Somerfield embarks on IT transformation

UK supermarket chain Somerfield is embarking on a five-year IT transformation project to support its growing business.

A series of acquisitions - including KwikSave, some former Safeway stores and various Texaco and Fuelforce convenience forecourt sites - have left the retailer with an array of legacy systems that need consolidating.

A £70m, three-year IT overhaul, which was completed last year (Computing, 20 June 2002), will form the basis of the project.

'In the past two years we have carried out a complete review of the business objectives. Now we are looking at how the IT can integrate with the business strategy going forward,' John Pelling, Somerfield's head of IT services, told Computing.

'The programme we completed last year was a necessity to standardise the business, but I more or less regard that IT as legacy now. This programme keeps us going down the simplification route.

'The whole thing has been costed on a five-year return basis, and the total cost of ownership is calculated on that basis.'

The first phase will involve the installation of an as yet undecided enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which will form the core of the project.

'The ERP platform will be a foundation base for other technologies, and there will be a period where we consolidate all the good work that's been done over the past few years,' said Pelling.

Somerfield has appointed systems integrator Capgemini to work on the project.

'The programme will be architecturally led, meaning it will converge on a standard portfolio of technology packages. The overall architecture will be based on an ERP backbone, supplemented with best-of-breed point solutions,' said Pelling.

'We will use third-party packages which will not be modified; the new IT will underpin simplified end-to-end business processes which are being identified.'