SA developer again bags UK retailer

Jam Warehouse, a Cape-based development house, has won a second contract with Tesco, the UK`s largest retailer. Having already deployed a brand management system for it, the firm has won a bid against top brand management outfits to add its product development automation system to the mix, says technology director Daniel Chalef.

The system is a digital asset management and workflow solution. It will also handle the workflow around packaging design and specification. The solution will run on any platform on the desktop, but is at basis a Microsoft solution on the server side, he says. It uses Jam`s asp.Net framework, based on Microsoft`s .Net, and runs on a SQL Server database.

"It has been designed with no limits to number of users in mind," adds Chalef. "Hundreds of concurrent users can be online." Tesco-developed benchmarks include the ability to upload digital assets (printing information, designs and other documents) within five minutes, and Chalef says this has been achieved.

Workflow aspects include message-based project tracking, status views, project holdups, escalation in time of inactivity, etc. It is a Web-based solution, with the challenge of being both easy to use and evocative of the Tesco brand identity. Chalef says a measure of integration with current systems was needed, including Tesco`s due diligence system.

Chalef says Jam Warehouse brought its document management and retail best practices knowledge base to bear on the product development solution - an "important part of retail`s brand positioning and margin increase".

The system is intended to reduce administration, time to market and project cost. It generates process performance metrics to drive continuous improvement. Roll-out will be progressive, based on pilot performance and internal demand.

Jam Warehouse`s success in Europe has been made possible through a well-developed channel, Chalef adds. It has "ins" with major brand strategy firms, and negotiates with existing clients to leverage their supply chains.

Chalef says SA companies are generally risk-averse and slow-moving when it comes to supporting local development. "They would rather pay 10 times as much for half of what we can offer. But organisations like the Medical Research Council have shown they can take calculated risks, and they follow a practical and patriotic approach."

Jam Warehouse is a three-year-old development house headquartered in Observatory, Cape Town. It projects R10 million in turnover this year, and has grown more than 100% year-on-year throughout its history, says Chalef. It has no intention of moving offshore, given the practicality of developing from Cape Town, and its ethos of patriotism, but he admits that continuous European channel development will stand the company in good stead.