Point-of-Sale System Upgrade for Global Retailer
A point-of-sale system upgrade has lasting impacts on both the front- and back-end for any retailer. Clarkston Consulting recently helped a client tackle this large undertaking to ensure a successful implementation after stalled progress. The client is a travel retail brand operating travel essentials and convenience stores, bookstores, duty-free stores, proprietary and branded specialty stores, electronics stores, themed stores and quick-service food and beverage outlets under proprietary and third-party brands. With a presence in hundreds of cities across the globe, the client operates more than 1,000 stores as one of the largest and most recognized travel retailers in the world.
The client began the implementation of a new POS solution to replace legacy platforms under the management of another third-party consulting firm. The initial pilot of the go-forward POS solution was nearly 3 months behind schedule as key milestones and deliverables were not met under the management of two previous project managers. Clarkston Consulting partnered with the client to take over management of the project and recover the transformational point of sale implementation, ensuring key deliverables were completed, and pilot milestones were achieved. This allowed the client to execute a solution that leveraged innovative POS technology in a series of successful pilots that included retail functions, self-checkout, and enhancement for food and beverage locations.
The primary objectives and goals for the system upgrade project team were to deliver project leadership focused on the issue resolution and rollout of successful pilotes of new software. The team was required to coordinate work efforts across multiple workstreams including software development, testing, business, operations, and POS vendor teams for the system upgrade.
The resolution included a managed development of fully configured software through cross-functional collaboration with the client and associated vendor, development of meeting management and project artifact documentation process. The team optimized implementation schedules with scrum methodologies to implement the core POS system upgrade build in parallel with enhancements such as POS self-checkout, and food and beverage enhancements.
The key benefits of this system upgrade project includes the implementation of the POS solution to standardize North American duty-paid POS architecture, replacing 3 legacy POS systems which allowed for expanded sales channels, such as food and beverage, and new categories aligned with the client’s growth strategy. Additionally, this increased the overall uptime, stability, and central management of infrastructure across the network.
