Best Deployment : Billing The Right Way

A multinational apparel brand assigned Vitage Systems with the task of
deploying billing stations across its 100 stores, with after-sales support. This
assignment was so successful that the SP has been roped in for the client's 20
upcoming projects as well

The revolution in the buying trend among customers has been compelling retail
stores across the country to spread their wings rapidly. But the key to unlock
the potential of a geographical expansion is robust IT solutions. When a
US-based apparel brand decided to step up its presence in the Indian market,
Bangalore-based Vitage Systems was first in the line to grab this opportunity.
The task included setting up billing stations across 100 odd retail outlets
across different regions of the country, thereby, providing the client an
automated billing solution. This would lower the client's manpower pressure of
handling customers and also enhanced customer satisfaction.

Vitage was assigned the responsibility of deploying these billing stations,
managing them and making the staff at the respective regions understand the
technicalities of the solution so that they could operate it confidently and
without any hassle. Therefore, the solution provider (SP) was also charged with
the responsibility to provide technical training to the retail manpower so that
they could be in a position to handle ground level technical problems by
themselves.

Solution required

When the apparel brand treaded on its strategies to expand in nooks and
corners of the country, they kept on coming up with new outlets. Vitage managed
the task of implemen­ting the relevant IT tools to make this possible.

The main task of Vitage was to understand the market behavior and provide
complete solution for hardware, installa­tion and after-sale support so as to
fully support them. But the execution path was not as simple as it sounded.

“When we were installing the solution in Jammu, we faced a problem in getting
the staff to understand the technology. So we had to stretch the training
period. Similarly, in different regions, the level of understan­ding among staff
was different so we had to understand the local market and then schedule our
routine,” said E Manikandan, CEO, Vitage Systems.

The SP is also managing a 24x7 help desk based in Bangalore that aims at
providing every sort of technical/non-technical assistance to the retail chain
of its client.

Vitage has been executing the project for the brand for around one year and
since the client is planning to come up with 20 more branches, this means that
the SP now has to deploy these projects as well. On an average, it takes around
one day to deploy the hardware and test the functionality of the application and
another two days to impart training to the branch staff to get accustomed to the
system.

Wrapped challenges

Vitage had to face issues in providing after-sales support related to hardware,
as the immediate replacement of products become difficult in regions where the
stock was not available. Also, for acute technical support, when the problems
need to be sorted out by personnel assistance, the SP has to send its technical
staff at the site to fix it. Often this would take the engineer a day to reach
the spot.

To mitigate this Vitage tried to resolve as many issues as was possible
through online support. In some cases, if the problem was complicated, then it
was escalated to the local partners of Vitage in that specific region.

The cost factor is another issue that Vitage took care of while deploying the
system. As the fund availability differed from region to region, they had to
make sure that the project fell within their budget and no extra cost pinched
them.

Time factor

The success of an IT project depends on the rate of after-sales support that
the SP has to offer once the installation is complete. Vitage Systems noted that
the customer never faced any major technical problem after the deployment of the
project in particular site.

Now, the MNC is working on setting up 20 more outlets and Vitage itself has
bagged the task of getting them automated! Recalling a popular saying it is easy
to see that one good business deserves another.

Amrita Tejasvi

amritat@cybermedia.co.in