Saving £2.7m & bolstering performance at the forefront of eCommerce

Summary

StableLogic delivered a global review of network connectivity for ASOS resulting in enhanced performance, cost optimisation and digital enablement.

About ASOS

ASOS is a British online fashion and cosmetic retailer, primarily aimed at young adults. The website sells over 850 brands as well as its own range of clothing and accessories, and ships to all 196 countries from fulfilment centres in the UK, USA and Europe.

As ASOS grew their global footprint, they were looking to have a review of their network infrastructure to ensure it was scalable in line with their business strategy. ASOS engaged with StableLogic to perform this review.

The Challenge

ASOS were facing the following challenges with their network:

1. Incumbent MSP has disparate access to the network and documentation, creating handover and ambiguous demarcation of responsibility.
2. Disparate WAN resilience solutions do not always failover successfully.
3. Difficulties with increasing or decreasing Committed Information Rates (CIRs) on provisioned MPLS circuits.
4. Delays with provisioning new circuits into ASOS sites.
5. Limited and immature monitoring and alerting service, lacking key functionality that ASOS would be expecting.
6. Too many parties involved in the delivery of Lumen MPLS circuits. This has resulted in rack space issues within ASOS sites, as multiple providers’ equipment needs to be catered for.
7. No standard network approach for delivering ASOS sites.
8. The ASOS MPLS network is mainly supported by US-based Lumen technical resources. This has resulted in delayed response to issues due to different time zones.
9. Poor configuration management provided by the incumbent MPLS provider.
10. High ongoing cost of the current MPLS solution.

Solution

StableLogic partnered with ASOS to develop a strategy that harnesses the power of SDWAN overlay, utilising internet circuits at ASOS sites for seamless connectivity to performance hubs accessing Azure and other internet services.

SDWAN technology offers centralised orchestration, enabling efficient management of multiple circuits and a consistent user experience.

The connectivity strategy for ASOS sites is founded on fully diverse Dual DIA or DIA/Broadband circuits. By leveraging the same ISP and staying on-net with DIA, MPLS-quality performance was achieved.

Following the consolidation of connectivity into a single supplier model, the service transitioned to a proactive support framework. This allowed the supplier to monitor the network and respond promptly to any performance issues.

StableLogic managed the procurement process for ASOS, ensuring a fair and transparent evaluation and feedback system that instilled confidence in all bidders. Post-selection, StableLogic assisted ASOS in drafting a robust contract, emphasising commercial terms and service-level agreements.