Streamlines product purchasing, merchandising and quality control with managed international communications platform
Streamlines product purchasing, merchandising and quality control with managed international communications platform
UK fashion design and supply company, S’porter has deployed its managed videoconferencing service to accelerate decision making between buying, merchandising and quality control teams at S’porter’s international offices, as well as through its supply chain.
S’porter – established by George Davies, the fashion visionary behind retail giants such as Next, George at Asda and per una at Marks & Spencer – chose a managed videoconferencing service from Dimension Data after seeing it in action at clothing manufacturer and wholesaler, Poetic Gem. The company is already achieving cost savings, having reduced some business travel and replaced some international phone calls with video meetings across its dedicated, all-inclusive network.
Managing business across time zones
Darryl Innes, systems engineer at S’porter, explained: “As videoconferencing was new to the organisation, we opted for a managed service that would be easy to use and well supported. For a monthly subscription, Dimension Data has supplied the hardware, set up a directory of contacts and supports our 40 users with a 24-hour helpdesk. This was particularly important because it’s not practical or cost-effective for our technical teams to do it themselves across so many different time zones.”
S’porter was also attracted by the flexibility and easy upgrade path offered by a managed service, enabling it to keep pace with advancing technology. Innes continued: “The users have been quick to adopt videoconferencing because their experiences to date have been very positive. It is a significantly more personal and effective way to meet with colleagues and suppliers.”
Supporting stringent business processes
Terry Dwyer, director of visual communications at Dimension Data, added: “Using a combination of phone calls and photographs sent by email was a cumbersome and inaccurate way for the hubs of expertise to communicate with overseas suppliers. On the retail clothing side in particular, S’porter works within very strict standards relating to garment fit such as sleeve lengths, tailoring and size,” he continued. “The natural and high-definition power of video conferencing has greatly enhanced the product purchasing, merchandising and quality control processes at the company.”
S’porter is using the room-based Cisco TANDBERG C20 system for meetings between its senior executives, as well as for product collaboration, assessment and purchasing. With a single per-month subscription and no initial outlay on hardware, software or bandwidth, Dimension Data’s video conferencing-as-a-service is designed to enable faster and more substantial savings for the business without impacting on existing IT infrastructure.
