A PROGRESSIVE PLATFORM

DENISE ZIMMERMAN

To the uninitiated, client-server technology's claims of "faster, better, cheaper" are as enticing as they are misleading.

The benefits of switching to a client-server computing platform can be enormous. However, those who've been there, and have successfully navigated the waters of distributed processing, offer words of caution:

Resist a "technocentric" view: Client-server computing is not a panacea to all problems. If anything, retailers say, it opens doors to entirely new challenges that don't exist in a mainframe environment.

Prepare to pay: Described as heavily "front-loaded" on the investment side and "back-loaded" on the benefits side, a client-server architecture is expensive because it involves cost in addition to -- not in place of -- mainframe operations.

Develop a blueprint that supports the business strategy: Companies re-engineering the business and venturing into projects like category management, for example, can tailor a program to fit their particular strategy.

Rich rewards, though, do await companies who plan long-term and prepare to wait for results, retailers told SN. Once more success stories come to light, momentum will take over and most chains will implement client-server in one form or another, bullish advocates predict.

"I think it's in the future for everybody -- either in the near future or in the far future," said Dick Lester, vice president of information services at Associated Grocers, Seattle. "It will literally replace the architecture that we are used to using. Right now, it's an 'either/or' [proposition], but in five years, it'll be the standard."

Client-server computing represents a dramatic departure from supermarkets' traditional "batch-oriented" data processing. Unlike a mainframe, which single-handedly conducts all processing and stores all data, client-server computing breaks up the processing function and distributes it among multiple servers. Those servers are linked to individual users, or clients, via a network.

"It allows for a more continuous [processing] flow as opposed to batch flow," said Lester. The client-server platform in place at the cooperative wholesaler is often cited by industry observers as the most advanced in the supermarket industry.

Another retailer making strides in client-server computing agreed the technology is poised for rapid growth. "It will become more important over the next year and dramatically more important over the next five years," said the executive, who requested anonymity.

Fueling client-server's penetration is a wealth of benefits that can reduce costs long-term while providing new tools to drive sales and profitability.

Reduced costs are attributed to faster applications development time, reduced duplication of processing tasks and a hardware purchasing structure that differs greatly from that of mainframes.

"It's not a straight-line deal. Client-server changes the economics of computing dramatically," said Associated's Lester, who added that the complex nature of distributed processing is not to be underestimated.

"Instead of buying a multimillion-dollar, huge mainframe every three to four years, you're buying small, $50,000 systems every few weeks," he said. "Instead of buying a lot of capacity that you don't need for a while, you're only buying the capacity that you need at the moment.

"But it still requires good management judgment to make that happen," he added.

Client-server computing also offers decision-support tools to build profitability. Through desktop computers, buyers and merchandisers can gain access to data and analysis programs not available to them in a mainframe environment.

That new capability will be critical to a new category management program under way at 28-store Harp's Food Stores, Springdale, Ark.

"Up until recently, companies our size haven't been able to afford to do anything with that [item movement] information," said Jim Antz, management information systems director. "It is costly to both store it and manipulate it."

However, Harp's new client-server-based category management software program will allow the chain "to actually do something with that data, to store it centrally and then have buyers and directors of different departments massage that data, manipulate it any which way they want.

"I believe client-server will grow, both in our company and in the industry," said Antz.

Other retailers and industry observers agree that client-server computing will continue to flourish and that a prime driver of the change is software vendors' commitment to developing client-server-based applications.

"Technology is getting cheaper and it's also getting more powerful," Antz added.

It's precisely that computing power that retailers are seeking out as they explore initiatives put forth by the Efficient Consumer Response movement.

Ventures into category management, continuous replenishment and automated direct store delivery, for example, are based upon the rapid transfer of accurate -- and often massive -- data both internally and between various trading partners. More and more, software programs to handle such tasks are being developed for a client-server environment.

"Software vendors are spending 80% or more in aggregate of their research and development dollars building systems on client-server platforms -- not mainframes," said an executive whose company provides outsourcing services in the supermarket industry.

"So, whether it's today, a year from now or two years from now, the most robust applications are going to be on a client-server platform," he continued. "If you don't start planning for it now, you're going to miss the boat."

Planning for client-server requires extensive evaluation of all business processes in an organization.

At Fiesta Mart, Houston, getting ready for new technologies is high on the priority list. However, client-server won't be introduced just yet, said Gil Russell, chief information officer.

"Is there going to be a need sometime in the future? Sure," he said. "But I'm guessing that client-server is at least a year away for Fiesta. I don't see, near-term, a need for client-server."

