Computacenter Expands Rapidly to New European Markets with CNET Channel DataSource™ ; Eyes SME SpaceFounded in 1981, Computacenter is Europe's leading independent provider of IT infrastructure services. Corporate leaders in the communications, consumer products, energy, financial, government, healthcare, manufacturing and transportation industries rely on Computacenter to advise them on their IT strategy, implement the most appropriate technology from a wide range of leading vendors and manage elements of their technology infrastructures on their behalf. At every stage Computacenter helps their customers minimize the cost and maximize the business value of their IT expenditure. Headquartered in the U.K., Computacenter's £2.46 billion ($4.73 billion) business also serves corporate and government clients in Germany, France, Luxembourg and Belgium. Computacenter has learned that the key to success is not so much what you sell, but rather how you serve. Its business revolves around three different services - IT product supply, an extensive range of project manage-ment and professional services, and various outsourcing services. Long Pedigree of Utilizing Quality Product ContentIn 1990, Computacenter anticipated the Internet would have a significant impact on how they transact with their customers - and soon became an early adopter of e-commerce. "Right from day one, we had invested heavily within the company to establish our own electronic catalog content," says Mike Beral, e-commerce program manager for Computacenter. "We built up the U.K. team to 15 people, and spent considerable time and resources aggregating product information from multiple IT manufacturers to build a very high-quality U.K. market catalog." Scaling the electronic product catalog and maintaining accurate and complete IT product information became a material challenge for Beral's team as Computacenter set its path for rapid European expansion. "In 2001 we started to think about other ways of managing product content for our Web sites and internal sales teams," says Beral. "Each country operates somewhat autonomously, but it was clear that the investment we put into the production information in the U.K. would need to be replicated in other markets we penetrated. That was looking less attractive." That's when Computacenter made the decision to outsource their product content management needs to CNET Channel. "Reducing the cost of managing product content, increasing the quality of the data and quickly scaling our e-commerce operations across multiple European markets were huge drivers," explains Beral. "CNET Channel was definitely the obvious choice for us. We looked closely at three or four other players, but nobody else that we identified could give us the breadth and depth of products - as well as the multi-lingual and multi-national capability." Most notably, CNET Channel has enabled Computacenter to effectively reduce the cost of aggregating and maintaining its product catalog. "We have certainly more than halved these costs in the U.K. and it's enabled things within France, Belgium and Germany that were simply not possible beforehand." Beral also notes that by outsourcing to CNET Channel, he's able to deploy internal resources to do more value-added activity like strategically merchandising products for cross-sell and up-sell, rather than just researching them. "One area of uncertainty when we first ventured into this relationship with CNET Channel was with data quality. We're extremely aware that our customers will buy on the strength of the product information, and if it's wrong in any form of critical way, they might be entitled to return product - and we risk losing the customer," explained Beral. "That hasn't been the case at all. To the best of my knowledge, we have an insignificant number of returns resulting from inferior product content and we've been entirely satisfied with the quality of the data." Delivering a Valuable, High-Quality Web ExperienceToday, Computacenter relies on CNET Channel's DataSource solution to manage product content on more than 40,000 IT SKUs in each of its European markets - U.K., France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium. "There's no question that having deep, quality product content from CNET Channel on our e-commerce sites is an absolute necessity that provides us with a competitive advantage and enables us to lead - it's what our customers expect," says Beral. "I believe the lack of it is a negative differentiator that conveys you're a technology and service provider that's not serious about the B2B marketplace." CNET Channel helps Computacenter deliver a valuable, high-quality Web experience to its customers. Their product range is almost certainly the widest in each of the countries they operate. Customers can view comprehensive data sheets, find products and accessories quickly through parametric search and guided buying tools, and run multiple product comparisons. Beral also envisions incorporating comprehensive accessory selectors that simplify the process of locating related products (like memory, ink/toner, batteries, etc.) from multiple third-party suppliers. "I think all that leads to customer satisfaction and possibly increased revenues," says Beral. "If somebody can find a product very quickly and it's at their fingertips, it leads to a better shopping experience." Many customers use the e-commerce site for self-service quotations even if they aren't actually making a transaction - and the company's built a tremendous amount of tracking and reporting functionality that reflects the nature and demands of high-end B2B e-commerce. "We survey our customers on a regular basis and the general impression of our Web sites has been increasing over the two years that we've been using the DataSource solution." Computacenter integrates DataSource tightly with its Web operations and back-office ERP applications to help the business run smoothly. It's also provided the product categorization within their Web sites since implementation. Internally, over 250 telesales reps in the U.K. rely on DataSource product content to research products, build quotes and boost their productivity. "From the outset, CNET Channel proved to be dedicated to our success. The guys that helped us implement DataSource were great and the documentation was very good," says Beral. "We have built a very, very good relationship with the CNET Channel guys in Europe in terms of what we want to do and how we want to progress." Future Holds Even Greater Expansion to the SME SpaceLooking ahead, Computacenter is poised to develop a strong presence in the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) space. DataSource is an essential part of that strategy as it enables Computacenter to further exploit their powerful Web transaction capability. "Our traditional market has been in large corporations and government agencies, but we certainly expect each of our European operations to make a push into the SME space," says Beral. "This undoubtedly will create a heavier dependence on online transactions as opposed to the higher cost transactions of the sales office. I see CNET Channel as a partner to help Computacenter grow in the future and ensure we have the product content to get us there." About ComputacenterComputacenter is Europe's leading independent provider of IT infrastructure services. To help customers maximize the value of IT to their businesses, the company offers services at every stage of infrastructure investment. Computacenter advises customers on their IT strategy, implements the most appropriate technology from a wide range of leading vendors and manages elements of their technology infrastructures on their behalf. At every stage, Computacenter helps customers minimize the cost and maximize the business value of their IT expenditure. Corporate and government clients are served by a network of branch offices across the UK, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Belgium and, through international partners, at locations across the globe.
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