“ Launching a fully transactional online shop for Qtel Virgin Mobile Services was always going to be challenging - timescales were very tight, strategic importance high and we needed to build everything from scratch. We needed a trusted partner adept at both online development and technical integration; we wanted to build a robust service that was open and scalable.

Priocept’s engagement showed real momentum right from the start. They rapidly evaluated the brief and translated our challenge into an implementation strategy and plan. Additionally Priocept assessed hosting systems and content management platforms and managed the full infrastructure deployment. „

- Steve Fellows, Head of Online and Digital at Virgin Mobile Qatar

Challenge

Priocept was selected by Qtel and Virgin as the development partner for the new Virgin Mobile Qatar e-commerce platform, and related customer-facing web systems, not least because of their reputation for successful delivery of complex web technology projects for companies such as TUI Travel, London Stock Exchange, Lloyd’s of London and Panasonic. The new web platform was to be built from the ground up, using completely new hardware, hosting, and application software, and integrating with Qtel services where necessary for mobile number provisioning and billing, and to a very aggressive development schedule. Within a six month timeframe a fully multi-lingual (Arabic and English) e-commerce enabled web platform had to be designed, built and launched and would act as the primary sales channel for Virgin Mobile Qatar’s products and services from day one of the company’s launch.

Solution

Virgin and Qtel knew that their target customers were both brand and web-savvy, and would therefore expect the best possible experience from the new service. Priocept’s user experience design team worked with Virgin Group’s branding agency to produce detailed design material capturing the key user journeys to be delivered by the new systems.

The Priocept development team then specified the core system components required:

• WCM – A multi-lingual capable Web Content Management system to enable non-technical editors to manage the web experience
• Product Catalogue – To store and model the various products (talk plans, top-ups, handsets, mobile broadband, special numbers)
• E-Commerce – To include basket, checkout (pay now) and reservation (pay in store) features
• Backend Integration – With Qtel systems for credit card processing, fulfilment and billing
• Customer Engagement and Interaction – To allow online brand and community building

Sitecore CMS was selected by Priocept as the Web Content Management platform due to its market leading multi-lingual, internationalisation capabilities, scalability and open architecture. The Priocept team, having developed substantial expertise in Sitecore implementation, then undertook the necessary customisations and bespoke development required to implement Sitecore and integrate with other systems.

Result

• Users can purchase Talk Plans, Handsets, Top-ups and Personalized Numbers through the website
• Orders can be paid for on the website, or reserved for payment in-store
• All website features are available to both end users and website administrators in Arabic (right to left and English (left to right) languages
• The entire website, including product catalogue data, rich media content and even the purchase process can be managed through the Sitecore CMS
• Administration tools for financial reporting and order tracking were integrated into the Sitecore CMS management suite
• The website delivers content to many different devices and channels including kiosks and iPad

Technical Description

Solution Special Ingredients:

• Sitecore CMS (www.sitecore.net)
• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) for web service communication, payment fulfilment and order placement, including custom integration with Tibco web services
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5
• VMware ESX for virtualisation, using the Real Time Infrastructure developed by hosting provider Attenda (www.attenda.net)
• Lucene.NET for multi-lingual content indexing and searching