Assessing need is critical to implementation of new technology, and especially important with so radical a change as adopting a new computing platform.

"People [exploring client-server] need to keep their eye on the ball from the perspective of their business," one retailer told SN. "They need to be clear on what the business-driven requirement is to embark on any system -- and then, what the business-driven economics are to go to a particular platform."

Associated Grocers is one such company that employed client-server computing and documented reduced applications development time and other benefits like reduced inventory and increased product turns in the warehouse.

"In terms of people who have been doing this, [Associated] has probably had the most business success and has really made client-server a part of the culture," said Jim Stikeleather, technology partner at Technical Resource Connection and former systems development director at Kash n' Karry Food Stores, both based in Tampa, Fla.

"[Associated] has a handle for the business reasons for going into client-server," he added. "One of the problems you run into when people start going to client-server is they take a 'technocentric' view: We're doing this because it's the latest and the greatest technology, without really justifying it from a business perspective."

Associated's Lester said some of the business benefits Associated has documented after implementing client-server computing also include increased service levels and reduced paper flow.

Effective, long-term planning for a migration to a client-server computing platform is key, retailers say, and the transition can easily span five years or longer.

At Harp's, which is in the early stages of installing a framework for client-server technology, executive management has made significant hardware and software investments, Antz said. The chain installed a Unix-based operating system last year and currently is setting up networks systemwide.

By the end of the year, Antz expects up to half of Harp's stores to be on line with the client-server category management system. Other applications identified as likely candidates for a client-server platform, he added, include distribution, purchasing, financial and sales analysis software modules.

Antz said those applications are not currently available on a client-server platform.

For Harp's, waiting for client-server-based financial and distribution software presents no problems.

However, a lack of mission-critical systems tools for maintenance and diagnostics is considered a substantial barrier to wider adoption of client-server. "[Client-server] diagnostics are very weak compared with the very rich set of tools available in the mainframe world," said one retailer

" 'Command' and 'control' tools that have been available and taken for granted in the mainframe environment for 15, 20 years almost don't exist in the client-server world. They are at a very primitive level compared to what people have come to expect from the mainframe," said the executive, a vice president of management information systems.

To further complicate matters, client-server architecture brings with it new problems that do not occur in a mainframe setting.

Unlike a mainframe platform, where all software resides at a central data center, for example, client-server calls for applications to run at the user's desktop. "So you start to look around and say, 'How do we control distribution of software? How do we control the fact that we have a new version of an application?'

"And it's all error-prone," the retailer continued. "Things break and you turn around and you say, 'Where are the automated tools to do diagnosis and repair?' And they're not there."

Because client-server computing takes place in a distributed network environment, and often the hardware components are sourced from multiple vendors, "it's ripe for finger-pointing" when something goes wrong, the retailer said.

The complex nature of client-server computing sets the stage for such stumbling blocks. However, the retailer maintains its commitment to the new architecture is unwavering.

"All these things can be overcome. Just be prepared in advance that you're going to need to have a lot of resources to throw at things during the interim time before all the tools are available."

The cost of implementing client-server is widely misunderstood, retailers said.

Because mainframe operations must continue during a phase-in period, "you are not able to release dollars that are consumed by mainframe hardware, software or support," said one retailer that recently introduced client-server computing at the corporate level and at its 100-plus stores. "You have all the existing data center expenses that you had before -- and a new set of expenses" related to client-server systems.

Another new set of expenses relates to training at the user level and development of new skill sets in the MIS department.

"The most difficult barrier to overcome is momentum," said Associated's Lester. "We've spent 20 years, all of us, building up staff and infrastructure to run in a mainframe environment and that's difficult to change overnight.

Harp's Antz agreed. "When switching to client-server, you're giving people tools that are very powerful, and for a lot of people, that's very scary."

At the store level, client-server technology can eliminate duplication of processing tasks like those related to direct store delivery, noted Ed Martin, former director of retail technology and MIS at Save Mart Supermarkets, Modesto, Calif.

"In the case of DSD, by processing data and invoices at every store, you eliminate the need for a large number of accounts-payable clerks [at the corporate level] to verify every bill," said Martin, who now is a vice president at Efficient Market Services, Deerfield, Ill.

Integrating applications on a client-server platform allows retailers to leverage the strength of each software package. "An example of that is [an automated] DSD system," Martin noted. "DSD is set up primarily to receive groceries but can be easily modified to become an inventory control system for perpetual inventory at the store level.

"With the correct strategic planning, these applications can become the building blocks for a retail accounting system for the future," he added.