Specialty Services Aimed at Specialty Retailers

By Doug Barney January 02, 2014

C&K Systems already provides omni-channel tools and managed services for specialty retailers. Now it has a new distribution partner in the form of Retail Pro International (RPI), which will resell data management, security and hosting services.

RPI focuses on store applications, back office software and point of sale systems. The 25 year-old RPI offloads these operations so their clients can focus on their core business. C&K, an MSP, does much the same and believes it has the ability to move customers’ IT operations from grunt work to strategic, and thus keep pace with the competition. “Change is an inevitable force in the retail industry, and technology is often the biggest reason why. Because this change happens fast, it is sometimes hard for retailers to determine which technologies will truly help their business flourish and which may make it flounder. Our vision in retail technologies helps small and medium-sized retailers make sound decisions on the technologies that are the most suitable for their specialty retail store,” said Kevin Bowdon, C&K CEO.

RPI is looking forward to offering more services, and with more competition from Web retailers such as Amazon, brick and mortar companies have to be as efficient as possible.

“C&K Systems’ proven track record and scale allow us to bring added services and assurance of the world-class support to our customers. This move positions both of our companies to reach our long-term goals, and truly increases value for the industry as a whole,” said Kerry Lemos, CEO of Retail Pro International.

C&K has been in business almost as long as RPI, 24 years to be exact. Over that time the company built up a roster of 500 customers, encompassing over 2,500 retail outlets. The company serves the East Coast and hopes to build out its footprint by investing in personnel and people.

“Our internal investments and recent successes have positioned us for rapid growth over the next several years. Retail Pro's scale, experience and strategic direction make them an ideal platform for scaling our managed service provisions at a pace that can meet, if not exceed, our original goals,” said Bowden.

Here are some of the items C&K provides:

“Counterpoint SQL retail software deployment
Frequent Image and Database Backups
High Speed Internet Access with Service Level Agreement(SLA)
Redundant High Speed Communications Circuits
Redundant Power Grid
Setup, training and deployment assistance
Online access to management and organization reports and information
Enhanced Network Management and Monitoring, Backups, Anti-Virus, Security, and Software Updates and Upgrades.”