Spar Wholesaler Cuts Engineer Service Costs By 80% With Power Conditioning Technology

Retailer notices immediate return on inverstment across sites

Major Spar wholesaler, James Hall & Co., has reduced engineer service costs for the repair of critical retail and back office equipment by as much as 80 percent, using power conditioning systems from POWERVAR, the leading global provider of power management systems.

One of six UK wholesalers, James Hall & Co. supports around 500 Spar retail stores - ranging from corner shops and convenience stores to petrol forecourts and stores on Army bases. With responsibility for supplying and servicing these outlets from everything they need to function efficiently, James Hall & Co is also responsible for managing the back-office systems and relevant hardware for Spar's 127 petrol forecourts, alongside HTec, Spar's petrol forecourts IT systems provider.

After recommending power conditioning systems for all of the forecourt sites to protect Spar's bespoke Sparnos Electronic Point of Sale (Epos) and back office systems, HTec insisted on POWERVAR technology. Mike Crompton, Technical Support Manager for Retail IT, responsible for support, maintenance and upgrade of IT systems, noticed an immediate reduction in hard disk corruptions and failures after the power conditioning units were installed: "I was cautious about them at first - a few years ago, we actually removed UPSs, which are supposed to protect vital IT equipment in the event of power failures from our premises because they caused so many problems. "

"But I was immediately impressed by the POWERVAR solution. Problems on the Epos and back office systems are down by as much as 80 percent compared with non-protected systems, which means fewer service calls and significant cost savings. Plus, any problems are now easier to identify and quicker to resolve"

POWERVAR power conditioning units have now been installed across all Spar outlets where equipment was due for renewal. As well as cost savings, the retailer has noticed a 'softer' ROI (return on investment), including improved customer service due to less system downtime.

In June, POWERVAR launched its white paper, The business case analysis for power conditioning: An ROI study of unburdening service costs from the bottom line, which revealed that the financial impact of irregularities - noise, spikes, surges and other transient phenomena - in the power supply can have a far greater impact on sensitive high-tech equipment than is generally acknowledged. It showed that power conditioning technology can deliver demonstrable cost savings and measurable return on investment for businesses.

Rob Morris, UK General Manager for POWERVAR, adds: "Retail is one area where serious damage to critical equipment, like Epos and back office systems, can have very serious consequences. Disruption to vital equipment like store tills can cause frustration for both retailers and customers that ultimately results in lost sales. We are seeing a number of retailers moving from the more traditional UPS systems to more reliable power conditioning and power quality technology."

The initial investment of £130,000 in POWERVAR equipment has been recuperated within months of being installed. James Hall & Co. is now looking into further increasing ROI by extending the life of hardware by as much as 20 percent, which will see Spar benefit from reduced service costs when hardware contracts comes up for renegotiation.

• POWERVAR's 'The business case analysis for power conditioning: An ROI study of unburdening service costs from the bottom line' white paper is now available from: http://www.powervar.com/technical-articles.cfm
• A demonstration of power quality and potential solutions can be found at: www.powervar.com/demo-room.cfm
• POWERVAR's ABCs of Power Conditioning, designed to simplify the process of understanding power protection, are available from: http://www.powervar.com/abc-philosophy.cfm

About POWERVAR
POWERVAR is a global provider of power management systems, headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois, with international sales and distribution offices in Swindon, United Kingdom and Paderborn, Germany. The company's primary products include transformer-based power conditioners and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). It is ISO 9001:2000 registered and continues to lead the industry by creating higher standards for power quality to support the increasing use of technology in business, government and nonprofit sectors. For more information, visit www.powervar.com.

SOURCE: POWERVAR