Customer Case Study
Grocery Employees Now Clock In Using the Phone
Hannaford Bros. uses Cisco Unified Communications for Retail to achieve a new level of
productivity.
Business Challenge
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Hannaford Bros. Co.
● Retail
● Scarborough, Maine, United States
● Number of Employees: 26,000
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
● Retain valuable staff member who wanted to
Reduce costs of doing business
● Replace aging telephone systems
● Improve employee productivity
NETWORK SOLUTION
● Deployed Cisco Intelligent Retail Network
● Deployed Cisco Unified Communications for
Retail solutions in 13 grocery stores
BUSINESS RESULTS
● Significantly reduced costs associated with
maintaining, supporting, and training
employees on six different analog-based key
systems
● Enabled employees to log in for work from any
phone and view hours worked for the day or
week
● Created foundation for delivering other new
features and applications
Founded in 1883, Hannaford Bros. Co. began as a
small, high-quality produce shop on the waterfront in
Portland, Maine. Today, Hannaford is a member of
Delhaize America, the U.S. division of Brusselsbased Delhaize Group with US$16.6 billion in sales.
It employs 26,000 individuals in three distribution
centers and 158 stores in Maine, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont.
With more than 120 years of experience in the
supermarket business, Hannaford understands well
the challenges of the retail industry. Retail profit
margins are typically thin, so Hannaford
continuously monitors operations costs. Keeping
products in stock is another challenge, and
Hannaford stakes its competitive advantage on
minimizing out-of-stock situations. Having a large
number of employees—many of them part-time
workers—in more than 150 locations increases
communication complexity. From communicating basic schedules and required daily tasks, to
orchestrating special promotional activities, Hannaford strives to ensure that business objectives
are met without overwhelming its employees. At the same time, managers need to know that
specific tasks were completed and when they were completed.
“We want our employees to be mobile and focused on customers,” says Bill Homa, Hannaford’s
chief information officer. “Since the 1990s we have turned to technology to help us reduce the costs
of doing business while improving employee productivity and customers’ experience in our stores.”
As mobile applications and devices have become widespread, Hannaford has moved to eliminate
the stores’ personal computers with their associated costs and management requirements. Instead,
the company has relied on Cisco® networking solutions, extending its original network investment
to deliver advanced communications and wireless capabilities that have paid huge dividends in cost
savings and productivity.
Network Solution
Hannaford first merged data and voice communications over its Cisco Frame Relay network in the
1990s, eliminating almost 1000 internal phone lines by routing voice traffic over the network. New
capabilities and applications have been added over the past 10 years without replacing the
network. Today, the company’s Cisco Intelligent Retail Network, designed with the Cisco ServiceAll contents are Copyright © 1992–2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Customer Case Study
Oriented Network Architecture framework, provides a common platform for delivering employeefocused applications and increasing visibility into task management and other store processes.
“Adding wireless technology in 2001 changed the way we do business,” says Homa. “Our first
simple wireless application paid for our entire network. Wireless is now in all Hannaford stores and
we have deployed 13 more wireless applications since then.”
The first wireless application was created to allow the store’s meat department to know exactly
which cuts of meat were being discounted and the discount amounts. Each meat item was
scanned, the discount applied, and bar-coded labels were attached. When the meat item was
scanned at the cash register, the data was fed back into decision-support systems, which enabled
Hannaford to fine-tune its meat ordering and production planning—and save several million dollars.
Since then, new wireless applications enable employees to access inventory and stock data from
the aisles, giving them the information they need to make decisions about re-stocking items or
placing new orders.
“We see voice over IP as the next revolutionary technology,” says Homa. “We had successfully
deployed Cisco Unified Communications solutions in our distribution centers for regular telephone
communication in the offices. Our experience was so positive that we again chose Cisco solutions
to extend voice-over-IP capabilities and applications to our stores. With our existing Cisco network,
integration was easy.”
“Cisco Unified Communications solutions extend the
trend we have begun of putting information into the
hands of employees so that they can make decisions
and act, no matter where they are. We are also lowering
our cost of doing business and running a better store.”
