Independent Software Maintenance
The Problem
Annual Black Friday crashes – with slow resolution and no long-term fix
U.K. retailer Sainsbury’s had been running one of the largest IBM software estates in the U.K., with 40,000 user devices, multiple servers, and millions of end points. Its IBM® products — Db2, Sterling, and MQ — were originally fit for purpose but designed for a much smaller business capacity.
As the company grew, the products began to repeatedly crash on the busiest and highest revenue-generating days, particularly Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The systems struggled to handle demand, causing outages that resulted in millions in lost revenue.
Sainsbury’s IT teams would typically wait for at least 12 hours and up to several days to get support from IBM. They were passed along to multiple technicians with no prior knowledge of Sainsbury’s software needs or configuration.
When Sainsbury’s went to IBM to seek a proactive solution that would help the company avoid this annual scenario and its financial impact, the only resolution offered by IBM was an upgrade to newer versions of their products.
Already under pressure to streamline spending as part of a broader cost-reduction initiative — and facing an imminent three-year IBM contract renewal — Sainsbury’s started looking at third-party support.
It wasn’t just the hike in monthly software spend that concerned Sainsbury’s; it was the real possibility of its systems further destabilizing as a result of interoperability issues with newer IBM® software versions.
What the company needed was a highly responsive support solution that would improve the performance of existing IBM® versions without requiring more budget.
What they got with Origina was so much more.
As the company grew, the products began to repeatedly crash on the busiest and highest revenue-generating days, particularly Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The systems struggled to handle demand, causing outages that resulted in millions in lost revenue.
Sainsbury’s IT teams would typically wait for at least 12 hours and up to several days to get support from IBM. They were passed along to multiple technicians with no prior knowledge of Sainsbury’s software needs or configuration.
When Sainsbury’s went to IBM to seek a proactive solution that would help the company avoid this annual scenario and its financial impact, the only resolution offered by IBM was an upgrade to newer versions of their products.
Already under pressure to streamline spending as part of a broader cost-reduction initiative — and facing an imminent three-year IBM contract renewal — Sainsbury’s started looking at third-party support.
It wasn’t just the hike in monthly software spend that concerned Sainsbury’s; it was the real possibility of its systems further destabilizing as a result of interoperability issues with newer IBM® software versions.
What the company needed was a highly responsive support solution that would improve the performance of existing IBM® versions without requiring more budget.
What they got with Origina was so much more.
“It wasn’t just the hike in monthly software spend that concerned Sainsbury’s; it was the real possibility of its systems further destabilizing as a result of interoperability issues with newer IBM® software versions.”
The Result
By moving support and maintenance of IBM® WebSphere, IBM® Sterling, and IBM® Db2 to third-party support with Origina, Sainsbury’s was able to:
- Save significant annual spend on software support
- Maximize uptime at peak purchasing times
- Bridge Sainsbury’s internal IBM® skills gap
- Transform its systems to prepare for future growth
- Avoid expensive and disruptive change programs
- Get high-quality support for EoS product versions
- See real ROI from its software support budget year after year
"Origina extended the value of Sainsbury’s IBM® investments and paved the way for future growth — with no additional software purchases."