Published on 03-Sep-2010
Validated on 03 Dec 2012
"Selecting IBM Smart Cube has provided the ideal reliable and highly-available platform to support our rapidly growing business. Since it was delivered as an all-in-one solution, pre-integrated with VACAVA RapidBiz, it was incredibly easy to install and we soon saw very impressive savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars." - Advanced Global Sourcing
Customer:
Advanced Global Sourcing
Industry:
Computer Services
Deployment country:
United States
Solution:
IT/infrastructure, Enabling Business Flexibility, High Availability , Linux, Optimizing IT
IBM Business Partner:
VACAVA
Overview
Advanced Global Sourcing (AGS) provides global sourcing management and consulting services to organizations worldwide. Headquartered in Michigan, the company also has teams in Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. AGS uses a flexible, collaborative approach to effectively analyze clients’ sourcing challenges and successfully design global engagements.
Business need:
Accelerated growth sent AGS’s employee numbers rocketing from 750 to 2,000 in a relatively short time. The existing Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Project solutions were no longer adequately supporting human resources and project management demands. AGS wanted to find a more effective and efficient solution to replace these, and saw the opportunity to refresh its underlying infrastructure at the same time.
Solution:
AGS worked with IBM Business Partner and IBM Smart Business Reseller VACAVA to implement the all-in-one IBM Smart Cube solution. Delivered complete with a pre-configured version of VACAVA’s own situational application development tool RapidBiz, the IBM Smart Cube offering gave AGS a complete “out-of-the-box” solution, bundled with implementation services and support.
Benefits:
Realized rapid savings and ROI; finance team reported US$ 422,500 savings, an 800 percent return. Gained a highly available, reliable and efficient platform with the IBM System x3200 server. Acquired sophisticated application development tools on the open, secure Linux platform.
Case Study
Advanced Global Sourcing (AGS) provides global sourcing management and consulting services to organizations worldwide. Headquartered in Michigan, the company also has teams in Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. AGS uses a flexible, collaborative approach to effectively analyze clients’ sourcing challenges and successfully design global engagements.
Challenge
Accelerated growth sent AGS’s employee numbers rocketing from 750 to 2,000 in a relatively short time. The existing Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Project solutions were no longer adequately supporting human resources and project management demands. AGS wanted to find a more effective and efficient solution to replace these, and saw the opportunity to refresh its underlying infrastructure at the same time.
Solution
AGS worked with IBM Business Partner and IBM Smart Business Reseller VACAVA to implement the all-in-one IBM Smart Cube solution. Delivered complete with a pre-configured version of VACAVA’s own situational application development tool RapidBiz, the IBM Smart Cube offering gave AGS a complete “out-of-the-box” solution, bundled with implementation services and support.
RapidBiz is exclusively available on the IBM Smart Cube platform, and enables AGS to create its own tailored business applications quickly and easily without the need for IT specialist knowledge. AGS used RapidBiz to develop centralized, automated applications for human resources and project management processes.
The purpose-built IBM Smart Cube solution deployed at AGS is built on an IBM System x®3200 server running SUSE Linux® Enterprise Server. IBM Smart Cube enabled AGS to benefit from the advanced functionality of the VACAVA application development software without any concerns about solution implementation, integration or support. This ‘hands-off’ solution allowed the company to keep its focus on core business issues, and enjoy new capabilities sooner rather than later
Benefits
Realized rapid savings and ROI; finance team reported US$ 422,500 savings, an 800 percent return.
Gained a highly available, reliable and efficient platform with the IBM System x3200 server.
Acquired sophisticated application development tools on the open, secure Linux platform.
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Hardware:
System x, System x: System x3200
Operating system:
Novell SUSE Linux
Legal Information
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2010 IBM Systems and Technology Group Route 100 Somers, NY 10589 U.S.A. Produced in the United States of America September 2010 All Rights Reserved IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com and System x are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at: ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. IBM and VACAVA Inc. are separate companies and each is responsible for its own products. Neither IBM nor VACAVA Inc. makes any warranties, express or implied, concerning the other’s products. Other product, company or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates. Offerings are subject to change, extension or withdrawal without notice. All client examples cited represent how some clients have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS-IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.