Supermarket chain Waitrose has installed business management software to reduce IT support queues exacerbated by its rapidly expanding IT infrastructure.

The retailer employs more than 36,000 staff and supports 1600 IT users in the head office and 300 remote users operating 2,300 devices.

The IT department handles at least 500 support calls and 900 incidents a month but had problems measuring performance and communicating problem resolution to users.

It deployed Touchpaper’s business management software and put in place monthly service level agreements (SLAs).

‘If SLA warning levels are reached, incident statuses change to orange and then red within our Touchpapwaitroseer system and the team gets an instant picture of where its priorities lie,’ said Waitrose network manager Chris Wallace.

‘This has helped us to ensure that we provide the right level of support for priority incidents and we are now reaping substantial benefits in terms of efficiency and customer satisfaction.’

The software has exceeded its SLAs every month, including at least half of recorded incidents fixed the first time and 70 per cent fixed the same day.

User satisfaction has risen from just 61 per cent to 91 per cent, improving the perception of IT within the company.

The software is scalable to meet future growth at Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership. The company has already embraced remote technology, which translates to 70 per cent less IT desk visits.

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Further Reading:
Retail sites fail availability test
John Lewis installs system to streamline its human resources
Waitrose back on track for chip-and-PIN