Software AG Case Studies Building the New Era of Luxury Retail with IT Portfolio Management in the Cloud

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	Building the New Era of Luxury Retail with IT Portfolio Management in the Cloud Software AG

Building the New Era of Luxury Retail with IT Portfolio Management in the Cloud

Software AG

Technology Category	Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries	Retail Consumer Goods
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Supply Chain Visibility Retail Store Automation Demand Planning & Forecasting
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Software Design & Engineering Services
Challenge	The multinational luxury fashion company faced challenges due to rapid expansion and major acquisitions. The company was under pressure from global competition and growing costs. The company's IT leadership team wanted the Information Systems (IS) teams to have visibility into their portfolios to be able to develop project plans and future IT strategies to support the company's ambitious business transformation goals. The piecemeal process in place at that time involved manual updates to a Microsoft® Access® database, visualization in the Visio® modeling tool and PowerPoint® for presentations. Information on the portfolio was updated twice a year— not a good basis for road mapping and investment decisions that needed to be made on the turn of dime. Read More
About Customer	The customer is a leading multinational luxury fashion group that has grown over the years through acquisitions. The company was started by six leatherworkers in a New York City loft in 1941 and has since become an international powerhouse through several major acquisitions in the past decade. These acquisitions, worth more than $3 billion, have posed a risky prospect in the luxury fashion business, where competition is coming from all directions. The company's IT leadership team wanted the Information Systems (IS) teams to have visibility into their portfolios to be able to develop project plans and future IT strategies to support the company's ambitious business transformation goals. Read More
Solution	In 2014, the luxury fashion group turned to Alfabet, the only comprehensive solution in the industry for managing IT planning and enterprise architecture. With acquisitions on the horizon, the company asked for help from Software AG Global Consulting Services to achieve faster gain with less pain and harness Alfabet as an agile, cloud-based platform for all that would follow. Now, as part of a wildly successful digital transformation, Alfabet is the company’s gateway to next-generation planning, system transparency, omni-channel consumer experience and supply chain optimizations. Alfabet is also at the heart of the luxury fashion group’s initiative to save $100 million in IT costs in just three years. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Retail

Consumer Goods

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Supply Chain Visibility

Retail Store Automation

Demand Planning & Forecasting

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

Challenge

The multinational luxury fashion company faced challenges due to rapid expansion and major acquisitions. The company was under pressure from global competition and growing costs. The company's IT leadership team wanted the Information Systems (IS) teams to have visibility into their portfolios to be able to develop project plans and future IT strategies to support the company's ambitious business transformation goals. The piecemeal process in place at that time involved manual updates to a Microsoft® Access® database, visualization in the Visio® modeling tool and PowerPoint® for presentations. Information on the portfolio was updated twice a year— not a good basis for road mapping and investment decisions that needed to be made on the turn of dime.

About Customer

The customer is a leading multinational luxury fashion group that has grown over the years through acquisitions. The company was started by six leatherworkers in a New York City loft in 1941 and has since become an international powerhouse through several major acquisitions in the past decade. These acquisitions, worth more than $3 billion, have posed a risky prospect in the luxury fashion business, where competition is coming from all directions. The company's IT leadership team wanted the Information Systems (IS) teams to have visibility into their portfolios to be able to develop project plans and future IT strategies to support the company's ambitious business transformation goals.

Solution

In 2014, the luxury fashion group turned to Alfabet, the only comprehensive solution in the industry for managing IT planning and enterprise architecture. With acquisitions on the horizon, the company asked for help from Software AG Global Consulting Services to achieve faster gain with less pain and harness Alfabet as an agile, cloud-based platform for all that would follow. Now, as part of a wildly successful digital transformation, Alfabet is the company’s gateway to next-generation planning, system transparency, omni-channel consumer experience and supply chain optimizations. Alfabet is also at the heart of the luxury fashion group’s initiative to save $100 million in IT costs in just three years.

Impact #1	The company was able to surmount accessibility and scalability hurdles, improve collaboration across brands, and achieve better transparency, foresight and agility in planning IT expenditures.
Impact #2	The company now has strategic alignment between business and IT and a delivery structure to ensure appropriate cost measures and processes.
Impact #3	The company has the means to drive continuous improvement of operational effectiveness within IS.

Impact #1

The company was able to surmount accessibility and scalability hurdles, improve collaboration across brands, and achieve better transparency, foresight and agility in planning IT expenditures.

Impact #2

The company now has strategic alignment between business and IT and a delivery structure to ensure appropriate cost measures and processes.

Impact #3

The company has the means to drive continuous improvement of operational effectiveness within IS.

Benefit #1	Planned $100 million in IT savings in just three years.
Benefit #2	The company has extended its license through at least 2020.

Benefit #1

Planned $100 million in IT savings in just three years.

Benefit #2

The company has extended its license through at least 2020.

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Overview

Building the New Era of Luxury Retail with IT Portfolio Management in the Cloud

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit