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Case 1 - Large Retail Chain in US

Case 2 - A Leading Publisher of Encyclopedias in the US

Case 1:
Customer: Large Retail Chain in US
Technology: Enterprise Application Integration

The Customer

The Customer is a leading retail and food distributor and the among the top 12 food retailers in United States with over a thousand retail stores including hundreds of licensed locations across several states. It caters to over 1100 stores of varying sizes, which represent regional and national chain supermarkets, corporate-owned and licensed retail locations, mass merchandisers and e-tailers.

The Challenge

With its huge network of stores and retail outlets, our customer was in need of a web-based order management system that would allow retailers to place orders over the web and track the status of each order.

The customer's current application aggregated the orders in a DB2 database. The application resided on a legacy mainframe system. The retailer would place his order, which was reviewed by the customer and sent to the distributor. The distribution centers would ship the orders to the retailers. This entire process was long and led to delays and reduced efficiency. The customer felt the need for an online system.

The Solution

Tata Infotech developed a system from scratch. It gathered the customer's requirements, drew out a detailed design, developed the system and tested it. The eMerchandising system integrates with the Customer's existing applications and is based on the Web Commerce Suite (WCS) framework from IBM. The system incorporates other technologies like VA4J, IBM WebSphere Application server, IBM HTTP server, JSP, EJB and DB2 Connect to link to the mainframe database.

The Benefits

The new system provides retailers with an additional ordering channel.

Meanwhile real-time data entry and insight enables clients to optimize their total requirement.

The Testimonial

The IT Manager of the Customer firm said: "The first thing TATA did for me was to take over support of the eCatalog application developed by IBM ... They completed the enhancement backlog in less than 2 months. They cut the reported problems to less than 1 per month. They assumed support responsibility for eMerchanding and for Common Code Web. They can support Dock Scheduling and other Web applications if required. The two resources are onsite if needed for support but are able to spend most of their time on other development projects."

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Case 2:
Customer: A Leading Publisher of Encyclopedias in the US
Technology: Portal

The Customer

A leading publisher of encyclopedias, was keen to increase its clientele and expand its reach using the Internet. The publisher leveraged its intellectual assets to launch a subscription-based online service for schools and libraries. The Online Portal features thousands of articles, maps and pictures from the Encyclopaedia as well as content from an extensive archive of annuals and articles from the early 1900s. The Online Portal serves as a single point of access to a range of facts, figures and statistics. It is also a comprehensive research assistant to its clientele worldwide.

The Challenge

The Online Portal was initially formed through a joint venture between the publisher and IBM. IBM provided the technology and the publisher owned the encyclopedia content. Most of publisher's budget was spent maintaining the portal with minimal enhancements, making the site very static. The publisher felt an acute need to reverse this situation: with the same budget it wanted more features with less being spent on maintaining the portal. It was looking for an offshore strategic partner who would give it better value for its budgeted dollar while providing 24x7 support.

The Solution

Tata Infotech deployed its proprietary SertainSupport® Methodology to transition the support of the website from the existing service provider over a period of three months. The process maturity of SertainSupport® ensured that the transition was smooth in spite of the aggressive time deadlines. Maintenance and enhancements to the portal are done using the distributed onsite-offshore approach. This approach enabled us to provide World Book with a 24x7 support.

Within a few months of taking over, we were able to reduce the publisher's monthly maintenance costs by over 50%! Subsequently, Tata Infotech has undertaken the complete redesign and enhancements of the portal. Following the publisher's tie up with AOL in mid 2001, Tata Infotech has successfully engineered a seamless integration between the Online Portal and AOL which allows subscribed users of AOL access to information on the publishers Online Portal without needing to register.

The Benefits

• Dramatic reduction in monthly maintenance costs.
   
• Enhancements to the portal.
   
• Onsite-offshore model assuring a 24x7 support.
   
• Quick transition from existing services provider ensured
  better value for budgeted dollar.
   

The Testimonial

In the words of the CTO: "... the Online Portal was recently rated the number 1 digital encyclopaedia by one of the most respected trade publications, School & Library Journal. The reviews were done literally weeks after we launched the redesigned Portal. This ranking is a testament not just to the content but equally to the quality, performance, and usability of the Online Portal interface.
Of course, all of you are largely responsible for this aspect of the Online Portal and have therefore made an integral contribution to the success of the Portal which has resulted in this honor."

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