Canadian Tire Retail operates over 460 stores across Canada, selling a diverse range of automotive, hardware and household products. After updating its point-of-sale (POS) system, the company needed a way to centrally manage checkouts across its retail locations.

Canadian Tire required a management system that would allow it quickly identify and fix problems at the checkout, without dispatching an IT professional for on-site support. As well, Canadian Tire wanted the ability to install and update applications over its network, instead of manually installing them on each register – a process that took two weeks. The retailer evaluated a number of possibilities before choosing Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003. With improved management capabilities, employees are empowered to monitor the system and provide software updates from head office, helping them avoid system crashes that cause long lineups and frustrate customers. Moreover, the company has reduced its IT maintenance costs by 50 per cent.

"With the Microsoft solution, we’re now in a position to make overnight changes at the cash register level that immediately impact the customer – our two week deployment process is history."

CUSTOMER PROFILE

Canadian Tire Retail and the Canadian Tire Dealer’s Association comprise one of Canada’s largest retail networks, with over 460 stores from coast to coast. Company research shows that about 90 per cent of all Canadians live within a 15-minute drive of a Canadian Tire store.

BENEFITS

With centralized system monitoring and software updates, Canadian Tire has reduced its operating expenses by lowering IT maintenance costs by 50 per cent.