the whole retail operation to take advantage of the cost and performance benefits deriving from the lean client, cloud- based architecture of Accord Momentum.
Spring/Summer 2014 53
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