INTRO
As a global retailer in a highly competitive market, the company has built its business on delivering an exceptional customer experience. That experience extends to its online store, where customers' expectations are driven by their latest digital experiences − which are becoming ever more sophisticated
INDUSTRY
Retail
PHASES
Implement/Manage
OFFER TYPES
Cloud services/Migration execution strategy to the AWS environment/Managed IT services for hybrid cloud and on-premises infrastructure
CHALLENGE
As a global retailer in a highly competitive market, the company has built its business on delivering an exceptional customer experience. That experience extends to its online store, where customers' expectations are driven by their latest digital experiences − which are becoming ever more sophisticated.
The company's IT team made a prescient decision to move to the cloud and modernize its infrastructure just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. With deep insights into its customers' needs - combined with the goal of being the world's best in its industry, the company sought a strategic IT partner to help enhance its digital commerce capabilities and to ensure it would be well-positioned to take advantage of technology developments and opportunities in the future. FX was selected for our strategic expertise in cloud migration.
Shortly after the cloud migration was completed, the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, creating intense financial pressure across the retail sector as the majority of sales moved online. In the face of this, the company's IT team decided to consolidate with a single trusted IT partner for ongoing managed services, including operation of its hybrid cloud environment and on-premises infrastructure, and to scale and optimize its IT operations. Again, FX was chosen to be the company's trusted, single IT partner.
PROCESS
Our initial collaboration with the company saw the successful migration of more than 200 virtual machines across 30 separate databases in seven months of implementation. The migration included workloads for product life management and the company's internal websites consisting of training, development, quality assurance, user acceptance testing, and production environments. Together, we also containerized the company's traditional e-commerce application to a Kubernetes-based solution with Amazon EKS to make the application easily deployable
As the partnership continued, we supported the company with ongoing IT implementation and management, including modernizing and migrating the company's e-commerce platform. Today, we are the company's ongoing managed IT services partner, responsible for supporting the company on management of its entire hybrid environment (data center, network, voice, and cloud).
Our IT partnership with the company includes:
- Revamped architecture to ensure a high-availability environment for both project lifecycle management and microsite application stacks.
- Automatic scaling of resources for high-demand periods and cost optimization for low-demand periods.
- Provision of resources through Infrastructure as Code using CloudFormation, enabling the company to quickly launch new features and services in a secure cloud environment.
- Enhanced data analytics capabilities by leveraging the rich set of AWS services.
- Efficient transition of IT operations previously managed by a third party: site visit, inventory and discovery, transition planning, operationalization, project governance.
- Synergies in managing a hybrid (cloud and on-premises) environment.
Testimonial
FX Innovation has been a true partner for us. The cultural fit, the way of doing business, the corporate values − including global reach, cost effectiveness and customer experience – are all tangible benefits that FX was able to bring to the company.
- IT Senior Director
BUSINESS OUTCOMES
Today, the company is well positioned for its next phase of growth, which includes opening 100 more stores in 2023. Our partnership has created strategic efficiencies to support this growth, as FX Innovation supports the company's IT team so they can focus on supporting their business.
The company's business outcomes include:
- A robust digital infrastructure empowering it to provide an exceptional, seamless online customer experience. Customers can make the purchases they want, when and where they want.
- Reduced operational costs, allowing the company to stay ahead in a highly competitive retail market - and grow when many competitors are not. This includes better management of infrastructure costs and an ongoing savings approach and practices.
- Customized, ongoing solutions and recommendations that are connected to its operational reality. Our collaborative, strategic approach helps the company to operate as a brand that understands − and cares deeply − about its customers.
NEXT STEPS
As the company's ongoing managed IT services partner, FX continues to provide ongoing managed services of its hybrid cloud and on premises infrastructure and to support the company with strategic IT programs that evolve and improve its IT operations and therefore its business agility. We are working together in partnership to help the company achieve its vision of being the leading global retailer in its industry, in a world where digital operations are as important as its physical store operations.
