Aircraft maker: aftermarket portal in 12 weeks
Discover how a Canadian aircraft manufacturer with a 95-year history and 5,000+ aircraft delivered replaced a monolithic legacy system with a unified aftermarket B2B customer portal on Virto Commerce.
In short
A Canadian aerospace and defense manufacturer with a 95-year history and 5,000+ aircraft delivered restructured in 2019 and set out to unify its aftermarket customer portal and ecommerce under one roof. Its monolithic, non-API legacy system could not do that, and the first MVP had to be live by year-end. Virto Commerce replatformed the business, migrated its data and launched the unified portal in under 12 weeks: aftermarket ordering, supplier invoicing, documentation access and real-time alerts, all with role-based permissions. The portal now has 15,000 active users and has processed 21,000+ orders since launch.
Virto's platform has an intuitive interface, and it's easy to navigate. No issues finding document information or viewing what's available, which makes day-to-day work a lot smoother. Everything is where you'd expect it to be, which saves time and removes the friction we used to deal with before.
Challenge: a monolith and a year-end deadline
Following a restructuring in 2019, the company set an ambitious goal: go beyond pure commerce and deliver a unified customer portal and ecommerce experience — under one roof.
Four specific challenges stood in the way:
- Aftermarket CX overhaul
- Complex permissions and access structure
- Monolithic legacy replatforming
- Complex integrations and data transfer
Solution: portal and commerce under one roof
The client selected Virto Commerce after evaluating the platform’s Atomic Architecture™, out-of-the-box complex permissions support, and ability to unify the customer portal and ecommerce engine in a single composable solution.
The unified Customer Portal brings together:
- Aftermarket ecommerce engine for buyers and suppliers
- Invoicing portal for suppliers
- Data and documentation access with role-based permissions
- Real-time alerts and analytics to support dispatch reliability
- Personalized access to publications and technical resources throughout the aircraft lifecycle
Result: 15,000 users, 21,000+ orders
Business Benefits
- Unified portal for ordering, invoicing, and documentation reduces context-switching and improves efficiency for both buyers and suppliers.
- Role-based permissions ensure sensitive data and tools are accessible only to the right users, so buyers and suppliers each see the documentation and tools that apply to their role.
- Composable Virto Atomic Architecture™ made it possible to build a genuinely unified experience (portal + commerce + invoicing) rather than integrating separate systems that each require their own maintenance.
