“Carrying tablets running Windows 8 and our touch-enabled sales app, associates can be more attentive, engaging, and efficient. We expect this new service paradigm to translate into increased sales.”

Clark Godwin, Director of Software Engineering, Rooms To Go

Rooms To Go wanted to improve customer service on the showroom floor. It deployed Windows 8 Enterprise and a touch-enabled app called MiRTG on tablets for its sales associates. The mobile computing platform means that associates don’t have to leave the customer to retrieve information from point-of-sales workstations at kiosks. More mobile and attentive service drives sales, improves productivity, and impresses customers.

Business NeedsRooms To Go differentiates itself through a package approach to selling furniture. Its customers appreciate the showrooms’ prearranged rooms that make purchasing decisions easier. Showrooms are equipped with 10 to 25 kiosks that house point-of-sale workstations running on the Windows XP operating system. The workstations store the company’s product catalog, inventory, and delivery schedule—everything necessary to complete a sales transaction.

Every time a customer had a question, sales associates had to use an available kiosk to retrieve the information from the company’s back-end systems. “Often, all the kiosks would be in use, and sales associates had to wait to access the information they needed for their customers,” says Clark Godwin, Director of Software Engineering at Rooms To Go. “Even when they got to a kiosk, sales associates could only work with one customer at a time.”

Rooms To Go wanted sales associates to be able to walk around with customers so they could listen to their requirements and answer questions to help decide on a purchase.

“We needed to create a more mobile sales environment so our sales associates wouldn’t have to leave the customer’s side to find answers to questions about a

product or delivery date,” says Godwin. “This required a mobile computing platform for sales associates to access information on the spot and to help multiple customers at once.”

SolutionRooms To Go deployed a mobile computing platform based on the Windows 8 Enterprise operating system that significantly reduces sales associates’ dependence on the kiosks. It also developed a touch-enabled Windows Store app called MiRTG and deployed it on Dell Latitude 10 tablets. The app facilitates the entire sales process except for the financial transaction, which is handled at the checkout counter.

“With Windows 8, we get all the benefits of the operating system plus a more engaging and modern user interface to build an app that’s changing how we sell furniture,” says Godwin. “None of the other mobile platforms had the requisite enterprise management tool for mobile devices. We already have Microsoft System Center 2012, which we can use to administer and manage our fleet of Windows 8 tablets.”

Working with Microsoft Services Consulting in the Windows 8 early adoption program, Rooms To Go took advantage of recommendations from Microsoft Services around the capabilities of the Configuration Manager component

Customer: Rooms To GoWebsite: www.roomstogo.comCustomer Size: 7,000 employeesCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Retail

Customer ProfileHeadquartered in Seffner, Florida, Rooms To Go has 110 showrooms across the southern United States and Puerto Rico. It offers discounts for those willing to buy furniture by the roomful.

Software and Services Windows 8 Enterprise Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft System Center 2012 R2

Configuration Manager Microsoft Services− Microsoft Services Consulting

Hardware Dell Latitude 10 tablet

For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies

Windows 8 EnterpriseCustomer Solution Case Study

Mobile App Helps Customers Visualize Furniture in Home, Boosts Sales

of System Center 2012 R2. “The expertise provided by Microsoft Services also helped us build the infrastructure deployment strategy,” says Godwin. “They provided guidance on building a standardized solution for a highly secure tablet for use on the sales floor.”

Sales associates quickly learned to use the intuitive gestures built into MiRTG, including Semantic Zoom to open product catalogs, the handwriting option to take notes, and the charm bar to facilitate searching for SKUs. By using the MiRTG app, sales associates can browse the catalog, check product availability and delivery schedules, generate a Quick Response code as a unique identifier for each customer’s shopping cart, and enter a customer into another new app, the Prospects app, for timely follow up.

Rooms To Go created a separate network for the tablets to enable secure data transfer to its data center in Tampa, Florida. The company introduced the tablet to 36 showrooms and will deploy to the rest of the showrooms by the end of 2014. “Our developers want to upgrade to Windows 8.1 to take advantage of the new controls to add more features to the MiRTG app,” says Godwin. “We’ll distribute Windows 8.1 tablets to all 110 showrooms across the United States.”

BenefitsWindows 8 and Dell Latitude tablets constitute a powerful new tool in the hands of Rooms To Go sales associates, who are taking advantage of the mobile computing platform to provide a better sales experience for customers. “Carrying tablets running Windows 8 and our touch-enabled sales app, associates can be more attentive, engaging, and efficient,” says Godwin. “We expect this new service paradigm to translate into increased sales.”

Rooms To Go is already achieving significant benefits:

Improved sales efficiency. Sales associates provide more efficient customer service because everything they need to answer questions and create a sale is at their fingertips. “It only takes a few minutes to complete the final

monetary transaction at the kiosk,” says Godwin. “Instead of leaving the customer to click through several pages in a desktop-oriented user interface, sales reps use simple gestures on the tablet to access product catalogs, store inventories, delivery schedules, and SKUs, immediately answering customers’ questions, right at their side. Our customers are impressed!”

Enhanced sales experience. Rooms To Go added digital imagery functionality to MiRTG that helps customers visualize furniture with different fabrics and accessories. Sales reps use the app to display flooring and wall colors that approximate a customers’ home décor so that they can see how the furniture fits.

Increased service capacity, improved sales potential. By using the tablet, sales reps can serve more than one customer at a time, a boon on busy days when lines at the kiosks can slow customer service. “Sales associates are helping three or four customers at once because the app allows for multiple shopping carts, and you can easily swipe the screen to switch between them,” says Godwin. “We feel that the tablets are helping the sales numbers at our stores that didn’t have many kiosks.”

Reduced costs. Rooms To Go expects to reduce the number of kiosks per store, regaining its most valuable asset: floor space. “We can showcase more furniture without paying for extra real estate,” says Godwin. “Tablets require less maintenance than workstations, and we expect to save money on training because the app is more intuitive.”

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published January 2014