Make Cuts When You Must – but Make the Right Cuts
 Times are hard, and retailers, as with most businesses, face tough decisions. Some of those decisions inevitably involve cuts, both capital projects and jobs. And some of those jobs will be in IT. Completely understandable – if the work’s not there you don’t need the people – however, Thomas sounds a note of caution.
Thomas states: “In tough times jobs vanish and IT people do more. There’s nothing unusual in that. Retailers must look closely at every project then put the ‘nice to have’ on hold, and only progress the ‘must haves’ that deliver quantifiable short-term returns. The result is fewer projects - so retailers reduce project teams and management. However, it’s still vital to keep your business effective. That means cut carefully, because there are some areas where any cut is a false economy. Testing is one of these. That’s because testing is where you prevent issues reaching the shop-floor, save time, money, and importantly avoid unhappy staff and customers.”
When a retailer’s testing regimen stutters or falls below acceptable standards the first time anyone finds out could be when there’s an issue in front of a customer. Unfortunately, many retailers still see testing as a cost or a simple policing function. The ‘savvy’ retailers see testing as an investment, not a cost – especially in tough times.
“Testing is more than an investment in making systems work. It’s an investment in your business, your people and your customers. And in tough times that’s crucial,” continues Thomas.
“Smart retailers don’t short-cut testing, they see testing as important as other IT roles. They recognise the need to get IT right first time, so they only allocate testing and QA responsibilities to professional testers – and that’s good news. More retailers now recognise that it’s not only unfair to give specialised testing responsibility to IT people without the necessary skill and real retail experience, it’s also potential harmful to their business.”
Recession or not, customers demand high levels of service and expect their shopping experience to remain unchanged. So make certain your solution performs to its best. Customers always vote with their feet when you let them down. Don’t create unhappy customers and watch them walk away. And that’s even more pertinent when times are tough.
Thomas closes: “Those retailers that take the sensible long-term view on the importance of effective system testing and QA will keep their store solution in optimum health. That means when the longed-for ‘green shoots of recovery’ appear those right-thinking retailers will be the best placed to take maximum advantage from reinvigorated Capex budgets.”
For further information please contact enquiries@paulmasonconsulting.co.uk |
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