Reflexis Systems announced today that B&Q plc received the seventh annual Retail Systems Achievement Award for "Best IT/Business Alignment." The company won over category finalists FedEx/Kinko's and shop.com, both of whom demonstrated innovative use of technology to solve a business issue. B&Q was honored for its use of the Reflexis Workforce Management solution to drive improvements in store productivity, customer service, and business processes -- achieving significant ROI.

B&Q, a top international home-improvement retailer with more than 340 stores, successfully implemented the Reflexis solution to simplify communications, manage workload volume, track in-store activities, and drive consistent execution of tasks in all stores. The solution is fully implemented enterprise-wide and the feedback from store managers has been extremely positive regarding the ease of use of the system and the productivity improvements.

The Reflexis solution (known as STM within B&Q) is a dynamic but easy-to-use web-based system that closes the loop on planning, execution, and measurement by providing visibility, streamlined communications, and real-time feedback and analysis. From headquarters to the stores, B&Q has realized many benefits from STM, including:

The Reflexis solution was implemented across the B&Q enterprise in less than seven months, and the entire store estate was running the application only 14 weeks after the first store went live. An ROI of 145% and payback in absolute cost-benefit terms, including hardware, software, and training costs, is expected in within 2.2 years.

The Retail Systems Achievement Awards were presented in Chicago in conjunction with Retail Systems 2005. The annual awards honor outstanding examples of systems and innovative applications that have enabled more effective customer service and improved business processes. The awards recognize individuals and companies whose customer service and companywide dedication to information technology have raised standards throughout the industry.

"Being pioneers of Workforce Management systems, we are delighted to have partnered with B&Q to bring sustainable and measurable business benefit across its enterprise," said LV Prasad, Senior Vice President of Sales at Reflexis. "The category of award - Best Business/IT Alignment - is a testimony to the culture of our company, defining success exclusively by tangible customer ROI - not deployment of technology."

B&Q is the largest home improvement retailer in the UK, with 14.7% of the repair, maintenance and home improvement market share. B&Q is also the number one DIY retailer in Europe and the third largest in the world, with more than 60 stores open internationally including B&Q Beijing, which is now the biggest B&Q store in the world.