Outsourcing Catalog Data Processing - A Case Study

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"With Outsource2india, I found that the work was reliable, fast and of high quality. For Data Management needs, I can confidently say that O2I is superior to any comparable service based in the UK."
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London School of Economics

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Read this case study to learn how one of the oldest and largest furnishing firms in the US saved 50% of costs by outsourcing its catalog data processing to O2I.

The Customer

With the tremendous growth seen in online B2C websites, the demand for data processing services like order tracking and information processing has increased greatly. Many companies are outsourcing complete or partial segments of their data processing requirements. One such customer that Outsource2india handled is the oldest and largest furnishing firms in the US. The firm has a wide network of suppliers and a large, established customer base.

The Challenge

The customer chose Outsource2india to move its data updating process offshore. The job required updating the database by processing various catalogs. The customer already had a team working on the data updating process, as it was a key phase of the whole business cycle. The objective was to build a parallel team with O2I to complete backlogs and manage the process. The key challenge was to quickly improve on the productivity and speed levels already established by the onshore team. This was demanding as our team needed to learn the intricacies of the business from scratch and then perform at higher levels of productivity and efficiency.

The Project

The customer sells furniture supplied by multiple vendors. Each supplier sends many catalogs with information to be updated onto a central database residing on an AS400 server.

The project involved:

• Establishing remote connectivity using checkpoint secure remote VPN software and an IBM emulator to connect to the server.
• Updating the information on the catalogs onto the server on a text-based interface.
• Updating the content in three stages followed by an approval process controlled by the customer.
• Scanning or shipping catalogs through FedEx for data input.

The Solution

The initial discussions were centered on security and connectivity issues. With the help of the customer, Outsource2india successfully established connectivity using checkpoint secure remote and an IBM emulator to securely connect to the server. Our experience in working with similar projects contributed to providing an early solution.

A dedicated team of 10 people led by a project leader was constituted to facilitate knowledge sharing and communication throughout the training period. The next phase was to train the team on the whole data updating process, which consisted of three levels of data input.

Due to the complex nature of the project, the trial run was longer than our usual projects and we completed two whole catalogs during the trial run. After the successful trial, the team moved from the test environment to the live environment.

Read more about outsourcing catalog processing services, catalog building & indexing services and catalog updation services to O2I.

Value added by O2I

Some of the distinct benefits to the customer as a result of this project included:

• Cost savings of about 50% with offshore data processing
• Increased scalability
• Improved quality and productivity

Read more about O2I’s Catalog Outsourcing Process.