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THE WAY WE SHOP NOW

COmPuTACENTER INSIGHT

Dispatches from the retail frontline

Only integrated data delivers insights

LEE JAMES

A walk on the wild side

COLIN WILLIAMS

Making the most of both Real and Digital Estate

ROB VAUGHAN

When less is really more

ANDY GODDARD

Get real about Omni-Channel

RICHARD SPARROW

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A Computacenter Insight Guide examining the issues facing the retail sector in an era of intense digital change.

INTROduCTIONAt Computacenter we like to take the time to think deeply about the challenges that face our customers. In the IT environment it’s easy to get bogged down by technological detail, and lose sight of what we’re all doing this for. In retail it’s attracting, delighting and retaining consumers. Ordinary people. People like us. We’re all consumers.

We asked five of our colleagues to put their thoughts down on paper. The aim isn’t to tell you what you already know; nor to try and advise you on how to sell your wares, but to discuss how you can best harness the power of digital to achieve your strategic vision.

Our customers like the fact that we study a sector in depth, and make the effort to theorise a little about what the changes in the marketplace actually mean. It helps us work more closely with our customers. It builds an intuitive relationship which enables us to inform the right choices. Investing in digital technologies is a big deal. You’ve got to get it right. It all has to work seamlessly, be compliant, and deliver benefits to the bottom line. We’re all under more scrutiny than ever before.

Working with partners who think and discuss and think again is, we’ve found, very reassuring. This Insight Guide has been produced in that spirit. We hope you find it both stimulating and useful.

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Many modern retailers believe that they’re sitting on a goldmine: customer data. Engaging with customers via their smartphones and other digital devices is yielding an extraordinary volume of data. It’s rich, it’s constant, and it allows instant marketing opportunities that can match changing situations.

But there’s a problem. The ability to gather the data has outpaced many retailers’ ability to analyse and, most importantly, visualise it properly. Not only that, the issues around data protection and cybersecurity are also challenging. We need to step back, take a deep breath and make sure that this valuable resource doesn’t slip through our fingers.

Confessions of a ‘Lost’ nerd

Stories about how data can provide amazing insights at a single customer level abound, but I thought I’d share one which is personal to me. It illustrates the issues involved in creating an environment within which to make the most of those insights.

One of my favourite TV shows of all time is ‘Lost’. It ran for six eventful seasons. When it came to choosing my lottery numbers each week, I decided to use numbers from the show. I thought I was unique. I didn’t win anything. But, I was happy that, one day – just maybe – I might.1 It turns out that, in Britain, there are 7,000 other ‘Lost’ nerds who base their weekly number selection on the show!

I discovered this when Computacenter did work for a lottery provider. We were asked to help them handle their data more efficiently. They’d been finding it harder and harder to see into the data. Each week 17 spreadsheets would appear with column upon column of figures and it took a lot of people a long time to figure out that they meant. We worked with them to put in place the right tools to allow them to quickly visualise the data so that it was meaningful and could deliver real-time analytics. That enabled them to make better marketing and strategic decisions.

Serious analytical power needs serious end-to-end integration

Our client was able to turn tens of millions of data points into insights. They could understand individual player behaviour. They could work out where specific playing patterns differ, in terms of geography, of social class, and even by season. The data could be personalised or generalised. But the vital element in the work was the ability we’d given the client to properly visualise the numbers in a timely way. That’s what is critical with data. It provides instant insights, as well as historical perspective.

The numbers characterised me as a risk-averse player, who stuck to their numbers (out of timidity as well as loyalty to the TV show I love) and that information gave our client more options when it came to selling me other products.

Lee James Chief Technology Officer, Transformation and digital, Computacenter

ONLY INTEGRATEd dATAdELIvERS INSIGHTS

continued...

1. It turns out on one day in 2011, 26,000 people did win small prizes using those numbers in the USA, Daily Mail, 6 Jan 2011 – Not in the UK, and not me!

