利用网络优势来维持零售领导

When Praktiker first opened its doors in 1991, Greek consumers had never seen anything like it before. A huge store selling everything for the home and garden, from garden plants to power tools and kitchen cabinets.

“我们将DIY的概念带到了希腊，” Praktiker Hellas的IT经理Alkiviadis Manaris说。“在最初的十年中，我们有一个清晰的市场。没有像我们这样的东西。”

Today, Praktiker Hellas remains the number one home improvement retailer in Greece. It has 16 stores, each more than 3,500sqm, and six million customers. It sells direct to consumers and professionals, online, by telephone and through its stores. It carries more than 50,000 items.

But Praktiker is no longer alone in the Greek market. Competition is fierce and the retail sector is changing. Consumers can price-check everything. They are more demanding.

“Today, anyone can sell paints or tools,” says Mr. Manaris. “Our focus and our unique selling proposition is that we are a one-stop-shop that offers not only a great combination of products and services, but a whole enjoyable experience. We do our best in order to add more and more value to our customers’ shopping experience.”

Unlocking customer insight to inform business strategy

直到2015年，该业务一直是德国Praktiker集团的一部分。许多决定是由中心授权的，包括IT投资。加拿大Fairfax Financial Holdings的收购创造了新的独立水平，并具有从希腊制定希腊战略的能力。

“As a subsidiary we couldn’t do much,” says Mr. Manaris. “We were forced to adopt global vendors. Independence gave us the freedom to implement our own strategy.”

The priority was to virtualise much of the physical IT infrastructure, Mr. Manaris explains, but by 2017, with the incumbent network coming to end of support, a new architecture-based and data-driven strategy began to take shape.

“We needed to ensure the security of the network and, at the same time, use the network to develop customer insight,” says Mr. Manaris. “We recognised that we could use the network as a great indicator of the customer journey, through our stores. At the time we were almost blind.”

Hungry to explore new network ideas

Praktiker Hellas included the incumbent in discussions but Mr. Manaris says the team was hungry to explore other options: “We were very open to new ideas.”

很快就显而易见的是，阿鲁巴建筑提供了许多重要的优势。“从一开始，Clearpass和Airwave引起了我们的注意，” Manaris先生说。“能够在不需要高技能网络工程师的情况下操作和监视网络非常吸引人。阿鲁巴的网络管理工具正是我们所需要的。”

然后，设置了Aruba和现任者的概念证明；一家商店在Aruba Lan Switches上运行了任职者，另一个RANR在Aruba Wlan上有三分之一。概念证明持续了四个月。

“阿鲁巴好多了。部署更容易，更快，并且清楚地了解了与网络连接的内容以及什么。我们在三天内获得了数据。”马纳里斯先生说。“我们从未设法使现任的网络访问工具进行工作。”

End-to-end management across wired and wireless

如今，Praktiker Hellas在整个有线和无线基础架构中都具有端到端的Aruba架构。部署于2019年9月在雅典总部开始，最后一家商店于2020年2月完成。

The company has deployed ClearPass for role-based device and user authentication, integrated with its Active Directory database. AirWave Network Management is used as the central point of network monitoring and supervision. Two Aruba 5412R campus core switches have been deployed for the server farm and the LAN, respectively, in the HQ.

商店中的网络核心基于Aruba 3810 L3开关，而所有位置的网络访问均由Aruba 2930F模型提供，从而建立了可扩展，可靠和安全的有线骨干。根据电缆访问实用性的不同，基于Aruba-Instant和基于控制器的无线访问点混合在一起。在整个站点中已经部署了几乎280个，包括Aruba AP-303室内和Aruba AP-365室外型号。

Manaris先生补充说：“我们现在在我们以前从未涵盖过的部分商店中拥有Wi-Fi。”“使用更少的访问点。”

Flexible, secure and ready for the future

结果是一个安全，易于管理并能够为未来提供支持的体系结构。它提供了一个平台，以提供继续提供服务的持续改进。

“Aruba AirWave means that we can manage both the wired and wireless network from one place. We acquired a tool, through which we can deploy the network configuration to all of our stores at once. It has made a tremendous difference to the way we work, in terms of consistency and efficiency,” says Mr. Manaris.

Where it would have taken one person a full day to make adjustments at one store, he explains, today changes can be managed in an hour, for all stores: “This is time our team can now spend on other projects. I effectively have one full headcount freed up for strategic projects. We spent years looking for this tool.”

有很多的项目团队忙碌, he adds. Praktiker is currently deploying a new ERP system; the business wants to do more to blend the online and offline shopping experience.

对于管理层而言，Aruba参与的吸引力是总拥有成本较低。“我们可以灵活地将访问点作为即时或基于控制器的访问点部署，我们不必担心更新许可证的成本 - 我们拥有所支付的费用。我们与阿鲁巴具有更大的功能。”马纳里斯先生说。

Business continuity and quality of service

Whether it be for staff or customers, fast Wi-Fi with the ability to seamlessly roam without loss of connection or diminished performance, is a critical outcome and a valuable offering by the IT team. This is particularly important as mobile POS, scanning and other devices are increasingly rolled out, ensuring reliable operations and consistent experiences.

“Our business continuity plans have so far been focused on the head office,” reflects Mr. Manaris. “We are now able to extend this to our stores and ensure that we can minimise the impact of disruptions. This could also include enabling secure remote working and access to for staff who can adopt that model if and when required.”

Mobility in the office and on the shop floor

Staff at the head office now enjoy complete mobility with 1Gb connectivity; guest access is simplified through ClearPass. If the device or user is not recognised, they can be channelled to an isolated VLAN that ensures the same bandwidth but without access to sensitive data.

Instore，客户可以免费访问Wi-Fi。该计划是为了使楼层工作人员提供移动设备，使他们能够付款和寻找库存；物联网可以使用智能的仓储和物流。BLE信标和Aruba Meridian移动应用程序平台也正在途中进行客户参与应用程序的试点。

For Praktiker, the Aruba platform is far more than just a network. It is a source of invaluable data and a way to keep it secure. This data is an enormous asset which Praktiker will be increasingly tapping into in order to enable its marketing, sales, finance and IT departments to draw value from, crafting strategic plans and campaigns to help the business stay ahead of competition, and most importantly, define new experiences and value for their customers.

“业务渴望数据。销售和营销可以使用这些数据来塑造促销或销售商品。随着市场变得更加竞争，数据可能是我们的差异化因素。” Manaris先生总结道。