Digital transformation enabled through highly flexible & scalable enterprise solution (Microsoft ecosystem)

Enterprise middleware enables the integration of new acquisition’s systems

Value Highlights

The client, a national trade retailer, is primarily engaged in timber importing, manufacturing and retailing of timber and related products. With extensive warehousing, processing, and distribution capabilities they provide customers across the UK with a range of timber, panel, decorative surfaces, and engineered wood products. The Group has a combined turnover of over £300…

What Were the Challenges?

Multiple instances of ERP for each legal entity (existing & new acquisitions)
Need for ‘plug and play’ flexibility regarding new acquisitions (i.e. ERP ‘plug-ins’)
Need for flexibility regarding future entity sales/exits (i.e. ERP ‘plug-outs’)
Need for a centralised repository to sync data from all sources and underpin an enterprise reporting solution
Need to enable secure data exposure for a digital transformation that encompasses new sales channels such as eCommerce websites (B2B / B2C), for example.
Need for the dataset to be made available to bespoke applications (web and mobile) on a subscription and demand basis
Complex data transformations as per the business requirements
Extremely demanding timelines to deliver a solution

So, What Did we Do?

Our technology team designed a comprehensive solution that satisfied both the client’s short-term goals (i.e. mobile application) and long-term goals (i.e. modern data warehouse).
New mobile app designed to transform existing paper-based processes relating to product deliveries and enable real-time sharing of delivery updates including proof of deliveries.
Enterprise middleware hub was developed using Microsoft Azure Cloud ecosystem which was both scalable as well as extensible and consisted of the following components:
- Front-end: Ionic hybrid frameworks that use a single code base to target mobile and web applications
- Back-end (API): Node JS
- Database: Modern Data Warehouse (MDW) using Azure SQL
- ETL: Azure Data Factory (ADF) pipelines to pull data from various ERPs & refresh MDW at a regular frequency
- Security: Azure Key Vault and Azure API Gateway policies (API limit, DDoS prevention, Firewall etc.) to provide security to the portal data over REST APIs
- DevOps: Azure CI/CD Pipelines with bit bucket for easy/secure deployments to test live environments
Serverless model for app services ensured the capability to automatically scale and meet the demand for eCommerce users during peak periods.
MDW enabled a unified view of data across various Source Systems and encapsulated ERP sources from external components with maximum security.
The new solution supports continuous changes, reimagining the relationships between process and technology to manage risk as well as maximising efficiencies.

Results

More than 6,100 eCommerce orders were placed in the first few months through the eCommerce channel powered by the new enterprise middleware. This increased total sales by 8% (on a month-to-month basis) generating multi-million £ revenue improvements
Single source of truth enabled enterprise data analytics that now provides the corporate leadership with the insight on sales and product performance to properly drive business performance
New mobile technology significantly improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiency
Client now retains an offshore managed service with Panamoure for ongoing development and testing purposes
New portfolio entities are now quickly integrated within 7-14 days

Digital transformation enabled through highly flexible & scalable enterprise solution (Microsoft ecosystem)

Enterprise middleware enables the integration of new acquisition’s systems

Value Highlights

What Were the Challenges?

So, What Did we Do?

Results

Let’s discuss what we could achieve for your business

Let’s Talk

Richard Hamerton-Stove

Partner, Data Strategy