Solution Benefits

  • Reduced Costs
  • Increased Productivity
  • Enhanced Security
  • Improved Sustainability

Customer Profile

  • Food Retailer & Manufacturer
  • 50 Locations
  • 1000+ Staff

A revolution in workplace tech delivered by Agilico at Greggs HQ

We’ve got more than 30,000 pieces of kit, all to make and sell a few sausage rolls,” jokes Greggs’ head of IT. The technology involved in running Greggs, which has more stores in the UK than McDonald’s, is mind-blowingly complex.

Everything from the way staff at its Newcastle headquarters organise a meeting, to the goods on offer in its 1,700 shops, is governed by the latest technological advances and data.

Over the past five years, over £25m has been ploughed in to modernise and centralise systems and processes.

“Traditionally, you’d be greeted by a receptionist with a pot plant in the corner. But the video wall tells the story of Greggs, our charity work, our awards. Of course there’s still a receptionist, but this sets the tone for staff and visitors coming in and out.”

The video wall is just one of the solutions provided by a six-figure investment in technology and service from Agilico, which has also installed the latest meeting room technology and managed print solutions.

  • High expenditure on postage
  • Lack of visibility
  • Start dates delayed due to lengthy signing process
  • Time consuming scan process
  • Manual and electronic paper workflows

If you can’t stop printing, the question is how to restrict it to save costs and these new devices have enabled us to do that.

Head of ITGreggs
The result

How we helped

For instance, each glass-walled meeting room throughout Greggs’ three-story headquarters features a touch pad at its entrance. “Before, you’d have to get PAs and secretaries to check everyone’s diaries and check if meeting rooms were free. Now you can book the room and invite everyone from your own desktop or one of the touchscreens. If that room isn’t free, it will suggest all the ones of the right size which are available.”

Touchscreens glow red when a meeting has started and green when a room is available, and if your meeting is likely to overrun, you go to the touchscreen and add extra time. Inside, collaborative white boards allow colleagues to work together on ideas and documents, which can then be sent back to everyone’s desktop.

Staff no longer feel they have to ask permission to meet and they move freely between floors. Because it’s easy, many now book shorter, snappier meetings which focus on the task in hand. Sound systems and video make presentations livelier, and visitors can deliver their information easily. The meeting rooms are part of the collaborative feel at Greggs, which is full of little nooks where you can grab a coffee with a colleague for a quick brainstorm.

Results

The company, which employs 20,000 people, has also invested in new print technology, introducing multi-function devices from Agilico which have saved upwards of £300,000 in print and ink costs.

Staff can scan and send documents straight to a recipient’s email. Confidential documents are safe as the system uses follow me technology, which prints only when the user is at the printer with their pass. File names are blanked while printing, an important feature for departments such as HR, and remote workers can set documents to print before picking them up at their next location.

“We can’t be paperless, because paper is quick and clean for checklists. With an iPad, you have to be sure the glass is completely clean for hygiene reasons. If it’s dropped and the glass cracks, you have to shut down an entire production line because of the tiny possibility of contamination. So, if you can’t stop printing, the question is how to restrict it to save costs and these new devices have enabled us to do that.”

“We’ve gone through huge changes in the past few years, and made significant investment. But technology is like painting the Forth Bridge. We always have an eye on the future.”

  • £300,000 savings in print and ink costs
  • Secure print and scanning
  • Digital signage & meeting room technology