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IBM > Case Studies > Grace Co., Ltd. Targeting worldwide growth with a tailor-made cloud solution from IBM and SAP
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Grace Co., Ltd. Targeting worldwide growth with a tailor-made cloud solution from IBM and SAP

Technology Category
  • Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries
  • Apparel
  • Retail
Applicable Functions
  • Discrete Manufacturing
  • Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
  • Inventory Management
  • Supply Chain Visibility
Services
  • Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
  • System Integration
The Challenge
Grace Co., Ltd., a leading fashion accessory design group, was aiming to standardize its business processes and systems to drive its global growth. However, the company realized that deploying the physical server, storage, and networking infrastructure to support the new way of working would incur significant capital costs. The company was also facing challenges with multiple business systems which increased the time required to extract actionable insights from business data and introduced the risk of inaccurate data entering the reporting process.
About The Customer
Grace Co., Ltd. is a leading fashion accessory design group founded in 1991 in Japan. The company has offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and New York City. From its roots as a manufacturer of women’s hats, the company has expanded its catalogue to offers products for men and women of all ages. Following success in its domestic market in Japan, the company entered the US market in 2001, and continues to grow steadily in Asia and Europe. One of Grace's key value propositions to retailers is the ability to buy in bulk, which enables it to offer high-quality products at a competitive price point.
The Solution
Grace worked with IBM Business Partner Lotus Business Consulting to implement joined-up business processes for its global business, supported by SAP Business One software running on SoftLayer cloud infrastructure. Using industry-specific patterns for applications and middleware in the cloud, Grace was able to deploy its solution rapidly and avoid the cost and complexity of managing the underlying systems. The cloud-based platform made it easier to deploy software solutions across multiple geographies, required no maintenance, and eliminated the need to worry about upgrades to the operating system and middleware.
Operational Impact
  • Grace was able to integrate its business processes based on industry best practices, helping it to monitor and manage its worldwide operations effectively.
  • The company avoided costly capital spend on server, storage, and network infrastructure, offering Grace the benefits of an enterprise-class business-process management solution without breaking the bank.
  • The solution supports global growth by enabling Grace to scale out its solution to new markets cost-effectively.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Reduces time-to-market for new designs by up to 50 percent.

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