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 Server™ 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.

1. Windows Server 2003
Customer Solution Case Study
Prime
Prime Indian Securities Trading Site Moves to
Web 2.0, Achieves Lead Generation Boost
Overview “I estimate that our leads have increased five to ten
Country or Region: India
Industry: Financial Services-Stock Broking
times since the hdfcsec.com site went live in April.”
Ms. Kavita Joshi, Deputy Vice President Marketing, HDFC Bank
Customer Profile
HDFC Securities is a leading stock broking
firm based in Mumbai, India, employing
approximately 500 people. The company
runs hdfcsec.com, a Web site providing HDFC Securities provides online trading services to a range of
investors and traders with a platform to
trade in equities. Indian institutional and retail investors. It wanted to increase its
trading customers from the passing visitors on its Web site.
Business Situation
The company used a content site that However, to accomplish this, a Web site revamp incorporating real-
lacked brand image and proved ineffective time content sharing and exciting collaboration services based on
at attracting new customers.
Web 2.0—a term popularized by IT media guru Tim O’Reilly--was
Solution needed. HDFC Securities chose Microsoft and Microsoft® Certified
HDFC Securities migrated to Microsoft
technology. The company deployed Partner Idealake to migrate from a combined Apache Linux MySQL
Windows Server® 2003 Web Edition and solution to a Windows Server® 2003 Web Edition with Internet
Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 Standard
Edition to power its new Web site. Information Services 6.0 and Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005
technology. The solution has helped HDFC Securities become a
Benefits
 Increased lead generation
credible information resource for new and existing online investors,
 Increased revenue and has generated up to ten-fold increases in the number of leads
 Improved customer experience
 Accelerated cost-effective delivery
from the revamped site.
 Better mission-critical support

2. “We wanted the latest Situation rates, clearly the existing content site was not
HDFC Securities, a financial service provider building the right brand image with
technology promoted by HDFC Bank and JP Morgan customers,” explains Ms. Kavita Joshi,
developments in order Partners and associates, is one of the leading Deputy Vice President Marketing, HDFC Bank.
stock broking companies in India, serving a
to provide the next diverse customer base of institutional and Because of these concerns, HDFC Securities
generation of Internet retail investors. Based in Mumbai, the decided to revamp its existing site,
company employs approximately 500 people. hdfcsec.com. The core objective of the
services for our project was to generate new customers and
customers, based on a HDFC Securities runs hdfcsec.com, a Web educate existing customers by providing
site providing investors with a platform to timely and credible content. “On our previous
Web 2.0 framework.” trade in equities in the National Stock site a lot of information was crammed
Exchange of India (NSE) and the Bombay together and did not appear to be updated;
Stock Exchange Limited (BSE), and trade in there was no ‘newness’ to it. We found that
Mr. Munish Mittal, Senior Vice President, derivatives in the NSE. Within this online the site did not invite the user to interact with
HDFC Bank trading platform, HDFC Securities operates a it, and led to confused users, unsure of what
content-rich Web site which included a they were looking for,” recalls Joshi.
trading site. The content site was designed to
provide financial information, analysis, HDFC Securities management provided a
investment guidance, news, and opinions to mandate for the revamp project to be
help both novice and experienced investors completed within six to eight weeks, making
and traders make informed decisions. the timeframe a critical component of the
selection process for any proposed solution.
The site structure was not revamped for a Another critical component was the choice of
long period of time, which meant that when partner to help HDFC Securities implement its
information was added it was not easy for solution. The company was looking for a
users to find. This resulted in the perception technical partner with in-depth knowledge of
among the investing community that HDFC the online trading industry and experience in
Securities was good for online trading, but delivering robust technology, within the
was lacking in its ability to search for trading specified timeframe and budget.
information. The organization discovered that
customers were visiting alternative “Our criteria for the selection of technology to
information sites, then logging on to the drive our online trading business were
HDFC Securities trading site to conduct multiple. We wanted an end-to-end integrated
trades. This meant HDFC Securities was platform for quick development and
losing out on the conversion of interested deployment, a programmatic engagement
visitors into active customers. approach, development support for our
solution partner from the platform technology
“Web sites are the face of a company. We company, and finally, we wanted the latest
needed to reassure customers that HDFC technology developments in order to provide
Securities could provide them with the latest the next generation of Internet services for
information so they could plan their our customers, based on a Web 2.0
investments well. With our low conversion