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In the end, it’s up to our clients what they do with the data. Our job is to ensure that they have the right technology – organised in the right way – to ensure that they can mine it in a more automated and efficient manner.

Our experience shows that integration is vital. At board level Chief Marketing Officers have to work with CIOs and CTOs to facilitate the flow of information from the data warehouse team through data sciences to the marketing people. Automation and visualisation are vital. Get those two things right and you can act on the data more quickly than your competition. You can stay ahead of the customers.

And you need systems that can see anomalies, can understand what normal is (and should be) so that valuable customer data is not compromised, either by mistake or through the actions of a hacker. Security is paramount – that goes without saying.

In my opinion, it’s not a good idea to try and do it all in one big push. Take small steps. Adopt an intimate approach where data projects run by small teams across the organisation can work in a focused way to deliver better insights. This incremental approach allows you to work with a partner like Computacenter to get not just the technology right, but to ensure your agility. Broad brush approaches don’t tend to work as well. Identify your stakeholders, understand their business imperatives, and then work to get small projects right. Prove your concepts in that way and you can build a more robust – and flexible – data ecosystem. We work to personalise that journey. Start small, then build a smoothly interconnected set of technologies that work for you. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to something as important as data.

Take small steps. Adopt an intimate approach where data projects run by small teams across the

organisation can work in a focused way to deliver better insights.

Lee James Chief Technology Officer,

Transformation and Digital, Computacenter

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The best place to understand the new digital retail landscape – is on the frontline

The scene is Westfield, Stratford. It’s Saturday, late morning. One of London’s most popular shopping malls is already vibrant, and set to get very, very busy. Waves of people are moving through the sleek, almost cathedral like structure, and West Ham United are about to play one of their first home games at the refurbished Olympic Stadium. It’s the perfect place to talk about the changing world of retail, and Colin Williams, Computacenter’s Chief Technologist, Networking, Security and Digital Collaboration, is eager to do just that.

“It’s set to get really wild in here,” he says, watching the milling crowds of families, couples, groups of teens, and, increasingly, bands of football supporters in their distinctive claret and blue shirts. “But, in a good way. THIS is where you can see the frontline of the new way we all shop.”

“I’m old enough to remember the beginnings of the digital age – back when Amazon first started – and people said that physical stores would die out because we’d all be doing our shopping online. It hasn’t happened, and it never will. But, digital HAS changed shopping forever. In a sense, it’s all online, that’s because we can connect digitally everywhere. At home, on the bus, at work, on the high street, and, of course, here in malls like this one. The influence of digital is all pervading.”

A WALk ON THE

WILd SIdE

Colin Williams

continued...

We can connect digitally everywhere. At home, on the bus,

at work, on the high street, and, of course, here in malls like

this one... The influence of digital is all pervading.

Colin Williams Chief Technologist, Networking,

Security and Digital Collaboration, Computacenter

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Colin takes a walk to the food court. It’s packed. So are the cafes. Groups of people sit and talk, eating foods from all over the world – both exotic and ordinary – and almost all of them are holding a digital device.

“There – that’s my point. This place is NOT just a shopping mall, it’s a social hub. A social space where people come to be entertained and to hang out. Most malls now allocate more square-footage to food courts and cafes and cinemas and fun stuff like Foot-Golf, I mean who ever predicted Foot-Golf!? The shops are almost incidental. But they need the social spaces to survive. It draws people in; they sit and look at their devices, go online to check out what they want, and then, maybe, go into a store and buy something.”

Colin then moves to the boundary of a large store. Digital signage does its best to entice passers-by. Fast cut, bright HD images sell perfume and high-end brands of clothes. No one seems to be looking. They’re still focused on each other – or their devices.

