Nationwide Retail Chain: Managed IT Services

Nationwide Retail Chain – One of the country’s leading pet stores with a chain of over 150 outlets nationwide. Their growth plans include 70 more shop openings, expanding and relocating their HQ as well as growing their offerings, all by the end of 2018.

Our client required an IT company that could be agile and responsive whilst maintaining the highest level of client service. The client had no internal IT team and had previously used outsourced IT companies to maintain its infrastructure and assist staff with IT issues.

These relationships had not flourished and the business and the staff had a poor perception of IT. This impacted system availability and staff productivity which ultimately affected profits and staff retention.

The retail client also didn’t feel that they had a trusted advisor who they could share their growth plans with and who would recommend solutions and work with them to ensure that the IT systems scaled and met the demand of the larger business as it grew.

They needed a company who not only had IT expertise but also understood the challenges of running a large business and who could help guide them to ensure that their investments in IT aligned with their business objectives.

Kerv Transform worked closely with the Board to understand the existing landscape, challenges and aspirations of the business. Our team made an assessment of the IT systems that were already in place, creating a gap analysis of where the client was today, where they needed to be and where they aspired to be over the next three to five years.

We spoke to end users on the shop floors to understand their frustrations as well as to third party suppliers. We uncovered that service was a major issue when we took the client on and to overcome this challenge we spoke regularly with the end users.

Once we had completed our analysis we created a three year IT strategy which we reviewed with the board once a quarter to ensure we were making good progress together but also to amend the plan as the business changed during that period. This continual cycle of review and planning has meant that the business has transformed the perception of IT and that the IT systems actually deliver real value to the company.

Our client has made a number of large acquisitions in recent years and the IT platform has been able to deliver the rapid growth the business required without the pain that is often experienced at such times

We designed solutions to address recurring issues, we implemented a service desk which was proactive and responsive and we spent time floor walking and training staff so that they understood and used the technology in the stores.

As a result of engaging with staff, end user satisfaction levels rose from 65% to 98.5% within the first six months. We maintain a continual service improvement plan with the client, holding regular staff feedback forums to ensure that we are constantly looking at ways that we can further improve our service.

Our client has trebled in size in the past three years and see’s Kerv as a valued and trusted partner who has assisted them in their growth strategy. The client has recently signed into a five year contract with us, which reaffirms their happiness with our service and the partnership we have formed.

They are just one of many clients who benefit from an outstanding IT service from a company obsessed with quality.

We believe that proactive, knowledgeable support from people who really care is at the heart of delivering performance improvement. That’s the difference with Kerv.