WHSmith

The situation

WHSmith operates over 1,000 stores across the UK high street, train stations, airports and hospitals. That presence is simultaneously the company’s strength and its operational complexity. A high street store and an airport kiosk look similar to a customer. But their infrastructure demands are completely different. One is a traditional retail space with standard utilities. One operates in a transport hub with specific power, cooling and security requirements. A hospital shop operates under even stricter controls.

The technology that runs WHSmith’s stores is critical to everything the customer sees. Tills need to work. Stock management systems need to be accurate. Inventory data flows through the supply chain. Staff need to be able to serve customers. When IT fails, stores can’t open or can’t operate effectively. A till outage in an airport store is particularly costly, passengers are waiting, momentum is critical and there’s no opportunity to “come back later.”

WHSmith’s infrastructure had been managed through a patchwork of providers. Different store types had different arrangements. The IT support model wasn’t scaled for the complexity. Ian Windsor, Group IT Director, recognised that the company needed a partner who could manage infrastructure across all 1,000 stores, all store types and all geographic locations.

What SCC did

SCC was selected for a five-year infrastructure outsourcing contract. The scope included service desk support, data centre services, and major incident, problem and change management. The complexity wasn’t the technology. It was the consistency and coordination required to serve 1,000 store locations.

SCC worked to understand store operations across all formats. A WHSmith in Oxford Street and one in a hospital operated differently. Training staff across 1,000 locations to use new systems required planning. Rolling out changes had to account for busy seasons, Christmas, summer holidays, school holiday periods. You can’t disrupt store operations during peak trading.

The five-year partnership evolved. Early phases focused on stabilising infrastructure and establishing consistent support across stores. Later phases involved modernisation: moving from on-premises systems to cloud, upgrading tills to faster technology, improving point-of-sale systems. The common thread was maintaining store operations while delivering change.

What changed

WHSmith gained a single partner managing IT across all locations. The company could direct strategy through one relationship instead of coordinating multiple providers. The service desk became responsive. A store with a till issue could get support quickly because the entire support infrastructure was aligned.

The company also gained flexibility. With SCC managing infrastructure, WHSmith could focus on retail strategy. The question became “what technology would serve customers better” rather than “how do we keep the lights on.” That shift in focus meant the company could invest in customer-facing improvements rather than spending all energy on maintenance.

What the client learned

Ian Windsor highlighted the nature of the partnership: “What has really impressed me working with SCC was the people and the planning. They’re really professional and get on really well with my team and the other partners involved.” WHSmith learned that managing 1,000 store locations requires partners who understand retail specificity. The stores are not simply nodes on a network. They’re places where staff serve customers under time pressure. SCC brought that understanding to the infrastructure work. The learning reinforced that outsourcing works when the partner grasps the technology and the business context.