Case Study - HDFC Securities Ltd.
Client:-
HDFC Securities provides online trading services to a range of Indian institutional and retail investors. It wanted to increase its trading customers from the passing visitors on its Web site. However, to accomplish this, a Web site revamp incorporating real-time content sharing and exciting collaboration services based on Web 2.0-a term popularized by IT media guru Tim O'Reilly--was needed. HDFC Securities chose Microsoft and Microsoft® Certified Partner Idealake to migrate from a combined Apache Linux MySQL solution to a Windows Server® 2003 Web Edition with Internet Information Services 6.0 and Microsoft® SQL ServerT 2005 technology. The solution has helped HDFC Securities become a credible information resource for new and existing online investors, and has generated up to ten-fold increases in the number of leads from the revamped site.
Situation:-
HDFC Securities, a financial service provider promoted by HDFC Bank and JP Morgan Partners and associates, is one of the leading stock broking companies in India, serving a diverse customer base of institutional and retail investors. Based in Mumbai, the company employs approximately 500 people.
HDFC Securities runs hdfcsec.com, a Web site providing investors with a platform to trade in equities in the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (BSE), and trade in derivatives in the NSE. Within this online trading platform, HDFC Securities operates a content-rich Web site which included a trading site. The content site was designed to provide financial information, analysis, investment guidance, news, and opinions to help both novice and experienced investors and traders make informed decisions.
The site structure was not revamped for a long period of time, which meant that when information was added it was not easy for users to find. This resulted in the perception among the investing community that HDFC Securities was good for online trading, but was lacking in its ability to search for trading information. The organization discovered that customers were visiting alternative information sites, then logging on to the HDFC Securities trading site to conduct trades. This meant HDFC Securities was losing out on the conversion of interested visitors into active customers.
"Web sites are the face of a company. We needed to reassure customers that HDFC Securities could provide them with the latest information so they could plan their investments well. With our low conversion rates, clearly the existing content site was not building the right brand image with customers," explains Ms. Kavita Joshi, Deputy Vice President Marketing, HDFC Bank.
Because of these concerns, HDFC Securities decided to revamp its existing site, hdfcsec.com. The core objective of the project was to generate new customers and educate existing customers by providing timely and credible content. "On our previous site a lot of information was crammed together and did not appear to be updated; there was no 'newness' to it. We found that the site did not invite the user to interact with it, and led to confused users, unsure of what they were looking for," recalls Joshi.
HDFC Securities management provided a mandate for the revamp project to be completed within six to eight weeks, making the timeframe a critical component of the selection process for any proposed solution. Another critical component was the choice of partner to help HDFC Securities implement its solution. The company was looking for a technical partner with in-depth knowledge of the online trading industry and experience in delivering robust technology, within the specified timeframe and budget.
"Our criteria for the selection of technology to drive our online trading business were multiple. We wanted an end-to-end integrated platform for quick development and deployment, a programmatic engagement approach, development support for our solution partner from the platform technology company, and finally, we wanted the latest technology developments in order to provide the next generation of Internet services for our customers, based on a Web 2.0 framework," explains Mr. Munish Mittal, Senior Vice President, HDFC Bank.
Solution:-
HDFC Securities chose to work with Microsoft® Certified Partner Idealake to migrate from a combined Apache Linux MySQL solution to a Microsoft technology platform. The company deployed seven Windows Server® 2003 Web Edition servers with Internet Information Services 6.0 and four Microsoft® SQL ServerT 2005 Standard Edition servers to power its new Web site.
HDFC Securities considered a range of alternative solutions before deciding to migrate to Microsoft technologies. "We viewed presentations for solutions using Open Source, Linux, Red Hat, Oracle 9i, Apache Tomcat and Apache JBoss. We chose to partner with IdeaLake, who proposed a Microsoft technology platform. IdeaLake is well-known within the online trading industry. It had good industry experience, and most importantly, they could deliver the solution within our tight timeframe and budget. We also wanted a partner that already knew what consumers were looking for, and could help us deliver new features to differentiate ourselves from our competitors," says Joshi.
"Companies can develop a larger number of features at a lower cost, because Microsoft technology is flexible and easy to develop," says Viraj Savant, CEO, IdeaLake. The Microsoft platform allows seamless integration and exchange of content with third party sites, utilities and tools. The new Web site, hdfcsec.com, and its corresponding applications, were developed on Microsoft® ASP.NET 2.0. "The engagement approach proposed by Microsoft, based on the 'Enterprise GO' engagement Program, with support on architectural design guidance from Microsoft Technology Centre (MTC) Bangalore and development support for our solution partner team, gave us the confidence that Microsoft could better meet our requirements," says Mittal.
The project started in late February 2007 with workload testing carried out before the system went live. Running 2,500 concurrent users for six continuous hours, results showed database CPU utilization was 13 percent, and Web server CPU utilization was 30 percent-robust enough to handle a large continuous workload. In addition, the maximum response time under these conditions was 0.65 milliseconds while the average response time was 0.37 milliseconds.
