Legacy System
Replacement Programme

Situation

The retailer had a long-standing relationship with a single vendor supplying people-counting hardware and analytics under a bundled service agreement. Over time, the lack of competitive pressure resulted in rigid commercial terms and limited flexibility around service scope.

While the system functioned adequately, procurement and finance teams felt that renewal discussions lacked leverage.

Consideration

Rather than committing immediately to renewal, the retailer introduced a competitive reassessment process. The intent was to validate performance, explore alternative commercial models, and benchmark pricing against current market conditions.

The legacy replacement programme allowed the retailer to trial a modern system alongside the incumbent, without disrupting stores or committing to a full rollout.

Outcome

The competitive evaluation resulted in significantly improved commercial terms. In some regions, the retailer adopted the new platform; in others, the incumbent responded with improved service levels and pricing. In both cases, competition achieved its objective: better value, clearer accountability, and a more balanced vendor relationship.

Situation

The operator relied on a legacy care and maintenance system that had gradually become harder to support. Replacement parts were limited, firmware updates were infrequent, and response times had increased.

Operational teams were reluctant to change due to perceived risk, but support degradation had begun to affect reporting reliability.

Consideration

After several incidents, management concluded that continued reliance on ageing hardware posed greater risk than replacement. The priority was continuity, not feature expansion.

The replacement programme offered a controlled path to modernise infrastructure without redesigning the estate or retraining staff extensively.

Outcome

Devices were replaced site by site with validated performance checks. Support incidents decreased, reporting stabilised, and operational risk was reduced. The decision was later recognised internally as preventative rather than reactive.

Situation

The retailer experienced high staff turnover and frequent staffing adjustments. The existing people-counting system struggled to distinguish staff from customers, leading to inconsistent data. Store managers increasingly distrusted reports, undermining the usefulness of analytics for decision-making.

Consideration

Rather than expanding analytics complexity, the retailer focused on improving baseline data quality. The objective was to restore trust in footfall numbers before exploring advanced insights.

The replacement programme provided improved accuracy, standard staff exclusion, and better handling of group behaviour.

Outcome

Data confidence improved significantly. Store teams began using reports again, and head office regained visibility into trends. The retailer deferred more advanced analytics until teams were ready, but benefited immediately from cleaner data.

Situation

People-counting data was siloed within a single department and not easily shared across operations, planning, and commercial teams. The existing system lacked role-based access and integration capabilities, limiting enterprise-wide value.

Consideration

At renewal, leadership sought to improve data accessibility without increasing operational complexity. The focus was on governance, security, and controlled sharing rather than analytics depth.

Outcome

Following replacement, data was shared securely across teams with clear access controls. Integration with other enterprise systems improved collaboration and planning. The organisation viewed the replacement as an enabler of better internal alignment rather than a technology upgrade.

Situation

The retailer had operated the same people-counting hardware for over seven years. While the system remained functional, maintenance costs had increased steadily. Replacement parts were scarce, firmware updates were infrequent, and on-site intervention costs were rising.

Finance teams noted that annual maintenance and service fees were approaching a level comparable to replacing the hardware outright over a short horizon.

Consideration

At renewal, the retailer conducted a cost comparison between continued maintenance and a controlled replacement. The objective was not to add complexity, but to stabilise cost and reduce operational risk.

The replacement programme allowed the retailer to reuse existing cabling and mounting, significantly lowering installation cost and downtime.

Outcome

The retailer approved a phased replacement across the estate. Annual maintenance expenditure dropped, support incidents reduced, and operational predictability improved. Internally, the decision was justified as a cost-control measure rather than a technology refresh.

Situation

Several stores underwent refurbishment and expansion, increasing entrance widths and internal circulation space. The existing people-counting devices, installed years earlier, were no longer able to cover the full area accurately without adding more hardware.

This created inconsistencies across the estate, with newer stores reporting different quality data compared to older locations.

Consideration

Rather than increasing device density, the retailer reviewed whether newer hardware could provide wider coverage per unit and restore consistency across stores.

The legacy replacement programme offered a way to standardise the hardware baseline without redesigning store layouts.

Outcome

The retailer replaced legacy devices with a wider-coverage platform. Coverage improved, device count stabilised, and reporting consistency returned across the estate. Expansion projects were simplified, and future store designs no longer needed to accommodate additional counters.

Situation

New internal security and data governance standards were introduced, requiring clearer access control, auditability, and tighter integration with corporate IT policies. The legacy people-counting system lacked role-based access and modern data-handling controls.