“Here’s the critical boundary,” Colin says, waving his arms in the bright space between the mall and the shop. “Right here is where stores fight their battles. They need to offer high quality guest Wi-Fi that’s easy to sign up to. If they don’t they lose the chance for customer touch. That’s because most existing mobile network data plans make it just as easy to browse the web without Wi-Fi.” Colin watches more people pass, pause, then move on again.

“Retailers need to push relevant messages to customers to get their attention. And when a shopper gets connected to their Wi-Fi, even if they don’t enter the store, there’s the chance to send them an ad or an offer to their phone. That can entice the shopper to ‘come back’ and complete a transaction – but virtually, via their tablet or PC when they get home. Nowadays Wi-Fi everywhere isn’t an option, it’s a necessity – and it has to be good.”

Retailers need to push relevant

messages to customers to get

their attention.Colin Williams

Chief Technologist, Networking, Security and Digital Collaboration,

Computacenter

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I work a lot with retail banks. They have a large amount of real estate. Branch networks which used to be a crucial element in the backbone of any community. But that’s changing fast. Banking is, perhaps, one of the sectors that’s been most affected by the digital revolution.

Despite constant fears and warnings about cyber-fraud and the danger of hackers, more and more of us are doing our basic banking online or on the move via our smartphones. It’s amazing how quickly we’ve taken to it. It now seems almost natural to log-on, pay a bill, move some money, set up a direct-debit, and then log off happy that we’ve done what we need to do.

And we associate doing all that with saving time. We haven’t had to queue up in a bank branch. We didn’t have to fill in a slip, or whisper a figure to the teller so the person behind didn’t hear us!

So, what about all that real estate? The number of branches has fallen (and banks have been criticised for where they’re closing branches), and the financial logic for trimming real estate costs seems compelling – on the spreadsheets, at least. But banks are starting to become more creative. They understand that banking is more like general retail than they might care to admit. People want to do more online, but they also want to retain the ability to talk to an expert face-to-face. Just as you wouldn’t really buy a bed or a sofa without experiencing it, so most people would not buy a 25 year (perhaps 35 year) mortgage without talking the decision through.

In my experience, banks are much more forward-looking than many critics say they are. They are very savvy when it comes to digital. And digital has opened up new ways of thinking about space – actual space in a branch. Some are even opening up their branches to local small businesses (who are also their customers) so they can put on presentations or have meetings. Most banks are taking away the physical barriers between customers and staff (no windows and queue-lines) so that the branch feels more like a shop than, well, a traditional branch.

REAL ANd dIGITAL ESTATE

mAkING THE mOST Of bOTH

Rob vaughan Customer Solution Architect, Retail banking, Computacenter

continued...

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I just want to get to the point where I make my

important decision. Rob Vaughan

Customer Solution Architect, Retail Banking, Computacenter

Banks will not get rid of their branches. Digital is allowing them to think in new ways about space and making the most of their high street presence. The Post Office (which is increasingly becoming a source of financial services rather than just a place where you buy stamps) is using the department store logic which allows it to collaborate with other retail partners to bring services and options together into one place and attract more customers.

Digital opens up a lot of new possibilities – but there is a caveat: it’s got to be joined up and seamless. It has to allow the conversation with the customer to flow seamlessly. And you don’t know where that conversation will begin. So, if I’m looking for a mortgage I might surf the net. I find some options – some from banks I know, some from ones I don’t. I decide to stick with a bank I know. I download some PDFs; I fill in an online form. I take part in a web-chat perhaps. But, I want to talk to an expert in person, to seal the deal.

What then should happen is that when I arrive at the branch, I don’t have to read all the documents I have as PDFs, fill in the forms again, start my story from the beginning... waste a lot of time. I just want to get to the point where I make my important decision.

That is what banks are working hard to do: make the end-to-end digital experience extend from cyberspace to real estate with no duplication or interruption or repetition. Which is where someone like me and my team at Computacenter comes in. What we’re trying to do is help in branches where the flow of information gets stuck – ID verification is one of them. Why not use one source of identity that can be applied everywhere? It’s possible. Why not use digital signage more intelligently so it recognises you are in a branch, and reinforces your buying options with some relevant marketing? Again, it’s all possible. And right now.

