Success Stories
Enabling Next-Gen Online Commerce
Client:
Fry, Inc.Challenge:
- Supplement their permanent staff level to take on new projects while still maintaining high quality and very rigid schedules.
Solution:
- An offshore CSC team of technicians and engineers trained in Fry's technology and framework available to flexibly support client projects.
Results:
- Fry benefits from a large and experienced resource base and has the ability to ramp up or down technical support as needed.
As the needs and expectations of online shoppers grow, retailers are pressing for increasingly sophisticated e-commerce platforms to build their sites on. Behind the scenes, some Web developers and interactive agencies meet the demand by using external IT shops to gain highly skilled, less costly and more adaptable technical crews.
For 15 years, Fry, Inc. has been a leader in developing award-winning commerce sites that helped define the industry. In 2009, online operations built by Fry will generate more than $2 billion for a roster of clients including Godiva Chocolatier, Levi’s and Whirlpool.
Fry’s mission to deliver solutions, systems and insights that provide bottom-line value to their clients became aligned with CSC (then First Consulting Group) in 2006. The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based firm taps into our global network of technical expertise to reduce costs without sacrificing talent.
From pilot to partner
Hiring on various contractors to assist with their platform operations is nothing new for Fry. In fact, considerable growth has necessitated it. But in recent years, Fry has moved most of its contract work, from an engineering perspective, to our Vietnam operations.
“We had more work than we could handle with the resources we had,” says Sue Crawford, managing director, Fry. “We decided to look offshore because it was more cost effective and we wanted to partner with a firm that could build a knowledgeable staff that could come in and out of our projects as needed.”
Different time zones, same expectations
Common to any new offshoring relationship is managing the allocation and communications between long-distance resources and clients. Our Vietnam team of engineers and technicians work on day-to-day Fry projects and they need to remain flexible enough to move depending on priorities.
“These challenges are common to any offshore development house,” says Sudheer Mahendra, account manager, CSC. “Over time, we are seeing fewer challenges and now this process has developed so well that when Fry allocates a task to us we basically come back and deliver the work."
In house and offshore
Work is delegated to Vietnam based on a high-level plan by Fry that determines how offshore resources are utilized. Each incoming task is assigned to a technical specialist who quickly establishes a timeline to finish the job.
“Our technical knowledge of Fry’s platform and our ability to ramp resources up or down is critical to the success of this relationship,” says Mahendra. “Whenever they want us to do something, we have a team that understands.”
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