HP to Provide Technology to Home Depot for IT Enhancement Project; Equipment Will Serve Administrative, Customer Service and Employee Education Needs in 1,456 Local Stores
PALO ALTO, Calif. & ATLANTA, Oct 8, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- HP (HPQ) will provide approximately 40,000 PCs for use in 1,456 Home Depot (HD) stores across the United States. The PCs will support two Home Depot programs that together will improve operations, customer service and employee education efforts in the stores.
"The increased stability the new equipment brings will provide obvious benefits from a technology upgrade of this magnitude," said Barbara Sanders, chief architect, Home Depot. "In addition, the increased capability we expect this effort to provide will pay equally good dividends in terms of productivity and customer service in our stores. After all, the less time our associates spend on the telephone trying to reach the help desk, the more time they are able to spend on the sales floor helping our customers."
The majority of the Compaq Evo D510 PCs being delivered under this contract will support the Store Technology Enhancement Project (STEP), an effort by Home Depot to standardize and upgrade the technology infrastructure in its stores. In addition to the Compaq PCs that are a part of the STEP initiative, the project includes enhancements to the wiring networks in the stores and new point-of-sale terminals.
The advanced capabilities of the new systems provide a stable, fault-tolerant technology platform capable of more effectively handling recent, often highly specialized software applications.
"A company the caliber of Home Depot must have technology that can stand up to the rigorous use that is just naturally a part of a high-volume retail environment," said Sam Mancuso, vice president of Corporate Accounts for HP. "Known for its stability, long lifecycle and capacity to support sophisticated applications, the Compaq Evo D510 PC is the ideal piece of equipment for this situation."
The remaining Compaq PCs will be used to expand Home Depot's e-learning initiative, an in-store, online training and education program to help employees build their product knowledge and work toward certifications in various disciplines. The PCs also will supplement Home Depot's employee communications program by permitting executives to disseminate information faster to the company's nearly 300,000 employees.
The Compaq Evo PCs will supplement existing Unix technology from HP that Home Depot uses in its stores and administrative offices. Delivery of the new equipment is underway. The STEP initiative is scheduled for completion during the third quarter of next year. |
