International Vending-Machine Business Goes Digital-First

First, Transformed by a Gumball Machine. Now, by HCL Domino.

Rheavendors Group, based in Milan, got its start in the 1960s and was known originally for being a parts supplier for some well-known brands, such as Alfa Romeo, Vespa scooters, and Olivetti typewriters, to name just a few. Rheavendors grew to become a cutting-edge leader in the international vending market through one brilliant invention: The gumball machine.

This gumball machine was originally just a casual spin-off from the founders’ (Aldo and Giuliana Majer) original mechanical parts business. Aldo’s design was based on a simple yet sophisticated protype sketch from a friend. There had been nothing like it before, and amazingly, with this humble start, the production of a gumball machine industry was born. The business grew and grew over the years, and now Rheavendors has international prestige in the world of vending machines and industrial-grade high-end appliances. Today they are known as one of the most powerful Italian style icons from the Sixties.

As the vending business grew, so did the complexities of its business operations. The day-to-day workflows were largely driven by paper-based processes, and that needed to change. In 2020, the Rheavendors management team embarked on an audit and review of its end-to-end operations. Digiway srl, an HCL Business Partner, was brought in to help implement the operational improvements that had been identified.

Everyone agreed that Digiway was the right partner since the entire workforce at Rheavendors was brought in to help collaborate on and contribute to the solutions for how to improve how daily work got done. The employee input helped define the requirements for a new digital portal that they envisioned — and it meant that there was guaranteed “buy-in” for all the changes that were to be made and fast adoption once it was implemented.

Overall, the team knew that the environment needed to be engaging and functional — as well as seamlessly integrate with the already-established Domino v12 infrastructure. As Domino experts, Digiway was able to quickly propose a plan to address these needs.

From Paper to Digital

Digiway proposed a fully customized and secure employee portal with two-factor authentication and single sign-on for both security and ease of access, and a series of customized Domino applications to replace paper-based processes. It also proposed replacing the unnecessary 3rd-party solutions being used (and being paid for). The goal was to implement a solution that was secure, flexible, adaptable, powerful, and cost-effective.

Rheavendors and Digiway took a phased approach to rolling out the new environment. The first phase was to set up a portal which allowed employees to view urgent communications, conduct self-certifications, and create modules for managing internal approval forms and workflows. The second phase was to make sure the portal was integrated with the company email environment so that automated, organizational email communications were possible.

Example images of their new employee portal

Domino: The Backbone for Smart Work

Rheavendors Group is thrilled with the successful outcome of this project. They now have a fully integrated Intranet environment available to all employees. It’s built on Domino, with a network infrastructure based on MS LDAP and single sign-on (SSO) capabilities for streamlined and secure access to the information the employees need to do their work.

Employees immediately saw the benefits of a digital portal acting as the conduit for their request approval process. Requests are now processed with both speed and efficiency.

Additionally, this new system has nearly eliminated all use of paper documents, making the company more environmentally friendly — a top priority for the company.

Overall, the new environment has fostered an improved level of cooperation and communication between colleagues and across the organization. This is resulting in greater business success today and a vision for continued success in the future.