How Anchr securely connects de Bijenkorf online with over 1000 suppliers

This system is continually being developed, as technological innovation is part of de Bijenkorf's daily business. However, this also brings its fair share of challenges. How do you give more than 1000 suppliers online access to your stronghold? De Bijenkorf engaged Anchr to brainstorm on this. Because any breach from such an IT environment to the outside world has to be made very carefully and securely.

Long-term partner in technology

The collaboration between Anchr and de Bijenkorf has been long-standing: since the development of the extensive automation system Virgo. This complex ERP system of de Bijenkorf was developed around 1991 in close cooperation with Anchr and Bijenkorf employees. Fully tailored to the situation of the department store chain and already enthusiastically adopted by the involved staff at that time. The system has since been continuously developed and is technically always up-to-date.

“There is a tremendous amount of technology in this organisation, de Bijenkorf is very much driven by technology,” says Jeroen Petit, IT manager at de Bijenkorf, responsible for the back-office systems, the stores, data, and BI. “Technology is not viewed here purely as a cost item, but as something we need to be innovative.”

ERP system Virgo

The ERP system of de Bijenkorf, Virgo, supports the entire procurement process. Everything related to, for example, purchasing plans, product ranges, purchase orders, and budgeting. But also logistics, managing the supply chain, the stores, and the online shop. From cash registers to inventory counting, to wireless PDAs that employees use on the shop floor to check stock. The system is completely built within an Oracle environment and runs on-premises in a data centre.

On top of this gigantic ERP system, de Bijenkorf's online world is growing. In terms of technology, both the stores and the online shop - two worlds that work closely together - require a lot of customisation that is developed by internal Bijenkorf developers and a dedicated team provided by Anchr. This team has been working for de Bijenkorf for a while, knows the company and its business processes well, which allows for efficient work and clear communication with the client.

In the continuous development that de Bijenkorf undergoes, there is an increasing need to share data and applications within their enormous system with the outside world. For example, with the more than 1000 suppliers. But in a secure manner, so that data and other ‘crown jewels’ of de Bijenkorf do not risk falling into the wrong hands.

The solution: a portal in the Oracle Cloud

Mike Snepvangers, Commercial Director Retail at Anchr: ”The functionality that suppliers need – a portal to access the system – has been addressed and placed in the cloud. We built a small ERP environment there in which the portal application runs.” Here, only very specific data is exchanged via a highly secure, continuously monitored line, with other data remaining inaccessible.

Before the cloud solution came into play, de Bijenkorf used Reverse Proxy. This meant that every time an application needed to be made available outside the fenced wall, various configuration work had to be done. Error-prone, time-consuming, and not optimal. A cloud solution, on the other hand, works very efficiently: you only need to set up the cloud environment once, and afterwards, you can continue to grow and develop.

Easy scaling with Oracle Cloud

Another advantage of the cloud is scalability. When the more than 1000 suppliers of de Bijenkorf all log into the portal to request data about sales or inventory, the cloud environment automatically scales with the number of logged-in users and the transactions taking place on the platform. Rates adjust automatically; you pay more for scaling up, and less for scaling down.