Ahlers AG responds faster to changing fashion trends

Ahlers AG is a leading manufacturer of men’s fashion clothing in Europe. Headquartered in Herford, Germany, the company has approximately 2,300 employees worldwide and earned revenues of EUR251 million in 2010. A key company goal is to grow through international expansion.

Staying on top of male fashion trends

The ability to react quickly and flexibly to market dynamics is essential to success at Ahlers. “In the fashion industry, trends change quickly, making it important for timely exchange of creative ideas among employees concerning fashion designs, sales and merchandise display concepts,” says Uwe Dubbert, managing director in the IT, telecommunications and e-commerce services division, Ahlers AG. Plans for international expansion only increase the need for networking and collaboration among employees worldwide.

In assessing its capabilities, Ahlers discovered limitations in its technology infrastructure for information sharing, communication and team collaboration. The company relied on numerous web and on-premises applications, but the varied interfaces weren’t user-friendly. For information sharing, Ahlers used the aging folder system native to the Microsoft Windows operating system. In addition, the company lacked tools for online networking, teamwork, project management and idea sharing for staff dispersed in multiple locations.

Central launchpad for productive work

These challenges led Ahlers to revamp its internal online presence. For help, it turned to IBM Business Partner Teamwork Software and Consulting GmbH, which had expertise in services for optimizing corporate communications and processes. Requirements at Ahlers included centralized information provisioning and management to support a global workforce; tools for networking, document sharing and team collaboration; and a standardized user interface and starting point for all business applications.

Ahlers met the requirements by working with Teamwork Software and Consulting to implement an intranet portal powered by IBM® WebSphere® Portal Express and IBM Lotus® Quickr® software. WebSphere Portal Express software is designed to ease deployment and customization of websites at small and midsize businesses. Key features include application integration, document management, web content management and collaboration capabilities in a single, easy-to-deploy solution. Lotus Quickr software complements WebSphere Portal Express software by supplying advanced team collaboration capabilities that help employees access and interact with the people, information and project materials needed to be productive. Between them, these products also feature Web 2.0 social capabilities including blogs, wikis, discussion forums, tagging and ratings.

The new intranet serves as a central launchpad for Ahlers employees to conduct a wide range of work-related tasks, such as uploading documents and status reports for sharing with project team members; networking with experts; collaborating with teammates; launching business applications; accessing company communications, knowledge bases and forms; and performing self-service activities such as gaining approval for business travel and vacation schedules. The portal is role-based, so employees automatically receive only the applications and information relevant to their jobs.

“In addition to overall portal functionality, the deciding factors for choosing WebSphere Portal and Lotus Quickr were twofold. First, there were outstanding capabilities for simplifying the user’s workspace by surfacing varied applications through portlets in a unified display. Second, there was the option of providing information and applications based on job function to the company’s target groups,” says Heinz Ikenmeyer, managing director, Teamwork Software and Consulting GmbH. “This allows the IBM-powered intranet to fit particularly well into the existing IT landscape at Ahlers AG.”

Such pluses encouraged Ahlers staff to embrace the portal quickly. “Our employees received the new intranet with great enthusiasm and welcomed the associated benefits and improvements,” says Dubbert.

Boosting creativity and business speed

Since its introduction, the intranet solution has had a positive impact on employee performance. A single, integrated user interface to access information, manage documents and launch applications helps employees complete their tasks quickly. “All important functions and information are structured and transparently arranged and can therefore be reached with one mouse click,” observes Dubbert. Portal capabilities for linking staff and sharing documents online significantly reduce the volume of emails, phone calls and personal meetings, further saving time and improving efficiency.

With easier access to information, expertise and collaboration tools, Ahlers improved collective creativity and business speed, enabling staff members around the world to network with one another in response to fast-changing fashion trends and the needs of diverse customer sets. Customer satisfaction improved with faster access to the information and experts needed for quick answers to inquiries. And by consolidating user interfaces and applications, the portal reduced the expense of IT administration.

For more information

To learn more about the IBM portfolio for social business, contact your IBM sales representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit: ibm.com/software/smarterplanet/us/en/socialbusiness

To learn more about IBM WebSphere Portal Express, please visit: ibm.com/software/portalexpress