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Insight Creates Best-in-Class Website with CNET Channel DataSource™

Insight Direct U.S., Inc. ("Insight"), a leading provider of information technology ("IT") products and services to businesses in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, offers a staggering 200,000 products to customers-and has the ability to source more through virtual connections with distribution partners. But what sets Insight apart in this crowded market are its comprehensive solutions that customers can specify and purchase online, combining best-of-breed business computing products and a complete range of services-from advanced integration to asset disposal to resource management and training to leasing and financing.

Anticipating growth in online demand for tailored solutions, Insight realized that it needed to enhance the content management of its website in order to transform it into a robust sales channel featuring much more than price and availability information. "The Insight website had to reflect the breadth of our solutions, which distinguish Insight from the rest of the online product vendors," says Jim Cook, vice president of e-commerce marketing for Insight. "As technology has become more sophisticated, enterprise customers have become savvier and increasingly demanding in their online procurement of software, hardware and services they need to run their businesses."

Broad and deep content supports solution sales online

Maintaining content was a challenge for Insight from the website's inception. Even before products and services could be compiled to offer solutions online, round-the-clock data entry was necessary to collect and standardize product information for correct categorization and accurate search results. Staff was hard-pressed to keep pace with changing product details and ensure consistent, error-free content that ensured customers would find what they were looking for. Furthermore, improvements to the site's e-commerce functions required labor intensive custom development and site maintenance-something Insight could not continue to afford as the site grew in size and complexity.

After evaluating a number of product content management solutions, Insight.com tapped CNET Channel's DataSource™ to manage Insight's extensive solution portfolio and create a foundation for a rich, purchase experience that engenders a high level of customer satisfaction-and encourages repeat business. According to Cook, "We selected DataSource due to its breadth of product coverage, consistency of content, and unrivaled categorization capabilities. No other solution on the market even comes close to what DataSource provides."

In partnership with CNET Channel, Insight deployed a fully electronic sales channel that allows customers to easily and quickly find the product-or solution-they need, compare products, and make a purchase decision. In just six weeks, the Insight.com website was fully powered by DataSource and integrated with the company's SAP system to automate order fulfillment.

Deployed as an outsourced service, DataSource populates Insight's back-end systems with detailed product information, images and accessories, and provides a categorization structure for online product display. "While anyone can receive a DataSource data feed and automatically populate their website, we have gone past the point of just taking the data and displaying it," notes Cook. "We've leveraged that information for a wide variety of powerful functionality within our website, functionality on which our customers have come to depend."

One of those features is attribute-based searching, which enables customers to search by product and category-and even identify compatibility information for a particular product or solution-that gives Insight.com a competitive advantage. "We set out with the goal of delivering a best-in-class website for IT purchasing," says Cook." Partnering with CNET Channel, we have transformed our e-commerce capabilities with enhanced content management that allows our customers to make informed decisions."

Partnering with CNET Channel to increase customer satisfaction and improve revenues

The tangible results of the partnership are reflected in both increased customer satisfaction and improved revenue. According to Cook, "Good product information is the foundation for a robust sales channel where customers not only browse for end-to-end solutions but also purchase them online. Functionality powered by DataSource and unique to Insight, such as providing product compatibility information and suggesting additional products, has resulted in an increase in online purchases and a drop in order returns-hard evidence of the partnership's success."

Beyond CNET Channel's strong relationships with product manufacturers and distributors for product content and service level agreements (SLAs) that ensure the timeliness and quality of product data, Insight credits the expertise and dedication of the CNET Channel's technical consultants for the implementation's success. "CNET Channel's responsiveness and flexibility were invaluable to our efforts to create a best-in-class web experience for our customers," said Cook. "It's a partnership that helps us sustain our competitive edge."

Another important benefit of DataSource is the ease with which Insight staff can place and check the status of product information. "With the CNET Channel Extranet, we can submit products for data population, check their status, and see when they will be shipped to us-at a glance," says Cook.

A singular goal: best-in-class customer experience

Looking ahead, Cook says that Insight will continue to find new ways to leverage the information provided by DataSource to improve customer satisfaction-and increase revenue. Says Cook, "As CNET Channel delivers new functionality, such as new options for product image presentation, we will implement them on our website-and use them to support our field sales reps as well-in our unwavering goal of providing a best-in-class customer experience."

About Insight

Insight Enterprises, Inc. is a leading provider of information technology ("IT") products and services to businesses in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company's offerings include brand name computing products, advanced IT services and outsourcing of business processes. The company has more than 4,000 employees worldwide and generated sales of $2.9 billion for the 2003 fiscal year. Insight Enterprises Inc. is ranked No. 537 on Fortune Magazine's 2004 "Fortune 1000" list. For more information about Insight Enterprises Inc., call 480-902-1001 in the United States or visit www.insight.com.

 

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