Retail transformation on the cloud

As one of the leading chain stores in Serbia, Gomex focuses on building long-term relations based on security and trust. Numerous daily transactions and an extensive customer loyalty program make Gomex’s business and IT systems pretty dynamic. As part of the digitization process, Gomex management recognized cloud services as an optimal approach for resolving growing IT demands due to the constant business expansion.

Goals

• Establishing a high-performance production environment that would replace outdated equipment, speed up application performance, and support business requirements
• Optimizing IT resources
• Improving business data protection and security
• Supporting continuous development of consumer loyalty programs
• Business digitization and implementation of EDI strategies when working with documents

Approach

• Focusing on improving IT systems to be faster, constantly available, and to keep data secure
• Analyzing the current and future needs of professional services and the whole company while suggesting optimal solutions for the server infrastructure
• Switching the entire existing solution to a private cloud within the Mainstream Enterprise Cloud
• Taking responsibility for the functioning and availability of the service itself in compliance with the agreed-on SLA

Results

• A new production environment that has drastically reduced the response time of business applications
• A better solution for lower TCO, i.e., lower IT infrastructure costs in comparison with the previous in-house solution
• All critical business information is secure in an isolated cloud environment and insured against potential loss
• Efficient implementation — three months have passed from getting to know the system to its commissioning.

Requirements and the Beginning of Cooperation With Gomex

Gomex stands out as a company that is quick to adapt and innovate. Thus, as part of the digitization process, Gomex management has recognized the cloud service as an optimal approach to addressing growing IT requirements during constant business expansion. Since system performance and reliability requirements are very high, special attention was paid to finding an adequate partner able to deliver quality service. That need led to our communication.

IT Resources as a Growth Factor

From its inception in 1995 until today, Gomex has recorded constant growth in its business scope, the number of facilities, and consumers. In 2017 alone, the company achieved a turnover growth of almost 20%, reaching record revenues of around €100 million. Development dynamics and plans highlighted a need for IT infrastructure stability and finding a sustainable and adaptable solution. Gomex’s periods of dynamic growth were not characterized by an adequate IT infrastructure solution, which caused problems in the operation of business applications over time. The response time of internal applications was increasing, which reduced the speed of performing tasks and productivity in everyday work. With a desire to enable its IT team to focus on improving essential business functions and processes, Gomex management decided to move its entire production environment to a cloud service.

Solution

Partnership, Expertise, and Proactivity for the Right Solution to IT Needs

After the initial competency tests and trust establishment, the cooperation was established on collegial terms. Concentrated expertise in the IT infrastructure field enabled us to mutually analyze the Gomex team’s needs and find the best solution. An analysis of the situation, current solutions, and obligations under existing contracts was conducted, and future business plans were considered to respond not only to current but also future challenges.

Mainstream Enterprise Cloud as a Response to Challenges

Moving to the Mainstream Enterprise Cloud has proven to be the best long-term solution. The private cloud resources provided on the Mainstream platform enabled not only the necessary stability but also the scalability of the IT infrastructure. This solution led to a drastic improvement in performance and application response time, as well as a reduction in system downtime, all while relieving the pressure on the IT team, letting them dedicate themselves to new projects.

Digitization on the Right Track

As one of the leaders in innovation on the domestic retail market, Gomex has begun digitizing its business. A scalable and performance-driven solution for IT infrastructure enables further uninterrupted digital development on a solid and scalable basis. The customer loyalty program and improvements in the core business, such as working with documentation by employing EDI strategies, DMS, automation of the order process from MPO to distribution centers, new advanced solutions in the logistics sector, as well as other essential processes that can now rely on Mainstream as a long-term partner.

Full Technological Support

As part of the Enterprise Cloud platform service, Mainstream takes care of the entire infrastructure, optimization, and settings. The Gomex IT team focuses on strategic projects that improve and ease further business while Mainstream takes care that the whole infrastructure is constantly available, optimal, and secure. Mainstream is ready to support Gomex in future development and enable the integration of new technologies as a long-term partner.

Business optimization implies not only making the best use of existing resources and improving your strengths but also recognizing your weaknesses promptly and finding the best partners for that element of your business. The latter aspect of optimization may be more difficult. However, if a company realizes that it doesn’t necessarily have the knowledge and capacity to do everything the best way possible and entrusts a part of the responsibility to professional companies willing to aid them, it will see progress much faster. The Gomex team realized that. We chose Mainstream, and we’re in Cloud.