Arcadia, the UK's largest clothing retailer which includes high
street chains Evans, Burton and Dorothy Perkins, is planning to
roll out thin clients to 80% of its 3,500 desktop users, after
achieving significant savings during a pilot deployment in
Leeds.
The company expects the implementation of Wyse Technology thin
clients, running on Microsoft Windows 2000 and Citrix XP
application software, to achieve a return on investment within two
years.
"We expect the cost savings to fall into two main areas," said
Gareth Hill, IT director at Arcadia. "The total cost of ownership
will come down in terms of investment and the support costs will
fall in terms of the number of people needed to run the system."
The total cost of running PCs was rising every time Arcadia
replaced any of its software, said Hill.
"We tend to acquire and dispose of brands on a regular basis and
the cost of software is always increasing," he said. "We also took
into account the cost of Microsoft's licensing changes but this was
not the prime consideration."
Companies sometimes face user revolt when switching from
traditional desktop PCs to thin clients but this was not a concern
for Arcadia, Hill said. "If we identify a real business need for a
PC we will keep it in place but this will mainly be for high end
users," he said. "If there is no real need it is better for the
business anyway."
The biggest issue for Arcadia is raising user awareness of how the
thin clients function, Hill said.
"Users were used to IT staff coming down and fixing their PCs
rather than from a central location," he said. "They kept
complaining that nobody had turned up, when in fact the problem was
solved immediately."
Implementing the thin clients will open up a range of new
opportunities for Arcadia, Hill said.
"Lots of our users are field-based so we are trialling handhelds to
allow them to access company information remotely," he said. "Also
the system will allow buyers in the Far East to access information
via the Web."