NEWS & NOTEWORTHY

Gorilla Acquires R3Si to Bolster Industry-leading GEMS Magento and Demandware Support Service

Chicago, IL – Gorilla Commerce, an award-winning, full-service ecommerce solutions provider, has announced today that they have acquired R3Si, a leading provider of dedicated website support services and a Magento Silver Partner. The acquisition provides Gorilla with a wealth of technical experience and adds the infrastructure to support the rapid growth of its proactive online store support offering, GEMS, while allowing its onshore development team to remain focused on client site deployments.              

With the acquisition, “Gorilla gains a talented staff with significant expertise supporting the Magento and Demandware platforms through the use of industry standard protocols,” said Brian Grady, Principal at Gorilla. “This allows us to enhance our service levels and expand our service offerings, while functioning as a single company, under two separate and distinct business models that provide maximum value to our clients.”   

Under the new corporate structure, all client site builds and deployments will continue to be managed and executed by Gorilla’s in-house development team in Chicago. Gorilla’s Webby Award winning Information architecture and user experience design teams will also remain exclusively based at the Chicago corporate headquarters. Gorilla Enhanced Managed Support [GEMS], a proactive support, monitoring and enhancement service for online store owners, will operate under a cost-efficient blended onshore/offshore model that allocates development resources based on the complexity and severity of client site needs and issues.

Based in Chicago, Illinois and Kiev, Ukraine, R3Si built its reputation delivering white label development and support services for over 50 brand manufacturers and retailers operating on the Magento and Demandware platforms.  With the acquisition, Igor Rafalovsky, managing partner at R3Si, will assume the role of Director of Technology, at Gorilla’s Chicago headquarters. Operations at the Kiev office, which will retain its current management structure, will center on supporting Gorilla’s GEMS program.

GEMS, which is based on the industry standard ITSM framework, delivers 24/7/365 support for Magento and Demandware product offerings, regardless of which agency performed the initial site build and customizations. This provides not only the assurance to address minor site issues and bug fixes, but also the resources to plan for and schedule site customizations, enhancements and system upgrades. Through pre-defined, performance-based Service Level Agreements (SLAs), GEMS offers real-time system monitoring and alerts and a dedicated Customer Service Portal for both IT issues and frontline business user support. This reduces the need for online retailers to dedicate in-house resources to maintain their online stores, in a cost-effective business model that extends the lifespan of online store deployments.

“We’ve seen intense demand in the marketplace for dedicated online store support, and the scalable infrastructure and best practice processes, on which GEMS is built, has proven to meet that need head on,” said Grady. Complete details and planpricing can be found on the GEMSwebsite.

With locations in Chicago, Illinois, Kiev Ukraine, and a New York office scheduled to open in 2012, Gorilla has solidified its position as the go-to ecommerce solutions provider for mid-size business, delivering exceptional ROI through the digital channel. 

Gorilla is Chicago’s leading ecommerce agency. We help clients realize increased revenue and profit margins by delivering world-class service, outstanding design focused on the user experience, ecommerce development and implementation and creating measurable, customized marketing strategies. Our expertise in understanding the differing needs of B2B and B2C companies, allows us to implement best practices for multichannel retailers and brand manufacturers to produce more sales through the online channel.