Business SituationIndigo purchased Chapters, the online component of their business, about 2-3 years ago. The Chapters online piece was acquired as a separate business unit which has a different IT department and infrastructure. Indigo decided to bring the Chapters online system to its own infrastructure, and has been looking to enhance the efficiency and functionality of the resulting online experience. For instance, a high number of customer support calls are required to support online transactions. In addition, there is no integration with financial systems, so reporting takes place manually, requiring even further resources. Indigo is looking to reduce this support and improve profitability.
Competitive pressures were also driving an urgent need to improve the efficiency, functionality, and customer experience of the Indigo website. For example, the online purchase site of a competitor automatically updates the price level of an item if a customer is eligible for free shipping. Currently this type of update requires a manual process for Indigo. The company was interested in automating this process, as well as automating the process to make changes/updates to the website in general.
Indigo was looking for assistance to identify/understand these issues on both a business & technical level, then lay out a roadmap allowing them to respond with improved agility to the changing marketplace.
SolutionAvanade will deliver the roadmap outlining the process and steps required to bring Indigo to an improved state of agility. This roadmap includes redeveloping the infrastructure of the online fulfillment capability with a new application based on .NET, integrating this system with the retail environment (which runs on SAP), providing financial integration to enable report management, and upgrading web-based kiosks. The new architecture will feature ACA.NET, significant portions of Avanade Connected Methods, and several pieces of Avanade Development Architecture.
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