Alcatel e-business goes global with Saqqara Web catalogue

When French telecommunication giant Alcatel embarked on an ambitious project to re-organise its e-business division, it chose SaqqaraCommerce Suite as its catalogue and Web store solution.

The Alcatel e-business division, which produces business-to-business (B2B) equipment and transmission systems, aimed to increase distributor loyalty and sales volumes while reducing global trading costs, from the supply chain through to the support hotline. In less than a year, it has achieved an unprecedented return on investment with benefits for external and internal users.

Customer buy-in has resulted in the system being used for 91% of orders placed.

Sales results from the platform have taken a progressive upward direction from EUR50 million in June 2001, only nine months after the sales site went live, to the current high of between EUR60 million and EUR90 million a month.

The number of people with access to the site is growing at a rate of 2 000 a month and currently stands at 12 000.

"Our main goal was to create a single information processing system that would allow us to present 8 000 catalogued items in four languages to hundreds of customers worldwide. The system needed to connect to Alcatel`s own back-office accounting and logistical systems, and meet our legal and technical requirements," says St'ephane Delaporte, director of Alcatel`s e-business division. "The platform was installed at the beginning of 2000 and the time and energy savings are such that we achieved total return on investment within a year.

"We are particularly delighted with the achievement of our objective to integrate the Internet sales site, which interfaces with the distributors, with our back-office information processing systems, right through from our supply chain applications, including SAP R/3, to our after-sales technical support. As a result, the new site has become a reference for not only the sales force, but also the marketing/pre-sales, order administration and the after-sales service departments."

The core platform is Alcatel`s catalogue of networking products and systems. The initial database, which contains the description of the products, was enriched by information from three other databases, including information about product attributes - to allow users to search by functionality; information about the specific constraints for each country and user profiles, and information comprising navigations tools such as menus. The global solution has been made available in four languages: French, English, German and Spanish. Management of the databases and data extraction is carried out by Saqqara`s specialised software editor and configurator that allows products to be presented according to customer profile and requirements. An internal application transfers the orders, and an interface to Alcatel`s SAP R/3`s global management system ensures their successful follow-up.

The next phase in the project will give key clients direct access to the platform by the end of 2001.

The project has achieved a key customer relationship objective: to give all Alcatel`s significant distributors and customers a direct communications relationship with Alcatel. "Up to now, we would refer clients who called to one of our partners," says Delaporte. "Now, we can offer them access to our platform and direct contact with us, the manufacturer."

Another objective achieved was the centralisation of order processing. Previously, the sales administration was split across several countries. It is now based in Illkirch, France and Alcatel is using the same number of people based at Illkirch to process between 400 and 500 orders a day, six times more than before.

Finally the quantity and quality of information made available via the site has appreciably decreased the number of phone calls to the after-sales call centre.

Compliments are streaming in: "This platform represents the very best achievements of today`s technology, essentially because it covers all the markets in world," say Accenture consultants Louis Fagalde and Gay Jean-Michel.

"Nortel may have a similar tool, but no company could have such a complete platform. I have not seen such customer satisfaction elsewhere," says Michel Lavandier, president of SDTE-Ariane Networks and Telecom, a key Alcatel distributor. "In spite of some functional imperfections, SDTE-Ariane technicians are using the new site more and more, particularly to download software, and to trawl for information. The only difficulty is that the Internet site is slower than in the beginning. Undoubtedly a victim of its own success."

The Saqqara applications and tools used to achieve this e-business success are available in SA through Saqqara`s South African distributor, commerceSWITCH.

"Alcatel has taken a step in the direction of the future," says Philip de Bruin, MD of commerceSWITCH. "Its success should serve as an example to anyone who wants to compete in the global e-market. Total, direct e-commerce is achievable and will produce rewarding results for all concerned."