Working in Information Technology

Business Sectors

Source: Target IT 2006, GTI Publishing

Author: Jez Green, ISD Systems Manager, ASDA

Retail IT is about supporting he business functions and company infrastructure. It involves planning, strategy, ensuring what customers ask for is being delivered, implementing systems and seeing them through to completion. Each department supports a customer area - this doesn't mean a 'customer' in the traditional sense, but we refer to each internal business area as our customers.

A fast growing area of retail IT is e-commerce, which is essentially a company's presence on the web. For large retailers this can cover everything from groceries to books, video games, finance and insurance.

New developments

With the growth of e-commerce in the industry, new developments have seen retailers expand their online merchandising - for example, we have launched a new music, games and video site. The areas of e-commerce that are expanding typically reflect a company's strategy, so you're always at the cutting edge of the business. It's an exciting sector to work in because there are new developments, consumer trends and fluctuating markets to consider. IT teams need to be ready for all eventualities.

Skills required

You need to be able to get things done at the first attempt, take control of situations, and coach others around you. To work in retail IT you need to look for new ways of dealing with situations and come up with smart solutions, be self-driven, a good leader and a good listener - teamwork is paramount.

Specific degree requirements will vary between employers, but most ask for a 2.1 or above. You don't necessarily need to have an IT degree to work in this sector - we've had people with journalism degrees and geography degrees. Again, this varies within the industry but you may not be required to have as high a level of technical skills as for other IT careers. If someone has the right attitude that suits the demands of the retail sector, then it is possible to teach them; technical skills are easier to teach than personality.

Starting out

Many large employers have graduate IT schemes. In the first weeks of a scheme, graduates might expect to get an overview of each department within a store and may even head a department for a short period. They will then come back to IT head office and learn how everything fits together from desktops to area networks. They will also have a period working within in-store implementation, installing hardware such as checkouts into new stores. This builds understanding of the IT functions at ground level.

After this they are likely to spend time in the main retail IT areas:

• e-commerce
• home office systems (HR, payroll etc)
• trading and marketing (buying, selling and marketing)
• supply and distribution (managing the flow of products from depot to store)
• retail (supporting in-store applications).

• The variety of the work, the fast-paced environment and the new challenges that arise.
• It's possibly the only retail area where you get such a good overview of the entire business structure.

Worst

• The time-difference problems if you have to deal with development teams overseas. It can be very frustrating when you have something that needs to be dealt with and they're still in bed!

Don't bother if...

...you don't like challenging work and you don't believe in your abilities!

Computer Studies,

Information Systems,

Information Technology and Multimedia Computing

Business Mathematics,