Scales with a collaborative Global Delivery Center (GDC)

Case Studies

Scales with a collaborative Global Delivery Center (GDC)

Challenges

In the midst of a major business expansion, GAC faced significant challenges on multiple fronts, including – people, process, and technology.

Solution

GAC entered into a strategic partnership with coMakeIT to overcome its process, people, and technology constraints, and meet the demands of a fast-growing customer base.

Impact and Business Value

The strategic partnership with coMakeIT and the India GDC not only helped GAC to overcome capacity challenges but also yielded substantial long-lasting business benefits.

About GAC

GAC is a Netherlands-based provider of ERP solutions on Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform, with 400+ customers across Benelux and EU. GAC works with specialists to offer modular, customized solutions in the following fields:

Production
Wholesale
Business services
Day-care
Social employment

“ coMakeIT is an ideal and strategic offshore partner. Their unique co-Innovation model enabled us to focus on building a high-performance team and delivering results, without having to worry about operational issues. coMakeIT gave us excellent support by handling the shared services in a professional manner, helping us to scale up quickly. Now, our team has evolved into a mature, collaborative Global Delivery Center (GDC), that is fully integrated with GAC. ”

Arjan Daniëls

Team leader Products, GAC

Challenges

Around 2011, GAC was in the midst of a rapid business expansion to new markets and geographies across Europe, but was constrained by lack of capacity to meet the needs of its fast-growing clientele. GAC also faced the following additional challenges:

Scarcity of qualified and experienced Microsoft Dynamics professionals in The Netherlands
Inability to execute their technology roadmap, due to lack of capacity and bandwidth
Lack of expertise with agile processes such as Scrum for continuous product development
Difficulty in handling client requests for customizations and upgrades

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Solution

GAC entered into a strategic partnership with coMakeIT to overcome its process, people, and technology constraints. Over the past 6 years, GAC and coMakeIT targeted the following initiatives, which were the foundation for the success of the strategic partnership:

Recruited and set up a high-performance team with advanced skills in MS Dynamics NAV
Assisted in adopting a fully-integrated, agile process across the geographically distributed teams
Setup a distributed software factory with the right people in right roles, using a unified process for seamless delivery
Supported in gradually building the India team into a full-fledged GDC with mature capabilities, handling product enhancements, upgrades, and customization
Positioned India GDC as a knowledge-center and software factory to support GAC’s global customer base

Impact and Business value

The strategic partnership with coMakeIT helped GAC achieve the following tangible benefits:

Savings – Led to a saving of more than € 1 mn over the past 6 years
Scaling – gradually scaled from a 2-member team to a 19-member GDC, at a pace that GAC is comfortable with
Productivity – Cumulatively 50+ man-years of effort by the India GDC over the past 6 years – contributing towards continuous product enhancements, upgrades, and customizations
Time – significantly enhanced pace of customizations and product enhancements