Phase One went live in April 2007. This involved creating new content that would be user-friendly and easy to find, and re-designing the entire site to enhance the user experience.
Phase Two will introduce new tools to help users, including an Alert feature to notify customers via email when a selected stock hits a particular value, and a Portfolio Management Service (PMS) that tracks customers' stocks, and reports consolidated gains and losses within each customer stock portfolio. This tool will only be available for registered users and traders. After the roll out of Phase Two, customers will also be able to search for up to five company quotes at one time.
Details of Phase Three are evolving and will include integrating the content site with the existing trading engine, to allow visitors and customers to set up virtual portfolios and track selected stocks.
Benefits:-
Migration to a Microsoft technology environment and implementation of key content changes has enabled HDFC Securities to improve the delivery of its online trading information services to prospective customers. It has led to an increase in the number of customers using its trading site. The improved content has resulted in a large increase in the number of leads generated from hdfcsec.com. The user experience has also been improved through easy navigation and the provision of new updated information.
Click here for details.
HDFC Securities provides online trading services to a range of Indian institutional and retail investors. It wanted to increase its trading customers from the passing visitors on its Web site. However, to accomplish this, a Web site revamp incorporating real-time content sharing and exciting collaboration services based on Web 2.0-a term popularized by IT media guru Tim O'Reilly--was needed. HDFC Securities chose Microsoft and Microsoft® Certified Partner Idealake to migrate from a combined Apache Linux MySQL solution to a Windows Server® 2003 Web Edition with Internet Information Services 6.0 and Microsoft® SQL ServerT 2005 technology. The solution has helped HDFC Securities become a credible information resource for new and existing online investors, and has generated up to ten-fold increases in the number of leads from the revamped site.
Situation:-
HDFC Securities, a financial service provider promoted by HDFC Bank and JP Morgan Partners and associates, is one of the leading stock broking companies in India, serving a diverse customer base of institutional and retail investors. Based in Mumbai, the company employs approximately 500 people.
HDFC Securities runs hdfcsec.com, a Web site providing investors with a platform to trade in equities in the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (BSE), and trade in derivatives in the NSE. Within this online trading platform, HDFC Securities operates a content-rich Web site which included a trading site. The content site was designed to provide financial information, analysis, investment guidance, news, and opinions to help both novice and experienced investors and traders make informed decisions.
The site structure was not revamped for a long period of time, which meant that when information was added it was not easy for users to find. This resulted in the perception among the investing community that HDFC Securities was good for online trading, but was lacking in its ability to search for trading information. The organization discovered that customers were visiting alternative information sites, then logging on to the HDFC Securities trading site to conduct trades. This meant HDFC Securities was losing out on the conversion of interested visitors into active customers.
"Web sites are the face of a company. We needed to reassure customers that HDFC Securities could provide them with the latest information so they could plan their investments well. With our low conversion rates, clearly the existing content site was not building the right brand image with customers," explains Ms. Kavita Joshi, Deputy Vice President Marketing, HDFC Bank.
Because of these concerns, HDFC Securities decided to revamp its existing site, hdfcsec.com. The core objective of the project was to generate new customers and educate existing customers by providing timely and credible content. "On our previous site a lot of information was crammed together and did not appear to be updated; there was no 'newness' to it. We found that the site did not invite the user to interact with it, and led to confused users, unsure of what they were looking for," recalls Joshi.
HDFC Securities management provided a mandate for the revamp project to be completed within six to eight weeks, making the timeframe a critical component of the selection process for any proposed solution. Another critical component was the choice of partner to help HDFC Securities implement its solution. The company was looking for a technical partner with in-depth knowledge of the online trading industry and experience in delivering robust technology, within the specified timeframe and budget.
"Our criteria for the selection of technology to drive our online trading business were multiple. We wanted an end-to-end integrated platform for quick development and deployment, a programmatic engagement approach, development support for our solution partner from the platform technology company, and finally, we wanted the latest technology developments in order to provide the next generation of Internet services for our customers, based on a Web 2.0 framework," explains Mr. Munish Mittal, Senior Vice President, HDFC Bank.
Solution:-
HDFC Securities chose to work with Microsoft® Certified Partner Idealake to migrate from a combined Apache Linux MySQL solution to a Microsoft technology platform. The company deployed seven Windows Server® 2003 Web Edition servers with Internet Information Services 6.0 and four Microsoft® SQL ServerT 2005 Standard Edition servers to power its new Web site.
HDFC Securities considered a range of alternative solutions before deciding to migrate to Microsoft technologies. "We viewed presentations for solutions using Open Source, Linux, Red Hat, Oracle 9i, Apache Tomcat and Apache JBoss. We chose to partner with IdeaLake, who proposed a Microsoft technology platform. IdeaLake is well-known within the online trading industry. It had good industry experience, and most importantly, they could deliver the solution within our tight timeframe and budget. We also wanted a partner that already knew what consumers were looking for, and could help us deliver new features to differentiate ourselves from our competitors," says Joshi.
