Case Study
Cost Reduction Strategy for a Leading Premium UK Footwear & Accessories Retailer
2
Specialists Deployed
2
Distinct Roles
AI
Platform Focus
100x
Faster than Surveys
Client Overview
To achieve its ambitious goal of scaling revenue from £75M to £160M by 2030, our client needed to move beyond its heritage infrastructure. The business was transitioning from a high-cost, fragmented legacy environment toward a modular, API-first architecture designed for agility and financial sustainability.
Be Data Solutions was engaged as the strategic partner to conduct a rigorous IT assessment and architect a five-year roadmap — identifying the hidden "Complexity Tax" within the current stack and designing a transition plan that bridges the gap between premium retail operations and modern enterprise architecture.
Business Need
The Current State: Identifying the "Complexity Tax"
The technology ecosystem was characterised by significant fragmentation, with modern cloud platforms operating alongside deeply embedded legacy systems. While a "best of breed" strategy was intended to prevent vendor lock-in, the absence of a cohesive integration fabric resulted in siloed data stores and compromised omnichannel goals.
Hybrid Legacy Fragmentation
The coexistence of modern platforms (Salesforce, Azure) with aging systems for HR and Payroll created significant operational friction.
The D365 Customisation Trap
The core ERP carried over 900 customisations, making updates painful, upgrades nearly unmanageable, and licensing costs prohibitive.
Siloed Omnichannel Execution
E-commerce and in-store systems operated on separate stacks, complicating the unified customer view central to the growth strategy.
Third-Party Dependencies
A complex web of specialised applications for loyalty, gift cards, and logistics increased management overhead and integration complexity.
Methodology
The Be Data Methodology: Three Pillars of Assessment
Be Data Solutions evaluated the landscape through three critical lenses:
Financial Value
5-year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) — distinguishing recurring OPEX from one-time migration CAPEX
Business Enablement
Platform ability to support international expansion and premium retail workflows
IT Sustainability
Internal resource requirements, infrastructure scalability, and long-term supportability
This methodology extended beyond software to include headcount analysis and strategic roadmapping — ensuring IT functions as a growth engine rather than a cost centre.
Augmented Team
The Two-Step Pivot Roadmap
Be Data Solutions recommends a phased approach to de-risk transformation while achieving immediate financial relief.
- Strip D365 back to standard functions — a prototype is already deployed, proving a 30% licence cost reduction is achievable
- Recruit a Solutions Architect to ensure technical governance through the transition
- Conduct a full licence audit; retire unused modules and optimise user tiers
- Launch a data cleansing programme across customers, inventory, and suppliers
- Migrate core functions (Finance → HR → SCM → CRM) to Odoo Enterprise
- Retain Salesforce SFCC and OMS as the customer-facing omnichannel commerce engine
- Formalise Azure + iPaaS as the integration fabric connecting all systems
- Implement an Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) to replace siloed reporting
- Actively manage dual reporting risk (Power BI vs. Tableau) and Salesforce vendor lock-in
Impact Delivered
Immediate Cost Optimisation: The "Quick Wins"
Be Data identified immediate opportunities to reduce the baseline annual IT spend (estimated at ~£1.5M OPEX) by rationalising unassigned licences and retiring redundant third-party services.
Licence Optimisation(D365 & Power Platform)
£100,797
Annual Saving
System Migration (GiveX / MWC / MyHours)
£29,600
Annual Saving
Total Annual Quick Win Savings
£130,397
This Can Be Secondary Heading
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7+
Years of Experience
750+
Happy Clients
12
Programs & Trainings
Conclusion
