The global running shoe market is highly competitive, and includes renowned brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Puma. In this tough market landscape, New Balance has excelled, capturing a $7 billion market share by the end of 2023. Once considered an underdog, New Balance has grown significantly since 2018, and has become one of the prominent brands in the running shoe sector.
New Balance’s success can be attributed to its commitment to quality, with a particular focus on the craftsmanship of its soles and meticulous attention to detail in manufacturing. However, it’s not just the product that has propelled the brand forward. A strong IT strategy has also played a pivotal role in driving the company’s continued growth in a fiercely competitive market.
What IT challenges New Balance had to overcome
From manufacturing to retail, the company’s business relies heavily on a robust IT network. However, challenges in maintaining network stability posed significant obstacles.
Ensuring production efficiency
New Balance’s manufacturing process is complex and multi-faceted, involving several stages: preparation, initial stitching, hand stitching, and assembly. At each phase, software and applications are utilized to streamline and monitor operations.
For instance, in the initial stitching phase, the materials are sewn with precision using advanced sewing machines. Sensors are appropriately placed in the assembly line to maintain quality control. Any disruption in the IT network or an application outage during this phase could leave some tasks undone, affecting the overall quality of the final product.
Minimizing downtime at checkout counters
In retail, New Balance faces its own set of challenges, particularly in ensuring smooth customer transactions. Retail outlets rely on point-of-sale (POS) machines, which are connected through Wi-Fi networks to complete checkout processes. Any disruption in network performance, such as high packet loss or network traffic issues, can slow down operations and negatively impact customer experience.
For New Balance, maintaining a stable, high-performing network infrastructure at its retail locations is crucial to providing a seamless shopping experience.
Managing a highly distributed network
New Balance operates a highly distributed network across multiple global locations, supporting their manufacturing plants and retail outlets. One of their biggest challenges was monitoring such a vast network. High packet loss and long troubleshooting times were impacting productivity. Also, the NOC team struggled with an overwhelming number of incoming issues from site engineers at their plants and retail stores.
Given these challenges, how did New Balance manage to stay ahead of the curve with a robust IT strategy?
NetFlow Analyzer: A key ingredient of IT success
NetFlow Analyzer gave New Balance’s IT teams deep visibility into its network, enabling the team to proactively monitor utilization trends and spot potential issues before they escalated.
The results?
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Reduced unplanned downtime.
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Optimized bandwidth usage, cutting service provider costs.
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Fewer IT network tickets, boosting productivity.
Curious about how New Balance pulled this off? Explore the full case study for all the details awaiting you!
