StORES Magazine - September 2007 - (Page B5) Lower maintenance for store hardware and overall software leads to decreased operational costs Planned reductions in maintenance for store hardware and overall software will drive operational expenses down by 4 percent between 2006 and 2007. Retailers’ recent capital investments in hardware and software, particularly for stores, have generated operational efficiencies and lowered maintenance costs. Budgets for store hardware leases jumped in 2007 as retailers chose leasing over buying for POS hardware replacements. Additionally, retailers are expanding their hardware portfolios to include kiosks, hand-helds and electronic signage, all intended to improve the customer experience and increase store associate productivity. After steady growth in packaged application investments over the last two years, retailers are now turning their attention to connecting the portfolio of software across stores, home office and supply chain. Investments in middleware and other integration technologies are driving 2007 software infrastructure spending increases of 14 percent. FIGURE 4: IT operational costs breakdown 2006 Software Infrastructure Software Maintenance Expensed Software Licenses Telecommunications & Networking Store hardware maintenance: POS Store hardware maintenance: Non-POS Stores hardware lease: POS Stores hardware lease: Non-POS Headquarters maintenance Headquarters hardware lease $384 5,589 567 6,668 3,087 615 565 150 3,654 2,217 2007 $437 4,264 567 6,617 2,307 583 740 233 4,713 1,989 WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / SEPTEMBER 2007 B5 http://WWW.STORES.ORG
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