E-procurement ties Compaq channel closer to customers

Compaq, in conjunction with Digital Enterprise, has introduced the latest facet of its e-business model.

Called Compaq Online, it is an e-procurement initiative that brings large corporate customers closer to Compaq`s channel partners while streamlining the procurement process. The system allows corporate customers to procure Compaq products directly via the Internet and to allow fulfilment of the order from a Compaq supplier of their choice.

Says Gary de Menezes, CRM and Channel Manager for Compaq: "The IT market has been, until recently, in an embryonic phase with plenty of business opportunities for all players. However, it has matured rapidly in the last two years or so resulting in very little differentiation between the products of different vendors.

"Customers, particularly in the corporate market, are now focusing on the added value that a supplier can offer rather than the spec list. Compaq`s value proposition is a solution that offers e-procurement with very little, if any, capital cost, providing a high level of control over a process that, until now, was slow, admin-dependant and vulnerable to human error.

"Compaq Online offers our larger customers a more efficient method of purchasing Compaq products which can be executed via the Internet with nothing more than a Web browser. Using a standardised catalogue, users can create their own subsets and assign specific products to different users or groups.

"For example, the accounting department could be assigned access to desktop products, the sales department desktop and notebook items and the IT department desktop, notebook and server products. Authorisation privileges can be assigned to department managers who are notified via e-mail when and by whom a purchase is made and the means to authorise or reject the purchase online, eliminating the need for extensive paper trails. The customer has complete access to information such as product specs, options, pricing and availability. The entire procurement process from quote and ordering to pro forma invoicing has been reduced to minutes what has traditionally taken days to complete.

"Our channel partners play an integral role in the e-procurement process. Once the orders are placed and authorised from the customer`s side, the channel partner is notified and the fulfilment process undertaken. The system also facilitates the payment process, handling factors such as billing, discounts, payment history and more."

Compaq Online is a joint project between Compaq in South Africa and Digital Enterprise, part of the Digital Holdings group which includes the Digital Planet B2C operations. Says Andrew King, business development manager for Digital Enterprise: "The system, developed locally, was designed to suit the South African IT environment. In the US, the market is comprised mainly of equipment suppliers, or box droppers, and system integrators. In developing markets such as SA, these two functions generally overlap with the suppliers often performing the integration as well. In addition, South African businesses are restricted by limited bandwidth.

"We have taken this into account by designing the system to cope with slow transmission rates. As it is Web-based, the system is flexible, interoperable and can be deployed in a variety of industries besides IT. The system operates on the ASP principle with all users accessing the centralised system hosted by an ISP. Eventually we will see an expansion of the system to include products that complement Compaq`s, providing users with a complete e-procurement front-end for all of their IT purchases."

The pilot phase of the project, which included five of the country`s top 200 companies in the financial, healthcare and industrial sectors, has already been completed and the feedback received by Compaq has been phenomenal.

Ordering and tracking has been streamlined and errors have been eliminated. The rich reporting structure provides management with a complete purchase history that includes everything from date and location of delivery to components and serial numbers. This has proved a great advantage for companies with a large installed user base that struggle with keeping asset registers accurate.

Adds De Menezes: "Compaq Online is a natural extension to our existing CRM and e-business operations and is the next step in building a stronger relationship among Compaq, its channel partners and the customer. With the IT industry reaching the saturation point as it has in the last 12 months and with little distinction between vendors, the clear winners will be those suppliers who can deliver better value-add at lower cost to themselves and the end-users. I believe Compaq is well ahead of its competition in achieving this."