Sky Active Brings E-Commerce to Millions of Homes via the TV Screen, with Vital Support from Capgemini
SkyActive outsourced to Capgemini allowing them to focus on their key business.
- Industry
- Telecom, Media & Entertainment
- Region
- UK
- Alliance partner
- Cisco
- Solution
- Application Development & Integration
- Transformation Leadership
Sky Active is the world’s first big, successful interactive television service. Following its full British launch under the Open brand name, its runaway success has exceeded all expectations, with audience figures climbing to millions in just a few months. Owned by BSkyB, Sky Active is now available to some 5 million Sky digital homes.
Capgemini, which played a prominent role at the systems commissioning and implementation phases, was selected ahead of the Open full commercial launch as IT outsourcing partner, responsible for the entire operational infrastructure.
Client Profile
Sky Active is truly E-Commerce for all - even people scared stiff of computers. It delivers online shopping, banking, games, email, travel, tourism and information services on a round-the-clock basis (24x7) with all the look, feel and immediacy that customers expect from TV. Customers can transact in safety because of the outstanding security, paying by credit card and having the goods delivered direct to their homes. Understandably, many of Britain’s leading retailers, banks, travel companies etc have been racing aboard, giving the service immense and ever- increasing richness and diversity.
The TV images combine video, text, still images and animation to create a service as entertaining as it is useful. There is strong focus on ease of use - a viewer simply needs a TV with remote control, a phone and a set-top box.
But the back-office technology to achieve this simplicity was complex, sophisticated and, in many areas, totally new.
Business Issues
Sky Active knew that their focus had to be on providing a creative, commercial service. There was, therefore, no question of having a huge in-house IT team to run the many vital operational systems required. The logical decision was to outsource, with the following key requirements in mind:
- the total reliability expected in a ‘TV not PC’ culture - everything must work first time, every time,
- 24x7, with none of the complications or delays sometimes encountered with the
internet
the flexibility and scalability to accommodate unknown (and as it turned out, very high) rates of expansion - a single point of contact: one company able to act as prime contractor despite the wide variety of hardware, software and services that would inevitably be required.
The detailed system requirements were equally demanding, given that many of the systems would be truly mission-critical - if the systems crashed, the Sky Active service would also crash. Specifically, the outsourcing company chosen would need to support such vital systems as:
- Broadcast Server, beaming content to the satellite
- Online Server, holding a vast content database for viewers to access and download specific items to their set-top box.
- Secure Transaction Management System, deployed whenever the viewer decides to make a purchase
- Authentication Server, to provide additional security.
Equally important, all these key systems - and links to content providers - would need to be linked and managed as a single, smoothly functioning whole.
The Solution
Keenly aware of the mission-critical status of the systems under its responsibility, Capgemini followed three key principles in devising the details of its solution:
- rigorous application of its proven disciplines for the management of mission-critical production systems
- formulation of instant escalation procedures to ensure extremely rapid recovery from unexpected problems
- full 24x7 support, addressing head-on the non-trivial challenge of deploying highly skilled, trained specialists in the new technologies round the clock.
A detailed Service Level Agreement was prepared, with Key Performance Indicators carefully worked out and agreed with Sky Active. To ensure overall standards of service from a management perspective, Capgemini’s OTACE (On Time and Above Customer Expectations) quality measurement process was also put in place.
To cater for the turbulent rate of change in the pre- and post-launch periods, special fast-track procedures were created to prevent progress being impeded by contractual issues. Simultaneously, Capgemini made a significant investment in additional training for team members in the many brand-new, emerging technologies involved.
The service centred on a special Capgemini Secure Data Centre in Central London with high levels of physical and data security.
The Benefits
The Directors of Sky Active report the following important benefits from entrusting operational support of their broadcast and E-Commerce transactional platforms to Capgemini:
“We awarded this key contract to Capgemini against competitive bids because of their proven record in providing 24 hour reliability for mission-critical systems; their performance to date shows that we made the right decision.”
“Interactive TV is still in its infancy and inevitably unexpected problems can and do occasionally arise. What is magnificent about Capgemini is their ability to effect recovery within minutes.”
“On the marketing front, it is useful for our content partners to know that our IT is demonstrably sorted. Also, Capgemini’s extensive business links with banks, insurance companies, retailers etc have provided fertile opportunities for co-operative marketing.”
“Outsourcing has enabled us to focus on the creative and innovative aspects of
our exciting new service, secure in the knowledge that our systems are in safe
hands.”
“Our business doesn’t stand still for five minutes, so it is a huge plus that
Capgemini can always respond to new needs fast, and with flexibility.”
Written in co-operation with Sky Active
