Retailer Beats The Holiday Rush

Solution Provider
Strategic Computer Solutions, Syracuse, N.Y., www.scsinet.com

Customer
Retail/Trans World Entertainment

Concept
Simplify the retailer's IT environment by consolidating critical data operations, including supply chain, finance, merchandising and HR, onto a single system for better inventory tracking.

Challenge
Facing the holiday rush, Trans World needed an efficient way to enable its 8,500 employees and 800 retail stores to research inventory and improve customer service to stay competitive in the retail market.

Solution
SCS helped Trans World reduce its IT leasing and maintenance costs by almost $25,000 per month by consolidating onto a single IBM iSeries POWER-5-based system using virtualization technology to manage multiple secure operating environments for its store locations. Wireless point-of-sale devices connected to the iSeries enable the Trans World staff to track inventory during peak times in one-third the time it previously took.

Key To Success
"The biggest key to our implementation success was that IBM and SCS were on board with us from inception. Both companies worked closely with us to execute implementation, provide support and troubleshoot the minor issues that typically arise when consolidating three data centers down to one."
--John Hinkle, CIO of Trans World Entertainment