Travis Perkins transforms customer experience

IBM announced today that it is working with Travis Perkins PLC to extract value by moving key business processes into the cloud, improving data quality and reaching customers through every channel. This provides the British builders' merchant and home improvement retailer with a competitive advantage in the industry’s crowded market.

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Travis Perkins PLC, which is a Group of 21 businesses, is using IBM Business Process Manager (iBPM) on Cloud via an IBM Cloud data centre in London to better manage multiple data governance processes for data collection, coordination and approvals. This cloud solution is part of Travis Perkins’ "Highway to Cloud" initiative, which aims to move all key applications to the cloud within the next three years. By improving data quality and connecting multiple, diverse sets of product information, the retailer can better manage and optimize its data collection to be more efficient and agile.

“Before managing our business processes and data collection using iBPM on Cloud, we lacked visibility of change requests and data validation, which is needed to ensure that our customers get the best possible data to inform shopping experience," said David Todd, Group Data Director, Travis Perkins. "IBM iBPM on Cloud gives us more flexibility, scalability and performance options to deliver a better solution to improve our data processes and support our in-store colleagues across our 2,000-plus UK stores."

Customers will also soon be able to use Travis Perkins’ new click-and-collect service to place orders online and then pick up those products from their closest branch. This is particularly useful for builders and DIYers using mobile devices to order supplies from job sites.  Click-and-collect services are hugely popular[1] in the UK with almost 3 in 4 online shoppers – 73 percent – saying they have used click-and-collect services last year, and another 10 percent of British consumers intending to use such services in the near future. Travis Perkins hopes to continue improving its customer experience by expanding its use of data analytics and cognitive technologies to identify buying trends and customer behaviours to create more customized target marketing campaigns.

“More clients like Travis Perkins are turning to IBM Cloud to help transform their business,” says Sebastian Krause, General Manager, Cloud, IBM Europe. “By combining analytics solutions like business processes with the IBM Cloud, Travis Perkins can address its customers’ ever-increasing requirements with greater levels of personalisation both online and offline. Travis Perkins is using IBM iBPM on Cloud via an IBM Cloud data centre in London. IBM’s global cloud data centre presence includes 48 highly-scalable and security-rich data centres in 17 countries on six continents.”

Travis Perkins PLC is a United Kingdom based builders’ merchant with more than 20 brands that serve the construction industry as well as the home improvement market. The company has 2,000-plus outlets in the United Kingdom and Ireland selling general building materials, tools, and landscaping materials.

About Travis Perkins plc

Travis Perkins plc is one of the UK's leading distributors of materials to the building and construction and home improvement markets.

The Group operates 21 businesses from 2,000 plus sites and employs nearly 30,000 people across the UK. With a proud heritage that can be traced back over 200 years, our employees are continuing that tradition by working with our customers to build better, together.  For more information, please visitwww.travisperkinsplc.co.uk.

About IBM Cloud 

For more information about IBM Cloud, visit: http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/.