Citrix Systems, Inc a global leader of virtual workplace software and services, has announced that Mary Kay, Inc, a US-based cosmetics manufacturer, has turned to Citrix MetaFrame application server software for centralised management of critical applications and data for its China business, for which the company records a daily average turnover of $180 000.
The implementation of Citrix MetaFrame optimises Mary Kay`s operational efficiency and minimises the requirement of onsite IT support for its growing sales network in China, where over 5 000 beauty consultants report to 30 beauty centres located across the country.
The roll-out of Citrix MetaFrame enables Mary Kay`s China staff and beauty consultants to instantly update their sales and inventory reports from their local centres while enjoying real-time access to market trends and information on inventory availability at the head office in Shanghai, including daily order entries to the production plant and daily promotional programs.
By keeping track of all the orders placed at each beauty centre, Mary Kay can instantly view the trends in each part of the country and act immediately to sustain the distribution channel. This helps Mary Kay maintain its competitive-edge by responding proactively to developing trends while ensuring inventory and production data are kept up-to-date, thereby enhancing overall productivity.
"We are witnessing increasing demand for efficient remote office connectivity, especially in fast-growing, spacious regions like China," said Andrew Chan, Citrix`s regional director for North Asia. "In order to help our customers fully capture the business opportunities in these regions, Citrix offers virtual workplace solutions that make applications access as simple as a phone call. The fast, secure remote office connectivity running at Mary Kay China provides a vivid illustration in which users are kept connected to full-feature applications wherever they are."
Citrix MetaFrame also allows Mary Kay China to fully manage its 30 beauty centres with an IT team of just eight staff, regardless of the heterogeneous computing environment or the instability of the bandwidth available across the network, which ranges from 56Kbps PSTN dial-ups to a 2Mbps virtual private network.
"With Citrix MetaFrame, our IT team can now manage each of our 30 beauty centres with minimal effort from a single console," said Janet Yang, Vice President of Finance for China, Mary Kay, Inc. "By minimising our onsite IT support and shortening system recovery time, we have dramatically reduced overhead costs and decreased the total cost of ownership for our IT needs."
By enabling the applications to be executed on the server, Citrix MetaFrame simplifies Mary Kay`s process for upgrading applications and makes the company well equipped to counter any change in IT requirements.
"All we need to do is install the upgraded application once on the server farm and it will then become instantly available to all users within minutes. This is one of the most important and money-saving benefits of using Citrix MetaFrame in our view," Yang added.
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Mary Kay Inc, a well-established American based cosmetics manufacturer, offers over 200 premium products ranging from skin care cosmetics to dietary supplements for millions of customers in over 37 markets worldwide. Following its successful entry into the China market in the early 90s, Mary Kay today records a daily average turnover of $180 000 by providing its customers with state-of-the-art skin care products, along with the latest innovations in glamour.
Mary Kay has a strong sales network of over 5 000 beauty consultants in China who report to 30 beauty centres located across the country.
Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc is a global leader in virtual workplace software and services that provide access to applications, information, processes and people on any device, over any network, anywhere, anytime. Citrix makes today`s digital office completely virtual - instead of having to go to your office, the office follows you. Working with the world`s top industry, integration and consulting partners, Citrix delivers enterprise-ready solutions to business challenges including application deployment, remote office connectivity, workforce mobility and business continuity.
More than 120 000 companies worldwide use Citrix Solutions for the Virtual Workplace to give users more mobility, give IT organisations more flexibility and reduce the cost of computing.
Citrix offers two families of products that enable virtual access to information: Application Server software, including MetaFrame XP, MetaFrame for Windows and MetaFrame for Unix; and Access Portal software, including NFuse Elite and NFuse Classic. The company markets its products through a well-established indirect channel comprising more than 7 000 resellers, integrators and consultants. In fiscal 2001, the company had net revenues of $591.6 million. Citrix is traded on the Nasdaq Stock MarketSM under the symbol CTXS, and is part of the Standard and Poor`s 500 Index. Citrix is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. For more information, please visit the Citrix Web site at http://www.citrix.com.
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