Close to 70% of Tescos worldwide IT is done out of India

Why was Tesco HSC (Hindustan Service Center) created?

Tesco HSC does all classical services in terms of application support,
application development, infrastructure management, and IT helpdesk. Close to
70% of Tescos worldwide IT is done out of India. We support the UK and thirteen
other countries. The latest addition is the US where Tesco retail is known as
Fresh and Easy.

What technological innovations have been carried out at Tesco HSC?

We work on the premise that the technologies we put in shops and warehouses
should work, otherwise there is a lot of productivity loss. One of the
innovations that have been implemented at Tescos outlets sometime ago included
intelligent measuring of queue length.

Some of the large stores have around eighty checkout counters, and there is
no point in keeping all of them open all the time. People dont mind standing in
the queue if there is only one person in front. Also, there is no need of zero
queue length. For this, thermal sensors installed in the stores read the heat
generated by customers; and using a series of algorithms, a team calculates how
many of them are likely to hit the billing counter and at what time.

Sridhar Rathnam, director, HSC IT Services, Tesco HSC

As the statistics emerge, an alert is sent to the store manager allowing them
to open or close counters as necessary.

What are some of the new activities at Tesco HSC?

We have set up an RFID Lab at our center, and we are testing efficacy of
this technology for large stores. We have also set up a retail test lab that
will be used as a base for testing and certifying the entire retail software
that goes to Tesco stores. This lab also simulates a readymade store environment
for all HSC people to appreciate the stores environment, the various equipment
that run and the different formats that Tesco operate. This will also be used to
simulate support issues, and has the ability to completely support the retail
applications from HSC.

What is the mechanism to get customer feedback and incorporate them in the
solution set?

Tesco uses customer question time (CQT) meetings to help identify and respond to
customers changing needs. These meetings are organized in Tesco stores to
enable staff and senior managers to hear the views of customers. Inputs from
these focus groups, together with 46,000 customer interviews in-store, drive
customer and community plans.

Sudesh Prasad

sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in