THE CO-OPERATIVE

by Lawrence Freeman, Head of Software Development

Services:

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
QUALITY ASSURANCE
DEVELOPMENT

Technologies:

C#
.NET

Sectors:

RETAIL

Engagement Model:

DEDICATED TEAM

Duration Of Project:

1+ YEAR

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The Co-operative group hoped to reduce costs with implementing the new EPoS Solution, InControl. The system is deployed in over 4,500 UK retail outlets on 14,500 PoS units and is responsible for processing over 1.5 billion transactions per year with a value of over £200 million per week.

DESCRIPTION

The retail industry has never been for the faint of heart. Traditionally, it is a low-margin business, meaning the difference between success and failure is very small. Now, those low margins are coming under greater pressure from increasing costs, reduced spending and competition from online enterprises.

Against such a backdrop the use of technology within retail organisations is vital for survival and growth. This requires CIOs to be constantly evaluating new technologies and providing recommendations to the business as to whether these can improve performance and reduce costs.

CASE STUDY

The Co-operative Group appointed Godel as their strategic software development partner for its EPos solution, InControl.

“We have experienced rapid growth over the last few years and we have made efforts to ensure the quality of our in-house technologies matched the pace of our expansion.”

“In 2009 we embarked upon the commercialisation of our award-winning PoS software, InControl Evolution, and offered it to other retailers. As a result we have seen a huge surge in demand and needed to identify a software development partner to complement our own in-house team.”

DEDICATED TEAMS

The Co-operative group recognised that once the product went to market they would need expertise quickly to develop, test and support it. The only way to do this was to use a dedicated team model from Godel.

“We required a flexible delivery model which allows us to scale development and quality assurance expertise dependent on the requirements and deadlines identified by the business and, after carrying out a period of due diligence on a number of suppliers, the Co-operative Group chose Godel for a number of compelling reasons.”

Continues Lawrence, “We pride ourselves on only working with suppliers whose values mirror our own and, with its mix of unique delivery model, team expertise, UK presence and use of high definition video conferencing for project communication, we were confident from the outset that Godel would be the right company for the project.”

The Co-op is the UK’s largest mutual business, owned by over six million consumers and is the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer, the leading convenience store operator and a major financial services provider, operating The Co-operative Bank, Britannia and The Co-operative Insurance.

Among its other businesses are the number one funeral services provider and Britain’s largest farming operation. The Group operates 4,800 retail trading outlets, employs more than 106,000 people and has an annual turnover of more than £13bn.