Compuware has introduced PointForward, its first software and solution offering to be made available over the Internet via a hosted services model.
PointForward is a complete testing and monitoring solution set aimed at ensuring that customers` Web sites operate at optimal levels.
Because PointForward uses the centralised skills of a virtual team, it makes monitoring and testing resources available to customers who would not normally have the resources to maintain them. As a result, Compuware SA regional sales director Peter French feels the company will be targeting more than the traditional Top 200 market.
"I think we can triple that," he says, "adding to our market as new operations start to grow."
[VIDEO]David Taylor, Compuware VP of product sales for Latin America, Middle East and Africa, points out that it is difficult to determine the amount of potential income lost to a company through Web site problems. "But the recent Hurwitz Group study showed that unless a company maintains all applications on its Web site, it will lose revenue both in the short- and long-term, and is at greater risk of closing down completely. After a major Web site disaster, up to 43% of businesses never reopen, while another 29% close within two years."
US research group Forrester surveyed several large e-commerce sites in January 1999 and found that if Cisco.com, which generated $20 million of revenue a day, went down for one hour, it would lose $182 640 in revenue. Research group Jupiter surveyed 2 400 end-users after they encountered Web site failures while conducting e-commerce transactions. A loyal 50% of customers did not leave the site but 10% left and never returned, 13% did not return after completing their transaction, and 24% returned after first going to a competitor`s site.
[VIDEO]Taylor, equating these statistics with a real-world experience, says: "It would be equivalent to 10% of customers in a grocery store, after having filled up their shopping trolleys and encountering a problem, just walking out and never returning.
"Through PointForward, we can ensure our client`s Web sites - for many the most important customer-facing asset - operate and are supported at peak performance," says Taylor.
PointForward includes four distinct product offerings that give clients access to Compuware`s centralised skills to help them manage their Web sites, with regularly scheduled, comprehensive remote tests of the reliability, integrity, scalability and performance of Web-based applications.
PointForward reports allow companies to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a Web site, highlight problems and solutions, and understand how customers experience the site.
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