3. “Recent advances made framework,” explains Mr. Munish Mittal, third party sites, utilities and tools. The new
Senior Vice President, HDFC Bank. Web site, hdfcsec.com, and its corresponding
by Microsoft in Web applications, were developed on Microsoft®
Application Server (IIS) ASP.NET 2.0. “The engagement approach
proposed by Microsoft, based on the
and the supporting ‘Enterprise GO’ engagement Program, with
development framework support on architectural design guidance
from Microsoft Technology Centre (MTC)
allow us to cater to Bangalore and development support for our
customers who are Solution solution partner team, gave us the
HDFC Securities chose to work with confidence that Microsoft could better meet
moving to broadband Microsoft® Certified Partner IdeaLake to our requirements,” says Mittal.
and hence the next migrate from a combined Apache Linux
MySQL solution to a Microsoft technology Designed for dedicated Web serving and
generation of Internet platform. The company deployed seven hosting, Windows Server 2003 delivers a
services based on a Windows Server® 2003 Web Edition servers single-purpose solution for Internet service
with Internet Information Services 6.0 and providers, application developers, and others
Web 2.0 framework.” four Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 Standard who use or deploy specific Web functionality.
Edition servers to power its new Web site. SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition is a data
management and analysis platform designed
Mr. Munish Mittal, Senior Vice President, HDFC Securities considered a range of specifically for small and medium-sized
HDFC Bank alternative solutions before deciding to organizations. It includes the essential
migrate to Microsoft technologies. “We functionality needed for e-commerce, data
viewed presentations for solutions using warehousing, and line-of-business solutions.
Open Source, Linux, Red Hat, Oracle 9i, “Our audience includes new and sporadic
Apache Tomcat and Apache JBoss. We chose users, regular investors, traders, and
to partner with IdeaLake, who proposed a prospective investors. IdeaLake understood
Microsoft technology platform. IdeaLake is how consumers consume information, and
well-known within the online trading industry. helped us structure the information
It had good industry experience, and most accordingly, using the right technology,” says
importantly, they could deliver the solution Joshi.
within our tight timeframe and budget. We
also wanted a partner that already knew what This new solution was designed to help HDFC
consumers were looking for, and could help Securities become a credible information
us deliver new features to differentiate resource for new and existing online
ourselves from our competitors,” says Joshi. investors. The Web site was re-structured on
two levels: at the layout level, and at the
“Companies can develop a larger number of content level, and was designed in three
features at a lower cost, because Microsoft phases. Softcell Technologies Limited, a
technology is flexible and easy to develop,” Microsoft Large Account Reseller (LAR),
says Viraj Savant, CEO, IdeaLake. The provided consulting services for the
Microsoft platform allows seamless application architecture in the run time
integration and exchange of content with

4. environment, running the complete
infrastructure as an outsourced activity. Benefits
Migration to a Microsoft technology
The project started in late February 2007 environment and implementation of key
with workload testing carried out before the content changes has enabled HDFC
system went live. Running 2,500 concurrent Securities to improve the delivery of its online
users for six continuous hours, results trading information services to prospective
showed database CPU utilization was 13 customers. It has led to an increase in the
percent, and Web server CPU utilization was number of customers using its trading site.
30 percent—robust enough to handle a large The improved content has resulted in a large
continuous workload. In addition, the increase in the number of leads generated
maximum response time under these from hdfcsec.com. The user experience has
conditions was 0.65 milliseconds while the also been improved through easy navigation
average response time was 0.37 and the provision of new updated
milliseconds. information.
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. Increased Lead Generation
After restructuring hdfcsec.com and
Phase Two will introduce new tools to help improving the user experience, HDFC
users, including an Alert feature to notify Securities has witnessed a significant
customers via email when a selected stock increase in the number of leads generated
hits a particular value, and a Portfolio from the site. “I estimate that our leads have
Management Service (PMS) that tracks increased 5-10 times since the hdfcsec.com
customers’ stocks, and reports consolidated site went live in April,” says Joshi.
gains and losses within each customer stock
portfolio. This tool will only be available for The improved technology supports even
registered users and traders. After the roll out greater ongoing growth as increasing
of Phase Two, customers will also be able to numbers of customers in India use the
search for up to five company quotes at one Internet, says Mittal. “Recent advances made
time. by Microsoft in Web application server
(Internet Information Server) and the
Details of Phase Three are evolving and will supporting development framework allow us
include integrating the content site with the now to cater to customers who are moving to
existing trading engine, to allow visitors and broadband, and hence the next generation of
customers to set up virtual portfolios and Internet services based on a Web 2.0
track selected stocks. framework,” he says.

5. Increased Revenue confident that the technology can scale-up
The improvement in user-friendliness and quickly to support increased demand. SQL
access to functionality on the Web site has Server 2005 enables this and allows the
boosted customer uptake for HDFC company to perform mission-critical tasks,
Securities. “Our emphasis has always been including high volume online transactions, to
on getting more people to trade through provide enhanced user-focused features,
educating them via our content site. The new such as Alerts and PMS, and to decrease the
hdfcsec.com site looks far better than the old time it takes to get information to customers.
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

6. For More Information Windows Server 2003
For more information about Microsoft The Windows Server 2003 family helps
products and services, call the Microsoft organizations do more with less. Now you can
Sales Information Center at (800) run your IT infrastructure more efficiently,
426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft build better applications faster, and deliver
Canada Information Centre at (877) the best infrastructure for enhancing user
568-2495. Customers who are deaf or productivity. And you can do all this faster,
hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text more securely, and at lower cost.
telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800)
892-5234 in the United States or (905) For more information about Windows Server
568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 2003, please visit:
United States and Canada, please contact www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003
your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access
information using the World Wide Web, go
to: www.microsoft.com
For more information about IdeaLake
products and services, call +91 22
24902610 or visit the Web site at:
www.idealake.com
For more information about HDFC
Securities products and services, call +91
22 66611700 or visit the Web site at:
www.hdfcsec.com
Software and Services Hardware
 Products  Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard
− Windows Server 2003 Web Edition Edition
Partners
 IdeaLake
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published July 2007