{"id":583962,"date":"2022-05-06T12:43:17","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T10:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=583962"},"modified":"2022-05-06T12:43:17","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T10:43:17","slug":"merging-the-old-with-the-new-tfglabs-makes-a-big-e-commerce-play-with-help-from-deimos-and-google-workspace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/583962\/merging-the-old-with-the-new-tfglabs-makes-a-big-e-commerce-play-with-help-from-deimos-and-google-workspace\/","title":{"rendered":"Merging the old with the new: TFGLabs makes a big e-commerce play with help from Deimos and Google Workspace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recent data from FNB Merchant Services shows that the South African online e-commerce market is<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/568272\/the-explosive-growth-of-e-commerce-in-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <strong>thriving<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/deimos.io\/?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_campaign=May+2022&amp;utm_id=Deimos+Cloud+\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here to learn more about Deimos Cloud<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now valued at just under R200 billion per annum, it\u2019s clear why some of the country\u2019s biggest retail brands are doing their best to tap into the trend and cater to new consumer habits.<\/p>\n<p>For TFG Limited this meant establishing TFGLabs, a tech hub that aims to drive the group&#8217;s omni-channel vision.<\/p>\n<p>TFGLabs was set up to create remarkable omnichannel experiences for customers and establish TFG as the biggest and most profitable e-commerce destination on the continent.<\/p>\n<p>This may seem ambitious but Luke Jedeikin &amp; Claude Hanan, co-heads at TFGLabs, believe that these goals are achievable with the right team, structured and efficient execution.<\/p>\n<p>Deimos, Digicloud and Google Workspace have played a key role in TFGLabs\u2019 quest for Omni-channel market domination.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">A startup working within a bigger business<\/h3>\n<p>As an innovation hub within TFG, it was important that the TFGLabs team work with tools and products that enable a swift and efficient response to market trends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach area of the broader business has different tech requirements,\u201d notes Alastair Hendricks, a software development manager at TFGLabs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile TFG is a heavily Microsoft dependent organisation, and MS solutions deliver on their needs, TFGLabs\u2019 tech and software needs differed greatly from the larger organisation.<\/p>\n<p>As such, it was essential that whatever solution they decided to use had to be able to seamlessly integrate with TFG\u2019s existing infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Hendricks, Google Workspace was the obvious choice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur team is made up of people who are predominantly from startups so we\u2019re all quite used to using Google products.<\/p>\n<p>When we made the move there was excitement all-round that we could use the tools we love and that we\u2019re all most comfortable using,\u201d adds Bailey Kropman, head of people at TFGLabs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd because everyone was so familiar with Google\u2019s offerings, as most have personal Google accounts, the amount of training required to get staff up to speed with the new solution was minimal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe tooling that we use shapes how effectively we innovate, communicate and collaborate,\u201d says Hendricks. Moving to the cloud was essential in order for them to build a competitive and modern e-commerce platform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis decision comes down to agility and speed. We wanted to be able to make changes in a matter of hours or minutes, not in a matter of weeks, which was the case in the past,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCloud also enables us to modernise our software development flow, it streamlines how we build for the customer and allows us to react to changes in the market in a timely manner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hendricks highlighted that they needed seamless collaboration and the capacity to set up shared drives in order for the team to innovate as and when they should.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking in a company that had previously been enabled by Google, we understood what Google Workspace could do and what collaboration could look like when you use the right technologies,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>In order to enjoy the benefits Google offered, they also knew that they had to create a dual environment. But ensuring this happened smoothly wasn\u2019t a simple task.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Partnering for integration success<\/h3>\n<p>Deimos played a fundamental role in TFGLabs\u2019 integration process.<\/p>\n<p>A Google Premier Partner and Digicloud Africa reseller, it partnered with the TFGLabs team to ensure that their modern cloud-enabled Google solution could speak the same language as the business\u2019 Microsoft suite.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis required a lot of hand-holding and consultation, which the Deimos team were happy to do,\u201d says Hendricks.<\/p>\n<p>When the initial integration was complete, Deimos were able to scale this out to over one hundred people working across different areas within TFGLabs.<\/p>\n<p>For Leon van Rooyen, a customer engineer at Deimos, some of the more technical challenges related to navigating Microsoft Exchange environments that didn\u2019t easily align with cloud-based integration methods.<\/p>\n<p>Getting this mail and calendar solution to work with Google required a fair amount of creative thinking to circumvent existing notification filters and to ensure that Google Workspace\u2019s Calendar Interop, which allows Microsoft Exchange and Google Calendar to work together, functioned as it should.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Utilising best practices from Google, and employing a thorough testing methodology, allowed for a smooth integration.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Making the change, managing the change<\/h3>\n<p>Today, TFGLabs is using the full suite of Google Workspace products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll our collaboration is done in Docs and Sheets. All our mail is handled through Gmail and people can chat effortlessly via Google Meet and easily keep tabs on their upcoming meetings using Google Workspace\u2019s Calendar,\u201d shares Hendricks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVisibility is another big win for TFGLabs. Shared Drives mean that everyone can access information without having to ask anyone for permission,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<p>From a results perspective, the team is more productive, spending less on licences and work in a more collaborative and organised way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut this doesn\u2019t mean that they didn\u2019t get a few paper cuts along the way,\u201d adds Kropman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom a change management perspective, they had to put in a lot of work to build a rationale to showcase that they could pull this hybrid model off, without having a negative impact on how we function within the broader business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore starting this project, we had bold ambitions that we could have done this all on our own but these were unrealistic,\u201d admits Kropman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t have the expertise or the time to really get into it and we underestimated how long it would take.<\/p>\n<p>Considering what we didn\u2019t know, it\u2019s amazing to see how much we were able to get done in a very short space of time with the help of the right partner, Deimos.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hendricks jests that he would love to bring everyone in the organisation onto Google Workspace \u2013 a workforce of around 27 000 employees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil then, we are excited to see our team work together and ensure continuity using the flexible and intuitive cloud-enabled solutions offered by Google Workspace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/deimos.io\/?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_campaign=May+2022&amp;utm_id=Deimos+Cloud+\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here to learn more about Deimos Cloud<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Working in partnership with Deimos, Digicloud Africa and Google Workspace, TFGLabs were able to integrate their own ways of working with the broader business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":583966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[16872],"class_list":["post-583962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-deimos-cloud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583962"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":583972,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583962\/revisions\/583972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}