Client

John Lewis

Client

John Lewis

Project

Image Production Output

Industry
Services

Background

The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is a British company that operates John Lewis & Partners department stores, Waitrose & Partners supermarkets, its banking and financial services, and other retail-related activities. The company is owned by a trust on behalf of all its employees — known as Partners.

Brief

In 2011, John Lewis Partnership approached BORN to assess the feasibility to take over its entire eCommerce image processing activity.

Goals

JLP’s wanted to find a solution that could deliver consistent quality across its entire eCommerce estate, with assets delivered to strict timelines. The final solution also needed to be able to cater for organic growth, as well as seasonal and ad hoc flex–with no upper limit.

Challenge

JLP had implemented an Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) solution to manage its assets. The in-house production team was struggling to deliver standard scheduled volumes, let alone any volume increase. High operational costs also added to the challenge, impacted further by the use of freelance resources to cover sickness, holidays, or seasonal flex.

Maintaining the John Lewis Brand Legacy

One of the key insights that came with rising to the challenge of the build was creating a methodical approach in adhering to the John Lewis Brand Guidelines that could be easily replicated.

Solutions

BORN implemented a technical solution (TaskList) to transfer assets between JLP’s AEM platform and a newly established ring-fenced offshore production team. In parallel to this, Standard Operating Procedures were documented to ensure brand guidelines were adhered to while guaranteeing consistent quality.

Outcome

The final solution means that JLP benefits from 24/7 production capacity. Moreover, through utilization management and capacity planning BORN is able to scale production to meet JLP’s ever-changing requirements. Operational efficiency is transparent, with real-time performance dashboards showing daily output that is aligned with service level metrics.

Long-Term Value

BORN continues to work in close partnership with JLP, to offer the business the scale and flexibility it needs to growth through organic and acquisition channels. As well as consistently high quality, BORN also delivers significant cost savings IRO 30%.