Case Study

UST helped global retailer ramp up productivity by 26.7 functional points with managed capacity support

The company needed help maintaining its aging, mission-critical warehouse management applications so IT leaders could focus on designing and developing a modern replacement system. UST's expert resources quickly ramped up and achieved a productivity level of 26.7 functional points per man-month.

OUR CLIENT

This American multinational company is one of the leading big-box retail chains in the world. With more than 750 locations across the globe, the company employs more than 300,000 people and generates annual revenue of nearly $250 billion.

THE CHALLENGE

Needed support to maintain legacy systems while IT team focused on new application

The retailer was using outdated warehouse management systems that ranged in age from nine to 22 years. The company’s IT leaders decided to migrate to a new, modern warehouse management system. However, the IT leaders needed backup managed capacity support to maintain the existing systems so they could turn their attention to planning and developing new solutions.

THE TRANSFORMATION

Provided managed capacity IT resources to maintain existing applications skillfully

An 8-year successful relationship made UST the obvious choice for the managed capacity engagement to support the legacy warehouse applications. UST experts quickly engaged in knowledge transfer sessions. They thoroughly reviewed the appropriate system documentation from the "client university" knowledge repository to take over the application level 3 and level 4 support. By going with a managed capacity model, the retailer knew it had the highly skilled IT resources needed to maintain the legacy applications. At the same time, the company's IT leaders focused on designing and developing the replacement system.

THE IMPACT

Saved approximately 1/3 of costs with offshore managed capacity model vs. onsite support

Once the managed capacity engagement was in place, the company’s IT leaders had peace of mind that the legacy warehouse management systems were in good hands. By going with this flexible off-shore managed capacity model, the company saved about a third of the cost of an onsite engagement. The UST team provided quick responses to support tickets, completed all scheduled maintenance tasks, and achieved these metrics:

RESOURCES

https://www.ust.com/en/what-we-do/strategy-implementation-operations

https://www.ust.com/en/industries/retail-and-cpg