While the system functioned technically, it no longer aligned with corporate compliance expectations.

Consideration

Rather than extending exceptions for an ageing platform, the IT and compliance teams recommended replacement at renewal to bring the system into line with updated policies.

The replacement programme offered improved data management and integration without increasing operational burden.

Outcome

After replacement, the system passed internal audits with fewer exceptions. Data access became more transparent, and compliance teams reduced oversight effort. The replacement was framed internally as a compliance alignment exercise, not a technology upgrade.

Situation

New internal security and data governance standards were introduced, requiring clearer access control, auditability, and tighter integration with corporate IT policies. The legacy people-counting system lacked role-based access and modern data-handling controls.

While the system functioned technically, it no longer aligned with corporate compliance expectations.

Consideration

Rather than extending exceptions for an ageing platform, the IT and compliance teams recommended replacement at renewal to bring the system into line with updated policies.

The replacement programme offered improved data management and integration without increasing operational burden.

Outcome

After replacement, the system passed internal audits with fewer exceptions. Data access became more transparent, and compliance teams reduced oversight effort. The replacement was framed internally as a compliance alignment exercise, not a technology upgrade.

Situation

The operator used people-counting primarily to satisfy compliance and landlord reporting requirements rather than operational insight. Reports were generated monthly but rarely interrogated. The existing system was reliable enough but provided little transparency or flexibility.

As renewal approached, finance questioned why a system that delivered minimal operational value continued to carry a significant recurring cost.

Consideration

The objective was not to add advanced analytics, but to reduce cost while maintaining compliance and improving optional visibility for operations teams. The replacement programme allowed the operator to assess whether a modern baseline could deliver the same reporting obligations with improved accuracy and lower ongoing cost.

Outcome

Following replacement, the operator retained compliance reporting while reducing annual service expenditure. Some regions began using the improved data for site planning and staffing, but this was optional. Internally, the decision was positioned as cost rationalisation with added upside.

Situation

The incumbent vendor had gradually shifted focus toward large enterprise clients, with new features and roadmap priorities misaligned with the franchise group’s needs. Smaller customers experienced slower response times and fewer meaningful updates.

The system still worked, but the retailer felt increasingly peripheral.

Consideration

At renewal, leadership decided to reassess whether staying with a vendor whose roadmap no longer matched their scale and priorities made sense. The replacement programme offered a way to move to a platform designed to support both simple use cases and future growth.

Outcome

The group replaced legacy devices across the estate. Support responsiveness improved, and the platform felt proportionate to their operational needs. The change was framed as aligning with a vendor whose direction better matched the business.

Situation

Following acquisitions, the group inherited multiple people-counting systems from different vendors. Data definitions, accuracy levels, and reporting formats varied significantly, making cross-brand analysis difficult.

Attempts to normalise data at the reporting layer proved complex and unreliable.

Consideration

Rather than harmonising legacy systems, the group chose to standardise the hardware baseline during renewal cycles. The replacement programme allowed a gradual transition without forcing immediate estate-wide change.

Outcome

As stores renewed contracts, legacy devices were replaced with a single platform. Data consistency improved, enabling group-level analysis. The initiative was viewed internally as infrastructure standardisation rather than analytics expansion.

Situation

Airport landlords introduced stricter reporting requirements, including more granular footfall and dwell metrics. The existing system could not easily meet these requirements without additional modules and cost.

Failure to comply risked commercial penalties.

Consideration

The concessionaire assessed whether upgrading the existing system or replacing it would be more effective. The replacement programme demonstrated that newer hardware could meet reporting requirements as standard, without incremental complexity.

Outcome

The concessionaire replaced legacy systems in key locations. Reporting compliance improved, and relationships with landlords strengthened. The replacement was justified as a contractual necessity rather than discretionary spend.

Situation

Corporate leadership launched an asset optimisation initiative, requiring each department to review long-standing contracts and identify opportunities to improve value without increasing budgets.

The people-counting system had not been reviewed in nearly a decade.

Consideration

Rather than requesting new funding, the operations team proposed replacing ageing hardware as part of contract renewal. The replacement programme allowed them to demonstrate improved capability, lower long-term cost, and better data governance within the existing budget envelope.

Outcome

The replacement was approved and completed without disruption. Leadership recognised the initiative as an example of responsible asset management. The team gained credibility for improving outcomes without additional spend.