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In 2017, DFS is embarking on a virtual transformation. The furniture store was in the process of obtaining Sofology and had built a scalable VMware-based computing architecture hosted in Rackspace, which also controlled the public cloud requirements of DFS Amazon Web Services (AWS).
When Computer Weekly spoke to DFS CHIEF data director Russell Harte in 2017, he talked about the odds of bringing virtual signage to retail outlets and offering Windows tablets to sales to allow them to talk about the characteristics of furniture with consumers visiting DFS outlets.
Harte, who is now the company’s leading generation officer, says that since then, more and more people feel confident in buying furniture online and DFS has recently migrated its Internet platform, its largest visitor app, to Google Cloud (GCP) platform. after deciding to buy in the Google ecosystem. In addition to GCP, DFS uses the Google API Gateway, Apigee, and G Suite and has deployed 1,000 Asus tablets to Chrome OS for its sales team.
AWS is still in use, which means that the DFS IT environment is now multi-cloud. In general, public cloud providers tend to inspire their consumers to use value-added as a component of their overall platform they offer. But while those cloud-as-a-service (PaaS) platforms can offer businesses a lot of productivity gains, they can link consumers to a public cloud provider.
However, Harte states, “If you create your programs carefully, you may not have a seller lock.”
Over the years, DFS has made several acquisitions and now operates 4 different brands: DFS, Dwell, Sofa Workshop and its latest acquisition, Sofology. Each has a different corporate culture, another taste for collaboration and other equipment for collaboration.
For example, DFS had an old Lotus Notes formula, Dwell used a shareware messaging formula, and the company also ran Microsoft Outlook. According to Harte, since there is no comprehensive generation strategy and the company lacks a unified culture of collaboration, it is difficult for all 4 brands to function as a single, consistent company. “We were looking to move to a more virtual world, but we had 4 other messaging formulas,” he says.
When it comes to standardizing a collaboration set across all 4 brands, DFS chose G Suite because it was a component of the rest of the Google ecosystem, Harte explains. The company worked with Netpremacy, the core component of Google Cloud, to conduct a system-wide review of the 4 organizations on how they work and identify opportunities for improvement.
When asked if the migration team had encountered any problems moving messaging systems to G Suite, Harte replied, “When we did the first migration tests, we didn’t have a big problem.”
To implement G Suite, DFS has followed a “champion approach” of the company, with 50 other people from other parts of the organization receiving training in the new software and then acting as product champions, he said.
“When we did the first dry testing of the migration, we didn’t have a big problem”
Russell Harte, DFS
“We rely heavily on The Netpremacy Education Team. We have an internal learning control formula called Learning Center with short videos from Google and other educational structures on topics ranging from Google Sheets and Gmail to multi-app integration. We wear running shoes to expand champions, explore floors and offer all kinds of distance education on Google Meet.”
As its Windows tablets come to an end, Harte says DFS has also taken the opportunity to update them with Asus Chromebooks. Like the Windows devices that update, it says that tablets that are used through sales can also stream content on the store’s virtual signage and provide a truly augmented browser experience.
Because the original sales app was web-based, it didn’t require any adjustments to run on Chrome OS. One of the main benefits of the Chrome operating system, Harte explains, is that unlike a Windows device, a Chrome device can be configured for 15 to 20 seconds, which makes life much easier.
In addition to tablets, DFS has started to deploy Chromeboxes, it adds.
For Harte, one of the benefits of Google products is that DFS can use exclusive authentication to access Google apps. The company also uses two-factor authentication. “I love the fact that everything works so easily,” he adds.
Although the resolution to move to G Suite was taken long before the lockout, for Harte it was a fortuitous move for DFS, which supported the company in the pandemic. “It was luckier than trial, ” he said.
At the beginning of the pandemic, DFS used Google Meet to organize a control assembly, Harte explains. “The first truly vital assembly we held Meet was our Leadership Forum,” he says. “Normally, we would scale across all sites in the organization for 3 days. We had planned to do it by the end of February, but with the pandemic, we knew maybe we wouldn’t. We’ve brought together the giant leaders with the 50 or 60 most sensitive members of our teams. »
During the lockdown, Netpremacy provided DFS with a Covid-19 remote paint package that aims at top productive practices to function well from home and ensure business continuity. The document included administrative commands on how to enable offline capability for Google Drive and Gmail, as well as tips for end users and educational videos for users to get the most out of the G Suite toolset.
At the beginning of the tenure to stay at home, DFS executives used G Suite to speed up communications with staff. Later, the company aimed at helping workers who were trapped in the house stay connected.
“We sought to keep everyone engaged to make a contribution to their non-public well-being,” Harte says, “to check how other people are being carried with their families and make sure everyone is safe.”
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