The world of retail IT faces unique challenges.

But even those with an iconic global brand still need a methodical approach to modernising their IT infrastructure.

David Oakley, head of IT at the world-famous Hamleys toy store in London’s Regent Street, arrived five years ago from a similar role at Harrods. Like many in charge of IT, his first task was to align the technology plan with that of the business.

Oakley has overseen the upgrade of the retailer’s servers, standardised the network infrastructure, refreshed the electronic point of sale (Epos) systems and launched a third-generation e-commerce solution. At the back end, he designed a new data warehouse and business reporting system.

“During my first Christmas season at Hamleys we had more than 400 support calls a month, compared with May when we received just over 100 calls,” he said.

“Systems used to go down often and we were getting support calls every day.
“The IT department at Hamleys was what I would describe as a pile of spaghetti when I started. It needed someone with a strong background to take a long view of what systems we had.

“None of the systems, such as warehousing, merchandising or Epos, had been upgraded for a long time.

“The technology function suffered from years of people adding to the structure, a patchy mix of off-the-shelf and bespoke software, with no strategy in place.”

Oakley redesigned and implemented a reporting environment with third-party suppliers and rolled out a franchising system in partnership with supplier VCS Timeless. He also introduced best practice in IT project and service management.

“The way I work and operate is logical and methodical. Good processing is about breaking it down, putting it back together again and knowing how you want something to look when you are finished. I enjoy pulling things apart, putting them back together again and steering things to the right direction,” said Oakley.

“It is also important to offer good training, and invest in people with skills to move the business forward. But to allow team dynamics you also need to have self-starters in the team, keen to develop themselves.

“Although you still have to make people redundant because of the downturn and other reasons, on the flipside our retention rates are extraordinary.”

Growing online functionality and increasing the range of products available on the web will be a priority for Oakley in the next 12 months, as well as improving back-end systems such as warehousing and merchandising to ensure better order flow.

“One of the main actions to keep performing, even during the downturn, is increasing the range of products available online to gain access to customers based outside of London,” he said.