Sainsbury's signs up for NCR's predictive services

The deployment is part of a multi-million pound managed-services renewal that will as well see NCR provide helpdesk and multivendor support across 1,000 stores and 23 depots through its Managed Services Retail Centre of Expertise. NCR currently provides managed service support for Sainsbury's NCR point-of-sale, self-checkout and kiosks systems, printers and peripherals. The new agreement covers helpdesk and services for Sainsbury's POS software, voice and data networks, including its servers, wireless and fixed network, PCs, laptops, software, printers and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephones.

Great shopping experience for Sainsbury's clients

"Consolidating our managed services enables us to use NCR's research to meet our commitment to deliver a great shopping experience for Sainsbury's clients, during driving greater efficiencies that support our growth plans," said Rob Fraser, Sainsbury's IT Director, in the announcement. "Sainsbury's and NCR share a relentless focus on ensuring shoppers at our stores can get through the checkouts as quickly as possible, especially while peak times. Our new predictive service strategy is the latest in a series of innovations delivered by NCR over the ten years of our strategic partnership."

NCR Predictive Services works through a software agent on each NCR device, which gathers a wide variety of operational data. This data is at that time analyzed by NCR's business intelligence software and processes that leverage the NCR Services data warehouse, which maintains operational data from more than 2 million consumer points of service and 12 million annual service actions globally. From this analysis, NCR makes recommendations for preventive action on devices and modules that are end-of-life or likely to fail imminently. Detailed, advance information on repairs can as well be provided, enabling faster resolution, either by on-site technicians or remotely.