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Background

Smythson, of Bond Street is a British manufacturer of luxury stationery, leather goods, diaries, and fashion products based in London, England. Smythson opened his first shop on 29 September 1887 at 133, New Bond Street, London.

Challenge/opportunity

The company had an aggressive growth plans from £12m to £50m in five years without significant growth in the cost base while opening new stores and making better use of store space.  In addition, expansion of the Bespoke service was critical both in the UK and overseas markets. However, IT was seen as an impediment to growth and business risk, as existing software applications were preventing the company offering the level of service to match the brand image.

Solution

IVIS Group Professional Services were engaged to define the size, shape and approach that Smythson should take to implement an IT platform that can deliver the company’s business plan and in line with the brand image.

The project was kicked off by interviewing key stakeholders to understand the vision, brand values and business goals.

Interviews were then conducted with directors and head of departments of Finance, Web Trading, Merchandising, Direct Marketing, Corporate Sales, Warehouse Management, Bespoke and Store Operations.  During these interviews IVIS Group Maturity Model approach was used to identify strengths and weaknesses across the organisation.

Deliverables

Vision document to capture the high level business requirements and key milestones

Prioiritised key pain points were identified with the relevant dependencies

System strategy was created to supports the business strategy

Benefits

  • Aligned vision and strategy to deliver the business plan
  • Identified early wins for IT solutions
  • Agile implementation plan to deliver on budget and growth targets
  • Offers integrated, scaleable and flexible end solution
  • Putting control of the entire process back to the business not IT
  • Defined a vision for an efficient and flexible customer centric retailer
  • Maintain brand image
PROJECT DETAILS

CATEGORY: Software platform optimization

SERVICES: IVIS Group Professional Services

DELIVERABLES: IT Implementation

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