The brief
A retail chain had grown by opening stores quickly, and each opening had solved connectivity locally. The result was a different broadband provider, a different router and a different configuration in almost every outlet. Head office had no view of any of it. A card-network security questionnaire finally forced the issue.
What we found
- Consumer-grade routers in a majority of stores, several still on default credentials.
- POS traffic, the guest network and the camera feed sharing one flat network in most outlets.
- No central logging, so a problem in one store was invisible until someone rang.
- Wide variation in link quality, with no failover anywhere.
How we rolled it out
The constraint shaped everything: a store that cannot take payment is a store that is shut. So the rollout was designed to be reversible at every step.
- One standard build. A single template configuration defined and tested on two pilot stores, using centrally managed appliances from our Firewall & Security practice.
- Segmentation as default. POS, staff, guest WiFi and CCTV separated in the template rather than per site, following the model in our Networking & Design service.
- Connectivity standardised. Primary and backup links per store, procured and managed through Internet Leased Line & Telecom, so an outage fails over instead of stopping trade.
- Guest and staff WiFi. Controller-managed access points under Managed WiFi, so a store gets the same coverage and the same policy as every other.
- Cameras. Recorders moved onto their own segment, standardised with our CCTV & IP Surveillance range.
Stores were cut over in waves outside trading hours, each with the previous configuration retained until the new one had run a full trading day.
Results
Every outlet now runs the same build, visible from one console. A new store opens against a known template rather than a local improvisation, and the security questionnaire has documented answers. Support runs on an AMC Contract covering all sites on one SLA.
Why retail asks for this
Retail IT is judged on whether the tills work. Our retail practice optimises for uniformity and rapid store opening, because those are what keep support costs flat as the estate grows.
Planning a rollout? Our guide on sequencing a multi-branch rollout covers the wave planning we use.
