Kingfisher Plc, the owner of B&Q and Screwfix, has announced plans to accelerate the rollout of automation and AI across its IT operations.

The home improvement giant, which has more than 1,900 stores across seven countries, has extended its 15-year partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for the tech deployment.

As part of the move, the retailer plans to introduce a domain-focused application support structure to align with its existing product and platform approach.

It will also ramp up automation and AI across its IT systems by building on the success of an SaaS-based AIOPs platform that has already been implemented, along with a genAI-powered application reliability engineering tool.

These technologies are designed to provide the company with actionable insights and enable predictive and proactive management of IT systems.

The strategy will also involve the establishment of an ‘Innovation and Automation Office’ to integrate emerging technologies and practices, as well as reduce operating costs.

Dave Haycocks, IT services director at Kingfisher said that the move would drive a "more agile and efficient IT operation", as well as further grow the business.

Kingfisher operates across Europe under several retail banners including B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt, Screwfix, TradePoint and Koçtaş.

Over the past 15 years, TCS has served as the company's largest technology partner, working across multiple areas, including digital engineering, SAP-integration, content management and business process services.

Kingfisher has been experimenting with AI across its home improvement brands, including at B&Q, where the business is trialling a new AI-powered transport optimisation platform to support its target to reach zero emissions by 2040.

The technology, developed by the company’s logistics partner GXO, analyses millions of route variations to identify the most efficient schedules.

Early results from the trial, which was announced by B&Q in August, indicate estimated savings of 240,000 kilometres and 150 tonnes of CO₂.

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