Accenture has been chosen to help Specsavers manage its technology in a five-year agreement which will see the high street optician prepare to become a digital business.
Accenture will aim to consolidate Specsavers‘ existing IT infrastructure and support the useful life of legacy applications. This in turn aims to reduce the retailer’s operating costs, improve speed to market and increase product and service quality.
Spanning 10 countries including Australia; Denmark; Finland; Ireland; New Zealand; Norway; Sweden; Spain; the Netherlands; and the United Kingdom; Accenture will provide the optician with application maintenance, development, testing and infrastructure monitoring services.
Matt Prebble, managing director of Accenture’s Retail practice in the United Kingdom and Ireland, said, "Consumers expect to be able to buy seamlessly from a retailer across any channel and at any time.
"We look forward to helping Specsavers reduce application and technology deployment times by providing continuous service improvement and enabling them to accelerate their move to digitize their business."
Specsavers hopes that the investment into its technology and IT infrastructure will result in a more manageable application portfolio, with decreased risk and enhanced services. Ultimately this will then allow the company to focus on its goal of becoming a digital business.
Emma McGuigan, senior managing director in Accenture Technology in the United Kingdom and Ireland said, "A strong IT infrastructure is critical to becoming digital, and businesses can no longer rely on all of the applications they once did.
"To compete based on agility and speed, companies need to take these important steps towards faster, flexible and more-liquid applications to support dynamic business needs.
"Specsavers’ investment in its applications and infrastructure will help the company prepare for its future, support revenue growth and defend its market position. In addition, it paves the way to create new opportunities to serve their customers better."
