Identity And Access Management Overhaul For A National Retail Chain

We started by mapping every identity, system and access route across the business. Interviews with store managers, head office teams and IT showed how people really signed in day to day, which was often very different from the official process. Stores of every size and format were included in the review.

The assessment found thousands of accounts belonging to people who had left, shared logins on almost every till and back-office PC, and dozens of applications with their own separate passwords. Many store staff kept passwords written on notes beside the till, simply because the old system made signing in so slow and frustrating.

These findings shaped a business case built around both security and store efficiency. Leadership approved the programme quickly because it promised faster sign-ins for staff and fewer helpdesk calls, as well as a much stronger defence against credential misuse. The assessment also created a baseline for measuring the programme's success at every stage of the rollout.

Choosing the right identity platform was critical for a workforce of 12,000 spread across 600 locations. We ran a structured evaluation of leading providers, scoring each against security, usability, retail integrations and total cost over five years. Store teams were involved from the very first shortlist.

Shortlisted platforms were tested in real stores with real staff, measuring how quickly people could sign in during busy periods and how easily the platform connected to tills, rota software and head office systems. Feedback from store teams carried as much weight in the decision as the technical assessment did.

The chosen platform combined strong passwordless support with the retail integrations the business needed. The evaluation also gave procurement a clear, evidence-based recommendation, which helped negotiate better licensing terms and speed up final approval from the board. The chosen platform has since been extended to suppliers and contractors, using the same secure sign-in approach.

We moved every member of staff to passwordless sign-in using FIDO2 hardware keys and phone-based authentication. Staff simply tap a key or approve a prompt instead of remembering and typing complex passwords that change every few months. Every store received enough keys for all of its staff.

Hardware keys were chosen for store staff because many did not want to use personal phones at work, while head office teams could use either option. Each key is registered to one person, so every action is tied to a named individual and cannot be shared, guessed or stolen through a phishing email.

Sign-in times fell from over a minute to a few seconds, and password reset requests dropped to zero. Staff feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many saying it was the first IT change in years that actually made their working day easier. Lost keys are replaced within a day through store managers, so staff are never left unable to work their shifts.

Shared till and back-office logins were the root cause of the chain's past breaches. Removing them meant rethinking how staff move between tills during a busy shift, without slowing down queues or frustrating customers at the checkout. Store managers helped design the new process from the start.

We introduced fast user switching, so staff tap their own key to take over a till in seconds. Back-office systems were connected to the new identity platform, and every shared account was retired once its replacement had been fully tested in pilot stores across different regions, store formats and trading patterns.

Shared credentials have now been removed from all 600 stores. Every sale, refund and stock adjustment is linked to a named person, which has also helped reduce till losses and made investigating discrepancies far quicker for store and regional managers. Loss prevention teams now use this data every week to spot unusual patterns and support store managers.

Manual account creation meant new starters often waited days for access, while leavers kept theirs for weeks. We connected the identity platform directly to the HR system, so accounts are now created, changed and removed automatically. The HR team helped shape every step of the new process.

When someone joins, their account and the right access for their role are ready before their first shift. When they move stores or change roles, permissions update automatically, and when they leave, access is removed within two hours instead of the previous average of 23 days, closing a major security gap for good.

Store managers no longer spend time chasing IT for access, and the helpdesk has been freed from thousands of manual requests each year. Auditors can now see a complete, automatic record of who had access to what, and exactly when. The same connection now supports seasonal hiring, so thousands of temporary staff can be set up quickly each year.

Rolling out to 600 stores without disrupting trading needed careful planning. We started with ten pilot stores of different sizes and formats, refining the process until changeovers were smooth, predictable and quick to complete. Every wave was timed to avoid key trading periods.

Stores were then migrated in regional waves, always outside peak trading hours. Each store received a short on-site session, printed quick guides and a dedicated support line for the first week, and regional champions helped colleagues who were less confident with technology so nobody was left struggling on their own at the till.

All 600 stores were live within 90 days, with no lost trading days and no major incidents. The rollout playbook has since been reused for other store technology projects, saving time and effort on future programmes across the business. Store staff rated the rollout highly in surveys, and many asked why the change had not been made years earlier.

With every identity now in one place, the business could finally manage access properly. We introduced role-based access, so staff automatically receive exactly what their job requires and nothing more, whatever store or team they work in. Roles were defined together with managers from every area.

Quarterly access reviews are now handled through simple online approvals, with managers confirming or removing access in a few clicks. Privileged accounts for IT and finance teams are protected with extra controls, including time-limited elevation and full activity logging for every sensitive action carried out on key systems.

The chain now meets all of its outstanding regulatory requirements for accountability and access control. Audit preparation that once took weeks now takes a couple of days, because the evidence is collected automatically and kept up to date throughout the year. The same governance model is now being extended to suppliers, contractors and partner organisations.

Password resets had consumed 40% of the helpdesk's time, leaving little capacity for real problems. With passwords gone, we worked with the helpdesk team to redesign how identity support was handled across the whole business. Agents were closely involved in shaping every change made.

Self-service options were introduced for lost or replacement keys, with secure identity checks that store managers can complete on the spot. Clear knowledge articles and updated scripts help agents resolve the remaining identity issues quickly, and dashboards now show trends so recurring problems can be fixed at their source instead of again and again.

Overall helpdesk tickets fell by 60% within three months. The team now spends its time on higher-value work, such as supporting new store technology, and staff across the business report faster, more helpful support whenever they need it. Helpdesk satisfaction scores have risen steadily, and the team now has capacity for new support services.