The challenge
One of Pets at Home's key initiatives to drive forward its
customer-centric strategy is the Pet Pad: an in-store iPad
system designed to remove friction from the customer's
experience and transform the retail operations of the
organisation. Not only would this remove the need for
customers adopting pets to fill out paper forms at the till,
it would also allow Pets at Home's knowledgeable staff
to use the technology to provide better pet welfare
advice and services.
However, soon after the devices were rolled out it became
clear that the network, as it was then, was struggling to cope
with the additional strain.
Suzie Williams, Business Systems Director, explained:
"We wanted to completely transform the customer experience,
doing away with cumbersome processes and pen and paper
forms. However, we immediately faced a number of obstacles
with network and WiFi coverage issues causing regular dropouts,
adversely affecting the iPads' ability to process transactions. This
undermined our colleague's confidence in the Pet Pad system,
as frustrated customers found themselves spending time on
the Pet Pad only to have to fill out paper forms only to complete
their transaction. The seamless shopping experience that we
had envisioned was being undermined by our connectivity
issues, and we needed focused and dedicated support to
provide the infrastructure necessary to make Pet Pads work."
Suzie continued: "The issue was compounded by the fact
that our network requirements were split between two separate
providers. This meant working with different service levels and
leaving notable gaps in our provision, so we decided to move
everything to one provider to make management smoother.
The question was, which one? "
Pets at Home
Pets at Home is the UK's leading specialist retailer
of pet food, pet products and pet-related services,
operating 431 superstores, 391 veterinarian practices,
and 246 grooming salons nationwide, as well as a
popular website. The company has enjoyed significant
growth over the past few years, and expects to open
a further 15-20 Pets at Home superstores in FY17.
This growth has, in part, been fuelled by Pets at Home's
customer-centric strategy and the company has rolled
out a range of new projects and initiatives to provide
a seamless a seamless shopping experience
for its customers.
Claranet case study Pets at Home
Pets at Home adopts customer-centric
strategy with Claranet's support
Key services:
•
Managed Networks and MPLS
•
Mobile Broadband
•
Email Security and Encryption
