RingCentral > Case Studies > John Varvatos: Transforming IT Infrastructure with RingCentral Global Office

John Varvatos: Transforming IT Infrastructure with RingCentral Global Office

Technology Category

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Databases
Sensors - Temperature Sensors

Applicable Industries

Apparel
Retail

Use Cases

Construction Management
Infrastructure Inspection

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

John Varvatos is an American contemporary menswear designer brand that unites old-world craftsmanship and refined tailoring with modern innovations in textiles and a rock ’n’ roll sensibility. Launched in 2000, the brand now represents an entire lifestyle that includes belts, bags, footwear, eyewear, limited edition watches, luxury skincare and fragrances, as well as the younger, edgier John Varvatos Star U.S.A. collection and Converse by John Varvatos. The company became independent in 2012 and has its main office in New York City, a flagship store in London, and a showroom in Milan.

The Challenge

John Varvatos, an American contemporary menswear designer brand, faced a significant challenge when it became independent from the apparel and footwear company VF Corp. in 2012. The company's VP and CIO, Lee Goldenberg, saw this as a unique opportunity to completely refresh the company's IT infrastructure. His vision was to create an entirely cloud-based IT environment to support the company's employees in being as productive as possible and to enable them to work from anywhere, on any device, at any time. However, achieving an all-cloud environment was more difficult in 2012 and 2013, when Goldenberg was setting up his infrastructure, than it is today. Another challenge was the company's phone system, which was an old on-prem PBX when he joined the company. The company needed a solution that could support international calling between the John Varvatos main office in New York City, its flagship store in London, and its showroom in Milan.

The Solution

After evaluating a number of cloud-based unified communications as a service (UCaaS) solutions, Goldenberg chose RingCentral, mainly because it was the only one he found that could support international calling. Other big selling points for RingCentral included RingCentral Meetings™, which would let Goldenberg get rid of an older web-conferencing solution with limited subscriptions, and the RingCentral Mobile app, which he says is “fantastic.” He also valued RingCentral’s administrative portal for how it provides usage reports and for how it simplifies the management of the system. Goldenberg deployed RingCentral Global Office company-wide in 2013. Between the phone service and RingCentral Meetings, the people involved in the global effort of designing, manufacturing, and selling clothing are now easily connected. That’s due in part to the ease of reaching a colleague in another country by simply dialing their extension. RingCentral Meetings helps, too, by making it much simpler to set up online meetings, compared to the previous solution.

Operational Impact

The implementation of RingCentral Global Office has transformed the way John Varvatos operates. The company's employees are now easily connected, thanks to the phone service and RingCentral Meetings. This has made it much simpler to set up online meetings and to reach colleagues in other countries by simply dialing their extension. The RingCentral Mobile app and the administrative portal have also simplified the management of the system, making it possible for the company to operate with an IT team of only six people. Furthermore, Goldenberg has expressed great satisfaction with the support received from RingCentral, from the initial sales contact through the implementation and with ongoing support.

Quantitative Benefit

John Varvatos is paying less for a wider range of communications functionality than what it previously paid for just phone service and online conferencing.
The company is seeing a 40% to 50% reduction in communications costs with RingCentral.