The point is to build up to it. And not in a massive transformation: I always advise small-steps. Don’t try and do it all in one go. Quickly test your theory, get it right, and move forward. That way you get a more flexible and responsive transformation that’s agile enough to cope with change.

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IS REALLY mOREWHEN LESS

Andy Goddard

In the Omni-channel world a seamless interaction with customers is vital. The digital infrastructure and the tools that are linked to it, have to be available constantly. There can’t be any downtime in a fast moving retail environment. Consumers have very short attention spans and no patience. The digital realm has made already low levels of consumer patience, worse. The one thing that retailers in all areas are being told by researchers is that consumers ‘want what they want right now.’

That need for speed is the engine of change in the retail world. It’s why Amazon talk about drone deliveries (though much of that is PR), and it’s why they’re starting to offer two, or even one hour deliveries within certain postcodes. It’s also why they’re starting to open actual retail stores (made of real bricks, and real mortar) in the USA. They’ve realised that touching and experiencing a product is still powerful (and also saves money fulfilling returns because customers are less likely to send back what they’ve seen in a store).

Traditional retailers (are there any traditional ones anymore? That’s another debate) are giving their staff more handheld devices and more sophisticated POS technology so that the in-store experience resembles the online one more closely. Staff can find where stock is, offer more options, facilitate click-and-collect, or interact with ‘Magic Mirrors’ (for clothes, mostly), and also arrange swift home delivery all whilst the customer is in the store. That’s important. Make the sale and take the payment face-to-face and it’s more likely to stick. Also, good in-store service drives loyalty online and across the brand ecosystem (sign up for rewards and vouchers, come back to use them, develop into a brand advocate etc.).

That all sounds great – in theory – and it works, in practice. But only if the systems that support all those tools are robust. Retailers have to be clear about the reality of the shop-floor: the devices you give to staff will not be treated with the same care that personal iPads will. They will be used and abused. That could mean that you end up with many devices that need repair, are not charged, or need updates. Retailers have to be proactive in ensuring that they can anticipate those quite simple needs, and get out in front of them so that staff always have what they need – on the shop-floor, in the stock room and back at the warehouse – so that the desired products reach the customers quickly and accurately.

That takes analytics. Know that there’s a problem and get in and switch-out the device quickly. That means all your devices will be working and able to deliver sales. Analytics also help you to plan ahead – send out engineers when you know problems arise generally, or when there’s evidence that a problem is about to happen.

Good in-store service drives loyalty

online and across the brand ecosystem.

Andy Goddard Head of Service Enablement,

End User Services, Computacenter

continued...

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It’s also important to use technology to tag products and track them. You can get valuable insights about where, for instance, a skirt travels around your store. The customer picks up a few – tries them on – decides on one in particular, and then walks to... where? To shoes? To dresses? To tops? That’s when data comes into its own.

At Computacenter we don’t tell our retail clients what to sell or how to sell it; we focus on ensuring that whatever it is they sell can be sold more efficiently and with greater transparency. We also ensure that the digital infrastructure suits their specific needs, and that when we implement the technology it does not get in the way of sales. We work hard to deliver proactive support. Most importantly, we’re incentivised not by how many incidents we deal with (the old way), but by cutting down incidents to the lowest possible number (the most logical way for the new digital age). Less really is more.

My bottom line is: be proactive not reactive and you will achieve a significant step-change in the retail environment.

Consumers don’t think in terms of channels: they just want to shop. Whether it’s for books or groceries or holiday and clothes – online or offline or something in between – they just want what they want, quickly and easily.

