Sport en Recreatie Den Bol B.V., a Dutch water sport equipment company, owns several brands in Europe and is the exclusive representative for a variety of brands worldwide. The company does not work directly with end customers. It sells its products through over 1300 business partners in more than 30 countries. Den Bol decided to introduce an online ordering system in order to enhance the collaboration with its dealers and automate its business processes. The company even took the idea to the next level – integrating the online e-commerce solution with its internal ERP system.
DenBol chose BSH to help accomplish this challenging initiative. Using the ultimate Microsoft E-commerce and EAI platforms, BSH built an award-winning solution that changed the business model of the company.
Henk van der Werf, Marketing Manager at DenBol Watersports, describes the situation at DenBol and the company vision for the new solution:
“Before introducing the solution we used only offline trading channels. Dealers used to send faxes or call our employees to get information about pricing conditions, availability of products and place orders. Our employees used to check in our ERP system and get back to the dealers with more information. The load on our employees was significant and the speed of placing an order was unsatisfying. Furthermore, product availability was changing very fast. It was not uncommon that even though a particular product was available when a dealer asked for it, it turned out to be out of stock when the dealer was trying to actually place an order. The way of handling orders turned out to have many shortcomings…
In this situation we started looking for a way to decrease the load on our employees, while in the same time speed up the ordering process and achieve greater efficiency. We needed a solution that would allow our dealers to check product information, place orders and check order statuses without our assistance. We were envisioning a system that would be easy to use, available 24/7 and accessible from anywhere. We were searching for the right partner that could offer us a technological solution that would fit our business needs.”
BSH suggested a solution that includes a Web-based e-commerce system and integration between the online system and Multivers Extended (a line-of- business ERP system provided by the Unit4 Agresso Company). The solution is based completely on Microsoft technology: the .NET framework and Microsoft server products. The e-commerce solution is based on Microsoft Commerce Server. Microsoft BizTalk server, an EAI platform that connects heterogeneous systems, is used to provide seamless integration.
The solution did not lack technical challenges. The Multivers system has very strict requirements on the way it accepts data from external systems. It only accepts input that is formatted according to the EDIFACT specification of the EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) standard. BSH used its own product, BSH EDI adapter for BizTalk Server, to address the complexities of EDI message parsing and generation. There is also a fixed procedure on importing order documents. For example, only a single document may be processed by the Multivers system at any given moment. At the same time, the dealers who are working with the online system must not experience any difficulties or delays when placing an order. Furthermore, the system does not have interfaces for exporting the data that needs to be available online, so this information had to be read directly from its database.
Overcoming these technical difficulties, BSH designed and developed a complete solution. In just a few months, the entire system called “dealerdesk” was created and was launched in May, 2005. BSH hosts the system and provides technical support and maintenance. The e-commerce Web application is localized in four languages. More than 2 years after the launch of the solution, the numbers speak for themselves. Henk van der Werf describes the impact that the solution has on the way dealers work with his company:
“For the two years we have the system up and running the number of online orders that are made through the “dealerdesk” has been steadily growing. For example, for the first half of this calendar year 2007 we had already reached the number of orders that were made through the “dealerdesk” in entire 2006.
Also the relative part of online orders compared to other trading channels has been continuously increasing and last month it reached 30% or the total order count. Currently this is the most popular way for placing orders, followed by fax orders, orders made by phone, email orders and orders made by our representatives on tour. We expect further growth of ‘dealerdesk’ usage next season.
A research we did recently among our dealers showed that they are very enthusiastic about the ‘dealerdesk.’ The possibility to access the most current information on prices and product availability turns out to be a great enhancement for their work. They claim that placing orders and tracking order status online completely changed their notion of doing business with our company.”
The new solution was recognized not only by DenBol and the dealers that are using it directly. In January 2006, during the Dutch Innovation Price 2006 festival, DenBol was given the TESIS award for innovation in Internet Technology. TESIS is an international subsidy project, which has accompanied and supported small and medium-sized businesses with the introduction of information and communication technology, such as e-business and ICT-activities for sectors like administration, production and marketing. The prize is given to the entrepreneur that has implemented the most innovative project within the TESIS project in his region.
“The ‘dealerdesk’ system BSH implemented for us turned into a business-critical solution for our company. After more than two years of cooperation, the BSH PLC itself has become our strategic partner. And the interesting thing is, we have managed to collaborate with BSH without even meeting them face to face! The whole communication happens online…” concludes Henk van der Werf.
About Sport en Recreatie DenBol B.V.:
Sport en Recreatie DenBol B.V. is an importer and distributor of water sport products. The company was founded in 1989 in the Netherlands and has grown to an international organization ever since. Sport en Recreatie Den Bol B.V. owns the exclusive rights for distributing the established brands JOBE, J-Star and Devocean and also distributes products of the brands Rave, Sportsstuff, Straightline and Skylon
For more information: www.wakeski.com
About BSH PLC:
BSH PLC is a Bulgarian software company that provides complete IT solutions based on Microsoft technology and server products. The company was founded in 2000 and is Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. The company competencies in the field of software development include implementing e-commerce, enterprise application integration (EAI) and business process management (BPI) solutions, as well as custom software development. The company has an in-house Graphic Design Studio that works in the field of Web design, advertising, editorial, corporate identity, illustration and typography. The ability of the company to provide complete solutions – starting from analyzing customer requirements, going through the full development cycle and covering the after-sales support activities, has attracted clients from more than 20 countries all over the world.
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