Argos
Retail Giant, Argos, Buys IP Performance For State-of-the-Art Customer Service
Introduction
As with any organisation, network performance and delivery of mission-critical applications is vital to ongoing communications and improved customer service. When Argos, one of the UK's largest retailers, wanted to upgrade their ageing X.25 store network and improve its customer-facing retail applications, they turned to Logicalis for the design, implementation, support and ongoing management of an IP-based network infrastructure.
Client Overview
Founded in 1973, Argos was the pioneer of catalogue retailing in the UK. With a mission to provide customers with the best value for money through the most convenient shopping experience, Argos has established a very strong, trusted brand focused on choice, value and convenience. The formula has been a great success. Today as part of the Argos Retail Group, owned by GUS Plc, Argos is the UK's leading general merchandise retailer with sales of over £3 billion in the year ending March 2004.
At the time Argos was launched it had just 17 stores in the UK. Argos now has nearly 600 stores throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland, as well as distribution centres; call centres and its head office in Milton Keynes, employing over 23,000 people in total. Approximately 98% of the population live within 10 miles of an Argos store. Continuing its mission of providing its customers with choice, convenience and value for money, Argos offers customers a multi-channel approach to shopping, via stores, through an award winning website, over the telephone or by SMS text, enabling consumers to match the shopping experience to their own needs and lifestyles.
The Challenge
Providing such a rich, multi-channel shopping experience places stringent demands on the network infrastructure linking head office, retail outlets and warehouses. There is a requirement to move information around the network quickly and efficiently and to reduce dependence on paper-based systems. Additionally the trend to provide more interactive services to shoppers, whether in-store or online, meant there was a growing need to support new applications.
So when its existing X.25 store network began to show its age, Argos turned to Logicalis to assist them in a major new project to look at the design, implementation, support and ongoing management of a state-of-the-art IP-based network infrastructure, supporting multimedia and GUI-based applications.
The Solution
Logicalis used its relationship with BT as a "Premier Indirect Partner" to provide a one-stop solution for the provision of the new Argos store network. By bundling frame relay services with equipment installation and management it ensured a smooth and efficient project rollout.
The network, based on BT frame relay at the stores, running into an ATM based service at the main data and disaster recovery sites, utilised Cisco routing technology to provide a flexible and resilient architecture. Ease of migration from existing systems was achieved by employing Cisco's X.25 encapsulation techniques to allow Argos to migrate away from legacy systems as and when required, whilst supporting new IP based services from day one.
The Outcome
Logicalis provided a raft of professional services to support the deployment including project management, design and implementation. Logicalis' success at bringing projects in on time was severely tested by a slippage in the provisioning of frame relay services at the stores. However as a result of Logicalis' expertise and project management pressure, BT services were secured and Logicalis ramped up implementation services from a rate of 10 stores per week to 50 stores per week at the end of the project.
The entire rollout was completed over a nine-month period and on schedule in the autumn of 2000. Argos' network continued to be managed by Logicalis under a three-year contract from their Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Ascot, Berkshire, and under a demanding SLA.
"We found Logicalis to be a highly reactive organisation who are able to meet very demanding targets," said Malcolm Marsh – Head of IT Services.
In 2003, Argos re-signed a five-year contract renewal of Logicalis' managed services. Argos' network is now managed from Logicalis' new state-of-the-art Managed Service Centre (MSC) in Slough, with the Ascot NOC being retained as a back-up facility.
Logicalis also now provides maintenance and support services for equipment located at Argos' mission critical Regional Distribution Centres (RDCs); their head office in Milton Keynes; and Argos' offices in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Says Steve Berry, ARG Infrastructure Systems Manager; "By managing the network between our headquarters and 550+ local stores, Logicalis are ensuring we get optimum utilisation and availability of service across our wide area network. Their reliability and responsiveness, which is absolutely critical to our business, has been excellent. Logicalis continue to deliver high levels of service, even though we continually increase our demand on the network for more transactions, as a result of adding store kiosks, call forward systems, and enhancing our stock finder applications."