The consumer mind-set has developed faster than the ability of many retailers to keep up. That has been driven, of course, by online stores that were born digital and have pioneered e-commerce techniques that we all now take for granted. But the fact is that most of us still purchase the majority of what we need and want in a physical store. We are more flexible about how we do it. From click-and-collect, to pure online purchases, to using our smartphone in a store to check our reviews and prices... the retail landscape is fragmented. Seemingly.

Retailers have to mirror the consumer approach behind the scenes. To put the right technologies in place (in the right places) and make it all work seamlessly demands a, well, Omni-channel approach.

What do I mean by that? There is no single supplier or solution which can build a truly efficient and all-encompassing Omni-channel capability. Other contributors to this Guide have talked about what the consumers want – and most retailers know full-well what they want – but the really urgent issue is how do you deliver what they want consistently and reliably 24 hours a day?

GET REAL AbOuTOmNI-CHANNEL

Richard Sparrow

The really urgent issue is how do you deliver

what consumers want consistently and

reliably 24 hours a day?Richard Sparrow

Client Director, Retail and Hospitality,

Computacenter

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First, you’ve got to be clear about what your various channels are. Some retailers don’t need to offer them all. And if you do, then how do you do it based on the technology investments you already have in place?

Retailers have to shop around to build the right IT ecosystem. One that matches their strategy. Naturally, this means understanding the specific needs of your consumers and how they like to (and want to) interact with your brand.

Most established retailers have long histories. There are internal siloes; ways of working; barriers to digital, which have to be overcome. That’s not a criticism; it’s just the way it is. Whenever technology disrupts a business model those obstacles have to be overcome. A slash-and-burn approach hardly ever works. The point is to start with a deep view of the ultimate consumer, and then design the ecosystem to ensure that the consumer gets the experience they desire. And the retailer gets the data they need to build that relationship.

That has to be linked, of course, to a fluid and robust supply-chain that can cope with the more rapid flow of goods and demands. It has to work like a single system, but it can’t be built by one, monolithic vendor. There’s too much innovation out there to do that. New ideas come along all the time, and you need to be able to adapt them and deploy them fast. Faster than ever before.

A multi-vendor ecosystem promotes agility. It also helps you to deal with legacy systems in a more targeted and less disruptive way.

The CTO or CIO has to have a vision of what they want to achieve, and then to carefully marshal change across the organisation based on a roadmap that has that vision at its heart.

Each retailer will need different devices – in store, in the warehouse, right across their estate. Choosing them has to be done intelligently. For instance, in the warehouse, they need to be robust, with larger buttons to cut down on picking mistakes. In store, they need to be sleek and managed efficiently. And data has to flow through analytical systems that then produce the right insights targeted on specific functions.

Retailers understand the outcomes, but they want help managing their specific requirements – their unique legacy state. The modern retail ecosystem requires an Omni-channel approach so that the consumer can participate in a seamless experience in which shopping is easy.

That takes partnership. Ecosystems can’t be built in isolation. You need broad market knowledge and experience to get the customer journey right. Not getting it right is no longer an option.

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Most established retailers have long

histories. There are internal siloes; ways of working; barriers

to digital, which have to be overcome.

Richard Sparrow Client Director,

Retail and Hospitality, Computacenter

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THRIvINGIN THE dIGITAL

CONSumER SOCIETY

Economists spend their lives worrying about shopping, or ‘consumption’, because the retail sector is the true bellwether of how a modern economy is performing. The great 18th century political economist, Adam Smith, put it most succinctly: ‘Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production.’1 The Retailer Sector has always been the engine of the growth of modern capitalism. What happens in your stores (and on your websites or mobile apps) either boosts confidence, or prompts investors to get nervous.

It’s a big responsibility. Retailers create value. A hundred years after Smith, another set of economists pointed out that the creation of value had shifted from the labour to consumption. Citizens were consumers first, workers second.

