Our client

Sonepar in Switzerland invests heavily in digitaltransformation to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency. Thecompany’s e-commerce platforms and digital solutions provide customers easyaccess to products, real-time information, and efficient order management.

‍

Pain points

To further improve the digital experience of the online shop, not only when ordering products but also when receiving the parcels, a new functionality was needed to use the Mobile App to check the parcels and their content. Sonepar wanted to reduce paper use and give their client a tool to send immediate feedback if something went wrong during the delivery process or with one of the goods delivered. This new functionality should help the on-site electrician and the purchasing and finance department ensure everything was received correctly. In addition, Sonepar's IT department wanted to gain experience with microservice architecture and cloud hosting.

‍

Solution

Sly was consulting in software architecture and cloud hosting. Sly created several microservices based on the VELOX architecture to create the backend for the order delivery control and the review service. We implemented the microservice solution, provisioning cloud hosting, including DevOps integration, and ultimately hosted this solution for them on Azure (which I consider a PaaS).

We implemented the headless microservices so they could integrate into their shop and their mobile app. We provisioned the required cloud infrastructure using Infrastructure as a Code (IaC) with Microsoft's ​​Bicep (DSL), ensuring the application runs in a cloud-native environment. Using the fully automated provisioning, we ensured a resilient solution hosted on Microsoft Azure, ensuring high availability, performance, scalability, observability and security.

This approach enables the automation of infrastructure management, leading to increased efficiency, consistency, and scalability. The result was simple: enable Sonepar to use as few resources as possible to leverage its e-commerce solution.

‍

‍

Implementation

Sonepar wanted to digitize the end-to-end delivery control process and needed a way to resolve the following Requirements:

‍

1. Make it easier for Sonepar to document their client’s needs (i.e. using the app)
2. Verify that the client received the correct product (i.e. sourcing).
3. Have an easy-to-use digital return and complaint process
4. Ensure that the financing, purchasing, and controlling departments resolve their client’s needs efficiently and effectively.

In collaboration Sly AG, Sonepar, Valantic and ieffects implemented a delivery control service so their end customer could check the delivery content at their construction site.

Approximately 90% of Sonepar’s orders go directly to the construction site. Sonepar has an app that their client can use directly at the construction site to control the delivery of the packages. With this app, they can scan the barcode and confirm if everything they ordered was there. If something breaks or malfunctions, they can report an RMA (return of material) directly through their app.

‍

‍

‍

The implementation  significantly improved the customers’ overall experience and helped Sonepar acquire important know-how on Microservice Architecture and Cloud Native Hosting.

‍

Timeline

Despite Azure being newer to us (we have more than 15 years of experience using AWS), those skills we did not have did not prevent us from accomplishing Sonepar’s goals. We are dedicated to leveraging TecHub’s (an IT non-profit organisation in Switzerland) know-how to enable us to use external consultants to deliver high-quality service.

‍