Case Study
Global Retailer: Transforms Network and Boosts Customer Experience
Client
Highstreet Shoe Retailer
Retail
Retail
Customer Overview
A leading-edge fashion footwear retailer transforms and modernises to optimise customer experience.
The retailers’ stores provide style conscious customers with innovative shoes to suit every occasion. With over 160 stores globally and an evolving ecommerce platform, its in-house design team creates a unique product range for customers of its high street stores. To deliver these innovative products with the passionate, inspiring, and individual service their customers expect, they are embracing the cloud, modernising applications and transforming the network that supports them
Sections
The Challenge
Design a secure, resilient, and flexible network solution to support more bandwidth intensive in-store solutions and improve customer experience.
In response to a rapidly evolving retail environment, the Retailer recognised the need for digital transformation to maintain the outstanding levels of service and engagement expected by its in-store customers.
In order to enhance customer experience, the business hoped to modernise its applications, transfer to cloud based EPOS systems, and move from traditional voice services to a cloud-based alternative.
Deployment of handheld devices would improve customer engagement by offering store associates instant access to inventory levels, along with the ability to place click-and-collect orders to other stores or arrange delivery direct to the customer’s home in the event of a local stockout.
The simple legacy store footprint comprised a single existing line. With more bandwidth intensive solutions under consideration, the network would need upgrading to provide a secure, optimised, and resilient foundation to achieve the desired business goals.
Flexibility and scalability were also critical, as rolling out new stores involved data-intensive processes requiring additional temporary bandwidth.
Kerv offered the retailer a Network Health Check. This 10-day consultancy activity analysed the network infrastructure, calculated existing and potential costs, and presented back a report that identified the best evolution strategy to meet potential network demands while maintaining tight margins. The advice was to deploy an SDWAN solution.
The Solution
A multi-bonded SD-WAN solution across all stores with an agile and responsive network managed service.
Kerv designed a robust, fast, and scalable SD-WAN solution with secure and optimal break out the cloud.
The Network Health Check encouraged the retailer to review its existing service provider contracts to improve the cost efficiency of the underlay infrastructure connecting its offices, distribution warehouses and supply chain sites.
The system was streamlined with a direct internet link to applications, reducing data flow inefficiency and improving the quality of service.
The Kerv SD-WAN solution could be deployed over new or existing connections, giving the business the freedom to choose the most available and cost-efficient services for their stores.
While they effectively commoditised the underlay technologies, the SD-WAN overlay ensured they would still receive the same integrated service experience. A multi-4G bonded solution would deliver the vital additional bandwidth and availability required to upgrade store processes.
Associates could carry out stock management queries and customer orders to improve engagement, while enhanced flexibility and scalability support rapid deployment of new stores, allowing data-heavy downloading of systems and applications.
Robust and seamless failover when outages occur provides the necessary resiliency, and prioritisation of business-critical applications (such as payments) ensures the business will not miss out on potential sales in the event of a single line failure.
The Outcome
Increased resilience and availability, improved customer engagement and outstanding price-performance efficiency.
- Cloud Confidence
The new network has given the business confidence to start migrating services to the cloud to improve efficiency, and the ability to embrace an omni-channel offering. - Improved Customer Experience
Store associates have rapid access to inventory information and allow for real time placement of
click-and-collect and home delivery orders, preventing missed sales during stockouts.
- Visibility and Control
Access to the SD-WAN management platform provides clear visibility of all traffic at application level and allows for centralised control from head office. - Resilience and Performance
Using multiple connections ensures heightened uptime and availability. Prioritisation ensures that critical business payment applications enjoy priority over standard applications. - Cost Efficiency
By rationalising the underlay technology, improved flexibility, performance, and resiliency were achieved with no cost increase to the business. - Rapid Site Deployment
The flexible model allows bandwidth to be scaled up to meet demand and supports the rapid deployment of new store sites. - Responsive Support
Kerv’s managed services provide agile, responsive support that is carefully tailored to the right solution for the business.
Want to find out more?
You may find these articles interesting:
SASE: The Iron Man of Network Security
Kerv SD-WAN: Retail Connectivity Without Limits
Accelerating Business: The Power of Kerv Rapid-WAN
Speak our experts!
Give us a few details and we’ll get right back to you.
"*" indicates required fields
FAQs
FAQs about SASE and How Kerv Can Help Your Organisation
SASE, or Secure Access Service Edge, is a comprehensive approach to network security with
cloud-native architecture. It provides secure and scalable access for remote and branch users, and
Kerv ensures seamless SASE implementation tailored to your organisation’s needs.
