The Book People saves time and boosts availability

With an IBM Tivoli solution from Orb Data

In the world of e-commerce, increased availability translates directly into increased sales – and this IBM Tivoli solution from Orb Data is making a considerable contribution to that. Scott Scott – IT Director at The Book People.

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WHAT WE DID

Application and Infrastructure Monitoring /

INDUSTRY

Retail

CLIENT

The Book People

Business challenge

Approximately 60 percent of The Book People’s sales come via its e-commerce Web sites. During busy periods, even an hour’s downtime in Web servers or back-end systems can cost the company tens of thousands of pounds. The company was relying partly on manual monitoring processes, and partly on an outsourced service – and wanted a better way to maintain the availability of these core systems.

Solution

Orb Data helped deploy IBM Tivoli Monitoring and IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager, creating a comprehensive monitoring solution for both the back-end systems and the e-commerce sites. The initial phase of the project was completed within just three months – ensuring that new monitoring processes were in place before the crucial pre-Christmas sales period.

Business Benefits

  • The Tivoli solution monitors both Web and back-end systems, and the company no longer needs to pay for an external monitoring service
  • Time-consuming manual checks have been eliminated, saving IT staff two hours’ work per day
  • Automated email and SMS alerts help IT staff react quickly to prevent or minimize downtime when a system is failing
  • In Q4 2009, the company did not experience a single moment of unplanned downtime.