Technology has always been vital to retail. As two eminent historians put it recently, “Technology does far more than just increase productivity or transform work... [it] has also shaped how and how much we eat, what we wear and why, and how and what (and how much!) we hear and see.” Changing retail technologies have shaped our world far more than we realise.2

At Computacenter we take that responsibility very seriously. As the contributors to this guide have pointed out: what you need is to create an ecosystem of technologies and partners that can keep you out in front of change. Our experience in all areas of retail enables us to help you build that ecosystem. To get, as one contributor put it, ‘the digital plumbing right.’

That means taking the best from the market, and always being ready to take advantage of new ways of working, collecting and analysing data, and providing consumers with the most seamless and easy means of doing what we all love to do – shop.

Talk to us about how we can help.

What you need is to create an ecosystem of

technologies and partners that can

keep you out in front of change.

1. Adam Smith: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations 1776. 2. Packaged Pleasures: How Technology & Marketing Revolutionized Desire: Gary S. Cross & Robert N. Proctor. 2014 University of Chicago Press.

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THE CONTRIbuTORS

bIO Lee joined Computacenter in May 2014 and he was one of our customer’s at Betfair and BP. Lee is the CTO responsible for Digital and Transformation and has over 20 years’ experience with the end user environment creating industry leading cloud and data services. Lee has worked with multiple customers to develop and deliver their Cloud, Data and cultural transformations as well as leading the internal group wide develop of the Hybrid Cloud strategy.

Lee also specialises in DevOps, Continuous Delivery, Data Analytics and Sentiment Analysis and has become the go-to person in the UK for our customers with regards to industry leading transformations in these areas.

bIO With 20 plus years in IT solutions and leadership roles in organisations such as Compaq, Action, BT, Morse and Hewlett Packard, Colin has established a reputation as an innovative technology strategist. He utilises a unique perspective on the market, vendors and strategy to deliver thought provoking blogs, strategic consulting and market insight. At Computacenter he focuses on strategy, demand creation, solution governance and customer enablement. He is tasked with creating differentiated propositions to accelerate Computacenter’s professional services and solutions growth. He analyses the market, the aims and desires of customers (both now and in the future) and formulates strategies to ensure our solutions leverage the most optimum vendor technologies, delivered via Computacenter services teams, to allow customers to realise their business outcomes.

bIO Rob joined Computacenter in 2012 after 15 years in IBM and Fujitsu.

He works with our largest managed services customers, helping align our services to their strategy and roadmap. With a pragmatic view based on experience of complex transformations and an appreciation the importance of driving change, Rob help customers make their plans a reality.

Rob also works with our Solutions Development community to help drive innovation in our services based on customer demand and figuring out how to exploit new technologies to deliver real value.

ROb vAuGHAN CuSTOmER SOLuTION ARCHITECT, RETAIL bANkING

LEE JAmES CHIEf TECHNOLOGY OffICER, TRANSfORmATION ANd dIGITAL

COLIN WILLIAmS CHIEf TECHNOLOGISTS, NETWORkING, SECuRITY ANd dIGITAL COLLAbORATION

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bIO Andy is Head of Service Enablement for End User Services, with 25 years of experience in IT transformation programmes, specifically around Workplace/EUC technologies and services. He is primarily responsible for the development of service offerings for End User Services for Computacenter Contractual Service business (Group, i.e. UK, FR, DE) leading the team in developing and enhancing its existing portfolio of service offerings.

bIO This is Richards second time with Computacenter, having left us 20 years ago. Richard spent many years in IT working in sales and management roles. Richard returned to Computacenter in 2012 to join the Retail & Logistics team. Richard now works with many of the UK’s leading retailers aligning Computacenter services capability with their IT infrastructure strategy, ensuring we deliver the desired outcomes.

ANdY GOddARd HEAd Of SERvICE ENAbLEmENT, ENd uSER SERvICES

RICHARd SPARROW CLIENT dIRECTOR, RETAIL ANd HOSPITALITY

Find out how Computacenter can help your organisation’s transformation initiatives.computacenter.com/uk/retail

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