Exhaust system manufacturer akrapovi& #269; Revs uses Windows Azure for global operations

As part of the real World Windows Azure Series, I contacted Akrapovič 's chief information officer, Aleštancer, to learn about how Windows Azure offers the company a platform to support the rapid growth of their business and global operations. Read Akrapovič 's success story here. Read and understand what he is going to say.

Himanshu KumarSingh: Tell me something about Akrapovič.

Aleštancer:akrapovič is the world's leading manufacturer of High-quality motorcycles and high-performance automotive exhaust systems, and supports many of the world's top motorcycles and racing teams. Founded in Slovenia, we are also innovators in the field of titanium and carbon fiber products manufacturing. Akrapovič Aftermarket car exhaust systems can be found in many of the world's leading car brands, such as Abarth, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and many other brands. Our Motorcycle Accessories Market or the first suitable exhaust system is used by Aprilia, BMW, Ducati, Gilera, Harley Davidson, Honda and Yamaha.

HKS: How fast does your company grow?
At: We have a partner network that spans more than 60 countries and provides services to over 3,000 partners, and our innovative solutions, technologies and global brand awareness drive rapid growth of our company. Our goal is to increase our earnings by 100% over the next five years and add thousands of new partners to our partnership network. To effectively support these ambitious development goals, we need a comprehensive solution that efficiently links business processes related to business-to-business and CRM operations.

HKS: Who do you seek to develop a comprehensive solution?

At: We decided to entrust Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) Slovenia and Agito to develop our akrapovičbusiness platform system. By using Microsoft technology to develop software projects, Agito has completed several projects for our company and proved that they are the most reliable, effective and capable partners. The company is also known as a leading regional company, deploying, customizing. NET development and different integration projects for Microsoft SharePoint servers.

What role does Hks:microsoft Consulting services play?

At:microsoft Consulting Services participates in all phases of the project, including assessing existing environments and planning future business processes and solutions. Microsoft engineers participate in the design functionality that best suits our needs in terms of performance, availability, security, and scalability requirements. Microsoft
Consulting Services also cooperates in the project integration phase, Microsoftconsultants takes over the integration of individual systems, although Agito provides an integrated interface.

HKS: Please give me a brief introduction to the solution.

The At:akrapovič Business platform solution includes several closely related systems: Product information Systems (PIM), Business Portal (BP), Internet portal (IP), and CRM system integration. It supports all the most important business processes: customer, activity, opportunity, order, contract, and revenue management. The solution also links these processes to the research and development process.

We want to leverage the benefits of using two onsite solutions and cloud computing. The result is a tightly integrated hybrid environment in some systems, such as dynamic CRM and BizTalk deployment sites, although hosting providers host others. We also take advantage of Windows Azure, which means that the solution represents a realistic and step-by-step migration path from the local environment to the cloud.

HKS: What other Microsoft solutions are you using?
At:sharepoint Server 2010 enables us to unify our internet and extranet platforms and pave the way for future deployments of the intranet. The system supports all collaborative processes and workflows that serve internal departments, teams, individuals, and external partners. The result of this approach is to streamline content management and content publishing processes. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Office 2010 provide a fresh yet familiar experience for our users in marketing and sales. Combining CRM and Outlook user experience drives users to minimize resources and training investments through a familiar and flexible user interface. Many teams, especially in the sales department, have shifted from SAP to CRM for their day-to-day work.

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 is used to integrate SAP, CRM, PIM, and Business-to-business Portal. He was chosen because it is a mature enterprise product in terms of integration and connectivity, and BizTalk server includes more than 25 multi-platform adapters and a reliable messaging infrastructure to provide connectivity between core systems, whether local, remote, hosted, or cloud-based.

We chose Windows Azure content IBuySpy Receptacle (CDN) to serve multimedia content and technical files. Akrapovič products have a large market of multimedia and technical materials, this is the ideal choice for cloud storage. With the download speed Windows Azure CDN enables us to ensure that our partners around the world share the same user experience.

HKS: How do you launch this new solution?
At: During the first quarter of 2012, the first partners had access to new business portals and their feedback was very positive. Our goal is that all existing partners will be included in our business community, which means about 3.000 partners in more than 60 countries in Europe, North America and North and South America, Asia and the Middle East. In the third quarter of 2012, the same solution will also be deployed in our U.S. subsidiary. In the future, new sales units are expected to be set up in Europe, Asia and South America, where the same standby Office solution will be taken into account.

HKS: What are the internal business benefits of the solution you've seen on Windows Azure?
At: The new solution provides us with better control over marketing and sales and research and development business processes, connecting partners to our departments and personnel, and concentrating information and content about products in one place, which is of great benefit to all partners. All sales orders are taken and manually entered into the SAP system by phone, fax, or e-mail before the new solution is implemented. This process is time-consuming and requires a lot of administrative work, with a lot of room for error and uncertainty. Significantly reduce management burdens, resulting in shorter, more efficient sales cycles. Other benefits include shorter sales cycles and better meeting marketing services, faster ordering processes, and shorter time from ordering to distribution. Now we also have powerful marketing tools for promotional campaigns or for sending press releases.

HKS: What's the benefit of partners and customers?

At: By implementing new solutions, we have been able to significantly enhance the quality and efficiency of collaboration in our partner networks and improve our control over internal marketing, sales, and development processes. The new solution provides a single entry point and source of information for all partners. The company is now able to provide richer and more up-to-date information to our partners.

HKS: Is there any commercial interest in your company?

At: Yes, through the use of information from the online ordering system, it will help us to more accurately plan production, reduce back orders and warehousing costs. The new solution provides a high level of flexibility that enables us to implement different business approaches for different partner groups and provide a high level of positioning. We can now make more accurate analysis, in turn supporting better strategic decisions.

The solution also enables us to expand our business operations from a component and geographic perspective. Agents can easily introduce new distributors, importers, and distributors, while managing them. One of the many advantages of the new information system is its high availability and ability to issue order 24/7, which is mandatory for global expansion. By implementing this system, we have built a platform that will support the high growth of our business and global transactions.