Fabric Digital Services

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CIO of GNC. We are the leader in the health and wellness space.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fabric Digital Services?

We had a homegrown product information management (PIM) system, and it wasn’t scalable, nor was it communicative across other platforms. It was a real handicap because our third-party vendors couldn’t add items, and we’d have to reenter their products manually. It was time-consuming and took a lot of our resources. Hence, we needed someone to transform our system into a headless product, which means that the front- and backend are separated.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fabric completely separated our PIM’s front- and backend and provides a database as a service. We host the frontend while they run the backend. Basically, they use APIs to connect our software to their database. This allows us to have a single entry point for our products instead of having multiple systems. It’s able to connect to other systems, as well. The team works very closely with us to ensure that we have a fully functional PIM system. We’ve also engaged in other projects.

What is the team composition?

We work with Ambrish (Principal Program Manager), who manages several programs for us.

How did you come to work with Fabric Digital Services?

I’ve known their CEO for a long time. When he became the CEO of Fabric, he reached out to me about a solution they had for us and offered to do an evaluation. I agreed, and then the eval eventually turned into a proof of concept. Our team was really excited about the proof of concept, so we decided to pursue the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in November 2020, and it’s ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Thanks to them, we have a single authoritative source for real-time product information throughout the system. Adding products now takes a few minutes instead of days. Previously, it took as long as eight hours to add a single item. Since our system can communicate in real-time through APIs, it now takes just 30 minutes to add an item.

It also reduced the number of resources we had to utilize just to enter data. Lastly, it has eliminated human errors such as misspelled words because the information we have is straight from the vendor. It has taken the human interaction out of the process and allows our system to get data from our vendor’s systems. Overall, they did a great job — our PIM system is exactly how I envisioned it.

How did Fabric Digital Services perform from a project management standpoint?

Fabric is a very accessible team, even all the way to the top of their company. I could call the CEO right now, and he’d be more than willing to answer the phone. We communicate synchronously through Microsoft Teams and Slack. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Fabric is a true partner — the team genuinely cares about our success. They’re not like other vendors who just want to sell us something and are very transactional. Fabric went in with a statement of work (SoW), but they’ve done things that were above and beyond what they committed in their SoW. They did what we paid them to do and then some, proving them to be a long-term strategic partner rather than a one-and-done vendor.

Furthermore, I’m impressed by the pedigree of their customers. They work with some of the biggest companies, and it’s because of the bright minds in the Fabric team. They work to create a solution that works for their clients and build it the right way. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Fabric is a new company, so they have some growing pains when it comes to resources. However, I know that if I raise any concern over it, they will go ahead and hire more people. It’s hard to call it a negative.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having a plan is monumental. Understand what your end goal is, and Fabric will tell you the right way to do it. Furthermore, define what a successful outcome is and make sure not to veer away from that.