Enhancing the store experience  

Specsavers is the world’s largest privately owned optical group delivering high-quality, affordable optical and hearing care across 11 countries. The UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Specsavers is driven by a clear purpose: to change lives through better sight and hearing. To achieve this, the company takes pride in delivering exceptional customer experiences while offering access to a wide array of products infused with cutting-edge technology.

However, the time had come for Specsavers to update its stores and technology. Andrew Pollitt, Lead Technology Project Manager for Specsavers Australia and New Zealand, explains the situation: “Our store hardware had reached the end of its life. We were operating on legacy systems, leading to an increasing rise in failure rates. It became imperative to replace the in-store hardware, ensuring a better experience and enhanced supportability and security.”

Transitioning to Windows 10, Specsavers required equipment compatible with their in-store systems. Working with Fujitsu, Specsavers chose to complete a full store technology transformation with hardware supplied to meet the needs of the business.

The refresh removed a lot of old IT hardware and to be more environmentally sound Specsavers and Fujitsu worked with RenewIT to securely re-use and recycle the old equipment. 39.9 tons of e-waste was recycled from our stores of which 95% of the end-of-life hardware was able to be processed through RenewIT re-use program which provides IT hardware to lower socio-economic groups across the globe. This equates to 24.5 tons of CO2 diverted from landfill.

The ambitious project spanned four phases, from November 2020 to December 2022, encompassing a full end-to-end refresh of all devices in Specsavers stores. The journey began with an Audit phase, followed by a Lab phase, during which equipment was tested in a simulated store environment in Melbourne. Subsequent pilots allowed for fine-tuning before a comprehensive rollout across New Zealand and Australia.

Executing the project amid the backdrop of a COVID-19 environment, leading up to the Christmas season, posed significant challenges. Andrew Pollitt recounts, “Throughout the project, COVID restrictions, border closures, global microchip shortages, and supply chain constraints presented hurdles. Nevertheless, we managed to collaborate effectively and overcome these challenges, working smarter to complete the project three months ahead of our original schedule."

With the help of Fujitsu, Specsavers embarked on a comprehensive technology refresh for 235 locations across Australia and New Zealand, during non-business hours to minimize customer disruptions. John Lang, IT Director for Specsavers Australia and New Zealand, highlights their approach: “We assembled a dedicated Specsavers technology team to collaborate virtually with Fujitsu technicians, ensuring a seamless implementation with minimal impact on stores.

The teams would work through till 2-4am to ensure technology was refreshed. Once the project was finished Specsavers conducted a CSAT review of their partners and were encouraged by a 4.6/5 satisfaction rating - a high score for a business transformation exercise of this scale.

“What impresses me most about working with Fujitsu as it feels like a partnership at every level, we work through problems and opportunities together and frankly in this program we had plenty of both,” John Lang concludes.