Case Study
Enabling Operational Excellence with a Centralized SharePoint Portal
Solution
Business Process Optimization
Industry
Retail
Core Technology
Microsoft Sharepoint
Overview
Virgin Entertainment Group, a global entertainment retailer with Megastores across the U.S., Europe, and Japan, needed to overcome information overload and inefficient communication. Their legacy systems: email, voicemail, and a rudimentary intranet, were slowing down operations and taking managers off the sales floor. Xavor, a Microsoft Gold Partner, offered secure SharePoint consulting for them that led to a centralized portal that streamlined communication, improved information access, and freed up valuable time for customerfacing activities.
Business Challenge
Virgin Entertainment’s communication was fragmented across email, mass voicemail, and a rudimentary intranet nicknamed “The Wall. This system provided a web page with hyperlinks to reports, policies, and forms stored in shared folders.
It was a ‘rigged’ portal with severe limitations, including lack of security, poor document management tools, inadequate capacity, and lack of search capability. It was very cumbersome to use. A lot of time (and money) was wasted looking for information and wondering if it was timely or accurate.”
— Paul Duchouquette, Senior IT Manager
The operational impact was significant:
- Lost manager productivity: Store managers had to be frequently pulled from the floor, and spent hours searching for accurate information instead of coaching staff and selling.
- Revenue impact: Delays in inventory and sales data could cost hundreds to thousands of dollars daily per store.
- IT overhead: Cumbersome permissions and shared folder management wasted administrative time.
- Departmental silos: Headquarters’ six key departments struggled to share timely, businesscritical information.
the solution
“We had to stop overwhelming people with unneeded information. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server will give us this capability. About 40‑50 hours per week of our group members’ time will be freed up to do substantially higher‑value tasks, such as operational oversight and strategic planning.”
— Lisa Sullivan, Director of Operations
Xavor conducted a thorough assessment of Virgin’s communication and collaboration needs and delivered a tailored SharePoint implementation. The solution included:
- Customizable web parts that enabled IT to design and populate portal sites specific to roles such as store manager, operations, marketing, HR, finance, and IT.
- A unified corporate portal serving as the central information hub for all employees.
- Departmental team sites within each business unit to improve collaboration and sharing of best practices.
- Integrated security via Active Directory, streamlining permissions and access management.
The portal was developed and deployed quickly and costeffectively, with lower operational support costs than competing solutions. It provided decisionmakers with faster, more comprehensive access to information, helping boost revenues and profits while reducing expenses.
outcomes & benefits
“The portal is more secure, delivers more accurate and timely information, and saves substantial IT support costs. For example, a system administrator’s time spent administering multiple passwords and individual permissions can be cut by up to 50% or about four hours per week.”
— Paul Duchouquette, Senior IT Manager,
The SharePoint portal reached all departments and provided each employee with a “onestop” location for jobcritical information. For store managers, this meant spending no more than one day per week in the office on business processes, freeing at least 20% more time for training and sales.
Measurable outcomes included:
20% more
time on the sales floor for managers, increasing customer engagement and revenue
Over 20% reduction
in time spent resolving product inventory issues, improving stock accuracy
Over 15% reduction
in IT support costs through streamlined permissions and selfservice access
15% of manager time freed
for highervalue tasks such as coaching and strategic planning
Substantially lower total cost of ownership compared to competing solutions
The portal also helped the operations department improve sales by customizing and centralizing business processes and information management.
Tools & tech stack
conclusion
Through our centralized SharePoint portal implementation, Xavor helped Virgin Entertainment transform a fragmented, timeintensive communication landscape into an efficient, secure, and intuitive digital workplace. The solution not only reduced operational costs and IT burden but also empowered store managers and headquarters staff to focus on what matters most: enhancing customer experience, driving sales, and sustaining Virgin’s unique position in the entertainment retail market.
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