Dress Barn and Fujitsu Collaborate to Cut POS Service Costs; Reduced Help Desk and Field Service Technician Calls Ring in Savings
11/17/2005 9:00:14 AM
FRISCO, Texas, Nov 17, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Following completion of a next-generation, point-of-sale (POS) rollout, The Dress Barn, Inc. (DBRN) and Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc. have revealed first-year metrics and process improvements that have significantly reduced managed services costs through a collaborative retailer-vendor approach.
The POS rollout, which included more than 1,500 TeamPoS 2000 M terminals that replaced Dress Barn's older-generation systems in 800 stores across 45 states, was completed in August 2004. As part of the original agreement, Dress Barn also awarded a five-year contract to Fujitsu to provide a range of managed services, including project management, integration, staging, installation and maintenance of Fujitsu and third-party hardware.
"This has been the single largest IT project and expenditure in the history of our company, so it's been vitally important that we have a partner we can trust completely for years to come," said David R. Jaffe, Dress Barn president and CEO. "The results we have achieved through collaboration with Fujitsu are proving that we made the right decision. We were also impressed with how quickly the Fujitsu team deployed the POS systems across our chain -- 800 stores in eight weeks."
A reduction in call center volumes and field service technician deployments are key performance indicators (KPIs) for the managed services agreement. By reducing calls to the help desk and "break-fix" activity, both organizations realize cost savings. The companies have worked together to reduce calls to the help desk by about 40 percent during the first year, while more than 90 percent of problems in the field have been resolved without sending a technician. With the new Fujitsu maintenance agreement, Dress Barn has significantly reduced its annual POS maintenance expense.
"Fujitsu's 'relentless cost reduction' philosophy is based on the premise of driving out costs and inefficiencies from both organizations," said Austen Mulinder, president and CEO of Fujitsu Transaction Solutions. "We are committed to developing collaborative partnerships that create savings that flow directly to our customers' bottom line."
About The Dress Barn, Inc.
The Dress Barn, Inc. (DBRN), is a leading national specialty apparel retailer offering quality career and casual fashion apparel through its dressbarn and maurices brands. As of October 29, 2005, the Company operated 796 dressbarn stores in 45 states and 507 maurices stores in 39 states. For more information, please visit www.dressbarn.com and www.maurices.com.
About Fujitsu Transaction Solutions
Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) and the IT "lifecycle solutions" provider for consumer transaction environments. The company collaborates with customers to relentlessly reduce their costs and improve their profitability. Fujitsu's offerings include multi-vendor infrastructure management services, point-of-sale hardware and software, mobile devices and self service systems including U-Scan. Customers include Canadian Tire, Chevron Corporation, Hannaford Bros., H.E.B., Kroger, Loblaws, Nordstrom, Payless ShoeSource, Regal Cinema, Ross Dress for Less, Staples, Stop & Shop and The TJX Companies, among others. The company also has a 50/50 joint venture with Retalix Ltd. (RTLX) in StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC, a leading supplier of retail technology to independent grocers and regional chains. Web site: www.ftxs.fujitsu.com.
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