"Companies can develop a larger number of features at a lower cost, because Microsoft technology is flexible and easy to develop," says Viraj Savant, CEO, IdeaLake. The Microsoft platform allows seamless integration and exchange of content with third party sites, utilities and tools. The new Web site, hdfcsec.com, and its corresponding applications, were developed on Microsoft® ASP.NET 2.0. "The engagement approach proposed by Microsoft, based on the 'Enterprise GO' engagement Program, with support on architectural design guidance from Microsoft Technology Centre (MTC) Bangalore and development support for our solution partner team, gave us the confidence that Microsoft could better meet our requirements," says Mittal.
Designed for dedicated Web serving and hosting, Windows Server 2003 delivers a single-purpose solution for Internet service providers, application developers, and others who use or deploy specific Web functionality. SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition is a data management and analysis platform designed specifically for small and medium-sized organizations. It includes the essential functionality needed for e-commerce, data warehousing, and line-of-business solutions. “Our audience includes new and sporadic users, regular investors, traders, and prospective investors. IdeaLake understood how consumers consume information, and helped us structure the information accordingly, using the right technology,” says Joshi.
This new solution was designed to help HDFC Securities become a credible information resource for new and existing online investors. The Web site was re-structured on two levels: at the layout level, and at the content level, and was designed in three phases. Softcell Technologies Limited, a Microsoft Large Account Reseller (LAR), provided consulting services for the application architecture in the run time environment, running the complete infrastructure as an outsourced activity.The project started in late February 2007 with workload testing carried out before the system went live. Running 2,500 concurrent users for six continuous hours, results showed database CPU utilization was 13 percent, and Web server CPU utilization was 30 percent-robust enough to handle a large continuous workload. In addition, the maximum response time under these conditions was 0.65 milliseconds while the average response time was 0.37 milliseconds.
Phase One went live in April 2007. This involved creating new content that would be user-friendly and easy to find, and re-designing the entire site to enhance the user experience.
Phase Two will introduce new tools to help users, including an Alert feature to notify customers via email when a selected stock hits a particular value, and a Portfolio Management Service (PMS) that tracks customers' stocks, and reports consolidated gains and losses within each customer stock portfolio. This tool will only be available for registered users and traders. After the roll out of Phase Two, customers will also be able to search for up to five company quotes at one time.
Details of Phase Three are evolving and will include integrating the content site with the existing trading engine, to allow visitors and customers to set up virtual portfolios and track selected stocks.
Benefits:-
Migration to a Microsoft technology environment and implementation of key content changes has enabled HDFC Securities to improve the delivery of its online trading information services to prospective customers. It has led to an increase in the number of customers using its trading site. The improved content has resulted in a large increase in the number of leads generated from hdfcsec.com. The user experience has also been improved through easy navigation and the provision of new updated information.
- Increased Lead Generation - After restructuring hdfcsec.com and improving the user experience, HDFC Securities has witnessed a significant increase in the number of leads generated from the site. "I estimate that our leads have increased 5-10 times since the hdfcsec.com site went live in April," says Joshi.
- Increased Revenue - The improvement in user-friendliness and access to functionality on the Web site has boosted customer uptake for HDFC Securities. "Our emphasis has always been on getting more people to trade through educating them via our content site. The new hdfcsec.com site looks far better than the old site, and has definitely improved our new customer acquisition. This has enhanced opportunities to cross-sell other products," explains Joshi.
- Improved Customer Experience -The key function of the site is to provide information in a clear, simplified manner so that customers can use the site conveniently. "We want site users to be able to find the information they need in the format they find easiest to assimilate, then move on to become our customers and trade more with us," says Joshi. Coupled with the revamped information architecture, SQL Server 2005 mirroring, and connecting the Web server to a load balancer, the Microsoft solution provides high availability to ensure optimal user experience during high demand periods.
- Accelerated Cost-Effective Delivery - Microsoft technology is built on industry standards that allow organizations to extend existing Web applications and quickly develop new ones. This meant that IdeaLake was able to confidently deliver the hdfcsec.com Web site within the timeframe and budget specified by HDFC Securities. SQL Server 2005 also enables HDFC Securities to control costs without sacrificing performance, availability, scalability, or security.
- Better mission-critical support - With customer leads increased an estimated 5-10 times, HDFC Securities need to be confident that the technology can scale-up quickly to support increased demand. SQL Server 2005 enables this and allows the company to perform mission-critical tasks, including high volume online transactions, to provide enhanced user-focused features, such as Alerts and PMS, and to decrease the time it takes to get information to customers.
The improved technology supports even greater ongoing growth as increasing numbers of customers in India use the Internet, says Mittal. "Recent advances made by Microsoft in Web application server (Internet Information Server) and the supporting development framework allow us now to cater to customers who are moving to broadband, and hence the next generation of Internet services based on a Web 2.0 framework," he says.
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