Johannesburg, 11 Jun 2021
Logistics and supply chain software specialist Dovetail has partnered with RDB Consulting to bring local Oracle Database management and support to retail giant Ackermans.
Founded over 100 years ago, Ackermans is a South African chain of over 700 clothing retail stores across southern Africa.
Shermandra Singh, commercial director at Dovetail, says Ackermans required local support for the Oracle database which is utilised by the K.Motion Enterprise 3PL WMS implemented by Dovetail, at its state-of-the-art warehouse in Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-Natal. The warehouse can operate virtually 24/7, supplying goods to branches around the country. “As a high-intensive user, it is critical that they have no downtime. They needed best practice maintenance and management support, preferably out of South Africa,” Singh says. The database was previously supported out of North America, but due to time differences, many local customers are now opting for local support.
Dovetail assessed several local partners, but selected RDB on the strength of its Oracle skills, professionalism and pricing. RDB Consulting was contracted to supply Dovetail with Oracle Database Outsourcing services, IT best practice implementation as well as proactive monitoring, with value-added services including weekly health reports and customer site documentation/site architecture document.
“As an extension of our own business in the eyes of the customer, it was important that our Oracle Database management partner shared our values and delivered as we expected,” he says. “RDB Consulting was flexible and accommodated the reporting requirements we had for our clients, as well as working closely with us and our customer to ensure optimal performance.” Among the benefits for the client were the peace of mind that local support was available 24/7 to ensure business continuity, as well as a dramatic reduction in backup time. “Through optimal management, we reduced the backup time by around 75%, which improves the performance of other applications,” says Singh. The partners also collaborated to identify and prepare for possible resource constraints that could emerge as the business grew. “There was also a cost saving by using local resources instead of using global resources, and we were able to pass these savings on to the customer.”
Singh says the partnership has been so successful that Dovetail is in talks with RDB Consulting to offer similar database management and consulting services to other major Dovetail clients.
RDB Consulting, established in 1995 as a relational database consulting organisation, is an Oracle Platinum partner. Jennifer Mbesa, RDB Consulting’s General Manager, notes that RDB differentiates in the market on several fronts: “What makes us stand out is our lengthy track record; the fact that our rates are very competitive, and that we are one of very few to be ISO 20000 certified, which proves we do everything according to best practice and industry standards. We also believe there is no one size fits all, so we have bundled in a portfolio of value-added services customisable by client.”
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