CNET Channel's Product Data Revolutionizes ISC Networks' Online Offering in Less Than Eight Days

CNET Channel's DataSource™ has helped IT solutions provider ISC Networks transform its e-commerce operation, increasing customer satisfaction while at the same time saving the company hundreds of hours in development time.

By using the subscription based DataSource service, ISC Networks, one of the UK's largest value added resellers, was able to take its technology selling online business to a new level by offering smooth and efficient catalog browsing, product grouping and searching, as well as product comparison capabilities. These valuable functionalities were made available to ISC customers after only eight days of integration and consulting work.

"Our first challenge was to vastly improve the online buying experience for the customer," said Elaine Thompson, Systems Development Manager at ISC Networks. "Our online ordering system, which contained 2,500 items, had very little data and images. We needed to increase our product portfolio and improve the quality of technical information provided whilst enhancing the search and navigation experience for the customer."

"It was also key to improve the integration between our back and front office systems," said Elaine. "We had more than 100,000 products in our back office sales inventory database but the information was out of date and poorly formatted, so we were unable to use it as a base for our electronic catalog. Using DataSourse we were able to gain efficiency by automating our catalog production process and improve product data quality."

ISC Networks paid for a consultancy day to help identify the challenges and to enable CNET Channel's technical engineers to talk to the company's directors to understand their online vision for ISC Networks.

James Symington, CNET Channel UK sales manager, said: "ISC Networks has solved a challenge facing many other mid-tier VARs. There is an overwhelming need for these businesses to move operations online to ensure they can maintain an effective profit margin. However, many first attempts were ineffective predominantly because of poor data quality and the inability to manipulate the online information to give a positive experience to the customer. By reassessing their needs and working with an expert solutions provider such as CNET Channel, ISC Networks now has an online solution that meets both the needs of the business and its customers."

Implementation of DataSource Completed Ahead of Schedule

Although ISC Networks planned for a 6 week development project, the company was up and running in under 8 days. The team was able to integrate the DataSource solution into its infrastructure and establish the Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) database. Customers immediately had the capability to compare up to 6 different products at one time and search on up to 6 levels of product parameters, such as weight, color or processor speed.

"The CNET Channel technical engineers were very professional," said Elaine. "They were able to foresee and solve problems before they happened and throughout the project they ensured there was a major knowledge and skills transfer to our people."

ISC Networks' online product portfolio has increased from 6,500 to 13,500 SKUs with plans to move to more than 16,000 and the majority of products now have technical data information and visuals. Customers can search on keywords, part number, classifications and attributes, increasing efficiency and experience for users.

The DataSource service offered by CNET Channel provides ISC Networks not only with the consistent descriptions that they need for their customers to effectively query the product catalog, but it also provides parametric data, photographs, marketing descriptions and relationship information that allow ISC Networks to greatly enhance their e-commerce offerings. DataSource, which provides an initial catalog enrichment as well as a daily update of the customer's product catalog, transforms, on demand, the customer's product portfolio into rich, granular, and standardized product data, called Transactive Product DataT (TPDT). TPD enables customers to build an enhanced, multilingual, multi-vendor and well-informed purchase environment at a fraction of the cost of most internal operations.

CNET Channel's unique database of technology product specifications contains over 1.5 million SKUs from more than 5,000 vendors in 40 markets and 12 languages. Today, the leading computer manufacturers, distributors, resellers, portals, and e-tailers rely on CNET Channel solutions. It is estimated that more than 150 million buyers and users, responsible for billions of dollars in high-tech expenditures, make use of  CNET Channel's database of product specifications each month.

About ISC

With a turnover in excess of ?60million and over 280 staff at its eight UK sites, ISC is one of the UK's top 10 value added resellers (VARs). The company has grown its services capability steadily since its inception in 1984 and is best known today as a total IT solutions provider with proven experience across all business sectors, from retail and finance to manufacturing, service and the public sector. ISC's reputation for high levels of customer service stems from its support centre staffed by over 80 expert technicians and administrators, 100-seat disaster recovery suite and helpdesk facility with capacity for over 15,000 support requests per month.