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A Promise of Faster Delivery

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DQI Bureau
New Update

Based in Mumbai, TVC Sky Shop, a known name when it comes to sky shopping or electronic retailing and direct response television (DRTV) in India, has taken some steps to improve its services. It shifted from legacy applications that worked in silos to an integrated application stack that helped it to improve its operations. The company markets and home-delivers over 200 products to over 5 mn Indian consumers annually at affordable prices.

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The state-of-the art contact center, media, creative design, editing, distribution, accounts and finance, and IT set-up of 275 employees make TVC a completely integrated organization. It posted the revenue of $18.6 mn (`86 crore) in the financial year 2009-10.

Lack of Integration between Apps

TVC was using 3 key applications, a legacy, custom developed customer relationship management (CRM) solution; Tally, an accounting package; and a bespoke solution for Delivery Partners (DP) operations. Lack of integration between these 3 applications led to several issues such as account reconciliation, debit notes, credit notes, etc. Thus manual involvements were necessary, making every process time-intensive.

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At the same time, TVC relied on a solitary IBM server for database as well as for hosting applications. Data was batch uploaded twice-a-day for the distribution partners and back office operations on the live server maintained at a data center.

 

Changing Business Needs

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The need for high speed bandwidth, in addition to the cost, made this an unviable proposition in the long run, especially when TVC has obtained 24-hours home shopping broadcasting license and plans to launch its own 24-hours home shopping channel showcasing over 20,000 innovative and lifestyle products.

With this channel coming into play in near future, the company needed to revamp its operations building in greater transparency, automation, and scalability. This would support the increased demand created by the 24-hour channel and would also serve the fully integrated e-commerce website, customer loyalty program, and mail-order catalog.

Besides, TVC wanted to check the RoI from its advertising campaigns such as Zee, Sahara, Jetix, Sony, etc, and print advertisements such as Times group. This would enable the company to invest in the ones that generate higher business.

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To meet the demand generated by a 24-hour channel and the e-commerce website, an efficient call center and an end-to-end ERP solution were needed that could make a big impact on the business within the budget.

 

Making a Choice

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TVC strongly felt the need for a flexible, vertically focused business solution to integrate all its distribution partners, franchisees, and unify customer data. It scrambled the market for different solutions in the beginning and did a thorough search.

But after detailed analysis, the team concluded that the cost and time spent would not be justifiable. With growing recognition of the complexity and cost to customize the administrative ERP solutions, TVC shortlisted Microsoft Dynamics AX. It was not a simple decision to find out a good solution for our type of business. Our team found Microsoft Dynamics closer to our expectations," says Nitin Patki, VP, operations, TVC Sky Shop.

It partnered with Godrej Infotech to implement the solution. Implementation started in January 2009 and the solution went live in January 2010. It was deployed at 3 locations in Mumbai: The corporate office, call center, and the warehouse. Fifteen users utilize modules such as general ledger, accounts receivables, accounts payable, and warehouse.

Dynamics AX was tailored by Godrej Infotech to support unique business requirements, eg, integrating contact center process with ERP. Secondary sales module has been created to track business and inventory with the delivery partners and outlets to ensure quick delivery.

The solution is further customized to tap the media source whether television, print, or web, from where the orders are procured. Thus the accuracy and effectiveness of media sources are measured by checking RoI which later aids in future decision making.

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Benefits

 

The solution supports sales analysis and manages RoI and thus increases the management confidence in the business operations. It provides the ability to respond quickly to fast changing business needs.

Reduces Delivery Time by 75%: Previously, manual redirection of orders cost the company time and was error prone. It accurately redirects orders in real time to the delivery partners. Faster, transparent processes have reduced delivery time to 6 hours (from 24 hours) in metros and 12-24 hours (down from 2-3 days) in non-metro cities," explains Manish Chaubey, CEO, TVC Sky Shop. Reduced delivery time has further reduced order cancellation, enhanced customer satisfaction, and ultimately results in profitable business."

Improves Customer Services and Sales: The ability to react to demands effectively, diagnose delivery issues, and the coordinated seamless information deliver a better customer experience. Managing customer contacts, making and meeting delivery promises, and significantly shorter order to delivery cycle are the key benefits. We can process over 10,000 calls every day," explains Patki.

Improves Accounting Controls: With the new solution in place, the company has streamlined its financial transactions. The solution supports fast and accurate invoicing for each order. Credit or debit notes related to operation of delivery partners, canceled orders, discounts offered, stock balance held by the partners are all effectively and efficiently handled. This brings transparency and delivers accurate information in real time.

The solution ensures Sky Shop saves inventory carrying costs across a multitude of costs such as warehousing, handling, obsolescence, insurance, taxes, damage, shrinkage, etc.

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