Oracle Customer Success—Intris nv

Intris Optimizes User Experience and Expands into New Markets by Developing Logistics Application in the Cloud

Thanks to Oracle’s integrated development platform, we have been able to respond to the logistics supply chain market demand for a cloud application that supports all devices and empowers 24/7 global operations. Furthermore, we can now develop applications for customers 80% faster.

— Tony Vertenten, Chief Technology Officer, Intris nv

With a strong focus on the Benelux and European markets, the Intris Group (Intris) provides user-friendly technical solutions for all multimodal links in the logistics chain. Intris offers associated services such as integration and disaster recovery, and provides consultancy in service oriented architecture (SOA) and complex event processing management. Intris was founded 20 years ago as a software provider, and has now grown into an all-around logistics software and service provider, becoming a market leader in Belgium and holding a respectable position in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

Driven by its partnership philosophy, Intris develops proactive applications that enable its customers to stand out from the crowd. Intris’ flagship logistics platform, TRIS, is a business application with reporting capabilities for integrated external logistics for the enterprise market. It offers a broad range of logistics functionalities, which have been developed based upon Intris’ close relationships with its customers.

Business Challenge

Differentiate Intris’ value proposition by offering customers a cloud logistics system so they need not invest in IT infrastructure or rely on a particular operating system, and can work in an anywhere, anytime mode—critical for the fast-paced logistics industry
Improve the user experience of the logistics application, operated by a wide variety of logistics service companies, by updating its look and feel, providing a multiple-language interface, and making it more intuitive to use—for example users no longer need to open up to seven different screens on their desktop

Respond to emerging needs in the logistics supply chain market by enabling TRIS to be process-oriented, highly adaptable, and easily integrated with third party systems such as finance and customer relationship management (CRM) software
Enable rapid development of applications and specialized logistics features requested by customers by moving to a standards-based development platform and architecture

Enabled customers to access TRIS from any location and using any mobile device by deploying a complete and integrated cloud solution from Oracle built on the principles of ‘mobile first’—significantly boosting service levels, enabling expansion into new international markets, and enhancing Intris’ image as a modern, adaptable business partner and cloud leader in the logistics supply chain industry
Restructured core business logistics solution from a client-server architecture to a SOA architecture using Oracle SOA Suite—simplifying integration with more than 100 systems used by customers throughout the logistics value chain such as CRM, transportation, financial, and customs management software, and easing future integration with Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies including smart edge devices, sensors, and IoT gateways

Empowered Intris’ IT team to develop applications 80% faster with the reusability of modules and code, and provided the flexibility to develop the specialized functionality needed by global logistics services firms, by using Oracle Application Development Framework and Oracle ALTA UI to replace Progress 4GL development framework
Enabled 2,500 customer end users such as global logistics administrators and customs coordinators to work more efficiently by providing an attractive, modernized, multi-language, process-oriented, web-based user interface (UI) using Oracle ALTA UI—dramatically improving customer satisfaction
Provided higher flexibility for customers by enabling them to run the TRIS application on any operating system and without the need to invest in IT infrastructure, and to easily adjust the application’s interfaces and workflows according to changing business needs
Achieved significant savings in licensing costs thanks to Oracle’s embedded software license model—forecasting a return on investment within just two years, and cumulative savings of 150% after four years and 240% after five years
Integrated Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher to provide customers with pre-defined and ad hoc reports in a variety of formats, enabling near real-time insight into logistics processes and transactions, and also offering deep strategic management insight for optimized decision making
Ensured high performance and availability and unlimited scalability of the new cloud logistics platform by using Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server as the foundation for the company’s middleware platform

Oracle ALTA UI, combined with Oracle Application Development Framework, was vital for us in enhancing the user experience. It offers unlimited capabilities to build the specialized functionality our solutions need to satisfy our clients. In terms of integration and API’s, Java is second to none.

— Tony Vertenten, Chief Technology Officer, Intris nv

About Intris nv

Headquarters

Berchem, Belgium

Employees

44

Intris nv

Partners

Intris engaged Oracle Partner, Contribute, to limit project risks and enhance the learning curve for its IT team who were not all familiar with Oracle’s latest technologies. Contribute consultants developed a proof of concept for Oracle Application Development Framework and Oracle ALTA UI, assisted with software architecture design, introduced Scrum as a development methodology, and provided testing and support, resulting in a highly successful and tightly executed transformation journey.

Crucially, Contribute provided customized training sessions for Intris’ multi-skilled IT team, and continued the knowledge transfer with on-the-job coaching to ensure all staff were up to speed in the shortest amount of time. The entire transformation took a little over a year.

“Our customers had delayed acquisitions and postponed upgrades in anticipation of our new Oracle-based product, so we couldn’t afford any project delays. Thanks to the immense support of Contribute consultants, and Oracle ALTA UI specialists, we completed the project on time and within budget,” Vertenten said.