—Bill Homa, chief information officer
Hannaford’s new Cisco Unified Communications for Retail solution includes Cisco Unified
CallManager, the Cisco Unified CallManager Attendant Console, and Cisco Unified 7900 Series IP
Phones. The corporate offices have Cisco Unity unified messaging integrated with their Lotus
Notes applications, so users are able to access voice-mail and e-mail from their e-mail boxes.
Thirteen stores currently use the new solution.
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Customer Case Study
Business Results
The new Cisco Unified Communications for Retail solution allowed Hannaford to consolidate
telephone systems from six different analog-based key systems to one Cisco solution, while
reducing phone maintenance costs and training expenses for store associates. It also serves as the
foundation for delivering many new features and applications, such as the time clock system.
Every Hannaford store has several specialized time clocks installed, each costing approximately
$1500. As new stores are built and existing stores remodeled, Hannaford can use the Cisco Unified
Communications for Retail solution to capture employee work hours for payroll processing, using
the same Cisco Unified IP Phones that are already used for regular voice communications.
Employees can easily log into their shifts from anywhere in the store, immediately view their
cumulative hours for the week, and get right to work—instead of having to manually track their time
before being able to make decisions about working additional shifts.
“All new stores automatically deploy the Cisco Unified Communications for Retail solution and
stores undergoing remodeling will also have the new capabilities,” says Homa. “At some point, we
will replace all of the phone systems.”
The new system complements existing wireless and network-based applications that are also
under consideration, such as computer-assisted ordering, inventory access, out-of-stocks
notification, and personnel and operations and product lookup. The company is also beginning to
make people’s schedules available online, so employees can view their schedules from any Cisco
Unified IP Phone, any terminal, or from home. This will be especially convenient for part-time
employees who do not work regular hours.
“Cisco Unified Communications solutions extend the trend we have begun of putting information
into the hands of employees so that they can make decisions and act, no matter where they are,”
says Homa. “We are also lowering our cost of doing business and running a better store, which is
reflected in the customers’ experiences. It is subtle, but very powerful.”
PRODUCT LIST
Voice and IP Communications
● Cisco Unified IP Phones
● Cisco Unified CallManager
● Cisco Unified CallManager Attendant Console
● Cisco Unity
Next Steps
Hannaford plans to implement biometric scanning on
the Cisco Unified IP Phones for the time clock
application to enhance user security and improve
accountability. A new task management system is
also under consideration that would enable
managers to prioritize tasks for each store department and receive feedback when critical tasks are
completed. Tasks can be listed on a Cisco Unified IP Phone anywhere in the store, directing
employees which tasks to complete and asking the employee to confirm when the task has been
executed. The task management system will also bring discipline to the stream of e-mail, voicemail, and fax communications directed at store departments every day so that employees are not
being asked to complete ten hours of work in a five-hour shift. Task management is expected to
improve sales and the success of vendor co-promotions, helping Hannaford capture additional
advertising and co-marketing dollars.
Today several applications that operate on the wireless network are ideal candidates for using
Cisco Unified IP Phones to communicate with employees, instead of specialized wireless handsets.
Out-of-stock alerts and computer-assisted ordering are two examples.
All contents are Copyright © 1992–2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Customer Case Study
“We need real-time access to employees, no matter where they are in the store,” says Homa. “The
Cisco Unified Communications Solution for Retail is a beautiful way to do it.”
For more information
To find out more about Cisco Solutions and Services, visit: http://www.cisco.com.
To learn more about Cisco Unified Communications Solutions, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/voice.
To learn more about Hannaford Bros. Co., visit: http://www.hannaford.com.
This customer story is based on information provided by Hannaford Bros. Co., and describes how
that particular organization benefits from the deployment of Cisco products. Many factors may have
contributed to the results and benefits described; Cisco does not guarantee comparable results
elsewhere.
CISCO PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of express
or implied warranties, therefore this disclaimer may not apply to you.
Printed in USA
All contents are Copyright © 1992–2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
C36-376629-00 10/06
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