SASE transforms remote access challenges into a seamless experience. Kerv acts as your trusted
partner, facilitating secure connectivity for your global workforce and turning remote work into a
strategic advantage.
Absolutely! Legacy systems often act as a stubborn defence, hindering progress. Kerv assists in
executing a seamless transition to modernisation with SASE, delivering a powerful shot that
bypasses complexities.
The financial landscape can be challenging, but Kerv, acting as the strategist, ensures that
implementing SASE saves money and giving you a competitive advantage.
SASE simplifies network security in retail by providing a unified, cloud-native, and edge-
integrated solution. It streamlines security measures, centralises policy management, and embraces
Zero Trust principles, reducing complexity and ensuring a secure and agile retail network.
SASE facilitates scalability by providing an agile and flexible network infrastructure. Kerv assists
in achieving scalability for our customers by tailoring SASE solutions to align with the specific needs
and goals of your organisation, ensuring seamless expansion or contraction of the network
infrastructure based on changing demands.
Videos
Rapid-WAN: High-Speed, Uninterrupted SD-WAN
Kerv’s Rapid-WAN accelerates the establishment of high-speed connections through a seamless integration of diverse network technologies, providing a swift and efficient SD-WAN solution.
This service offers substantial benefits for organisations focused on delivering timely and uninterrupted customer service, protecting against potential revenue losses attributed to delayed site openings. By doing so, it aids in maintaining competitiveness amid expansion.
Unlike traditional fixed-line networks, which often face delays in deployment, hindering revenue and productivity, Rapid-WAN emerges as a strategic alternative. This agile solution mitigates the need for sub-optimal approaches in getting sites online, ensuring reliable and consistent connectivity for businesses navigating expansion challenges.
Talk to us to find out more or book your Network Health Check to discover how your organisation can benefit from a more efficient, robust network.
Got any questions?
Videos
Rapid-WAN: High-Speed, Uninterrupted SD-WAN
Kerv Connect & VMware by Broadcom Partnership
Together with VMware by Broadcom, Kerv Connect has an approach like no other, we are agile, flexible and above all credible.
The reason our customers trust us is that we work with them to understand their business as a whole – successes, challenges and existing infrastructure.
Only at that point, once we understand their needs can we truly ensure the solution that we are providing ticks all the boxes and deliver a service that is right for them.
Our SD-WAN technology has been deployed in over 1700 sites across the UK. Keen to find out the benefits you can derive from adoption a flexible networking solution.
Are you ready to take your first step? Book your free, no obligation, Network Health check today to fully understand what the next step for your network is and how this can impact your organisation.
Click here to find out what it is that retailers are trusting SD-WAN to to deliver to their stores.
Got any questions?
Videos
Rapid-WAN: High-Speed, Uninterrupted SD-WAN
Successfully Deploying SD-WAN in Retail
Most businesses simply can’t afford for their store or the applications they’ve deployed to be offline. With it now being possible to get a new store up and running in just 15 minutes and with the guarantee of zero downtime, implementing an SD-WAN solution is no longer a daunting proposition.
Watch this short video where Darren Ashcroft, Solution Consultant at Kerv Connect, explores the benefits that can be gained from deploying a flexible, resilient network and how those perceived concerns that future adopters have, are things of the past.
Unsure about some of the terms referenced? Watch our short Jargon Buster video and get up to speed!
Want to find out more? Read Graham’s blog entitled ‘Simplify. Streamline. Supercharge.’
Click here to find out what it is that retailers are trusting SD-WAN to to deliver to their stores.
Ready to take the next step? Book your free, no obligation, Network Health check today to fully understand what the next step for your network is and how this can impact your organisation.
Got any questions?
Videos
Rapid-WAN: High-Speed, Uninterrupted SD-WAN
Digital Innovation in Retail
The retail landscape has changed drastically and we’ve seen this first hand as a network solutions provider into this sector for 16 years.
Customers are demanding an exceptional experience when they venture in to a store. The use of digital technology and various cloud based services put a greater demand on existing network. Retailers considering switching to a more flexible and secure solution will find themselves at the forefront of a very competitive market.
Watch the video to understand why SASE and SD-WAN is key to the success of retailers looking to differentiate themselves from their rivals.
Unsure about some of the terms referenced? Watch our short Jargon Buster video and get up to speed!
Watch this short video where Graham Brown, Kerv Connect’s CTO, explains why choosing the right SD-WAN solution is key to exceptional customer experience.
