SCC Heightens Customers' Quality Experience with Online Product Catalogs Powered by CNET Channel DataSource™

Thanks to the DataSource solution from CNET Channel, for several years SCC has been providing clients with a rich and effective online product catalogue, featuring advanced search functions and product comparisons via multiple criteria.

Ever since 1998, SCC (formerly Allium), a subsidiary of Specialist Computer Holdings Int. Ltd. (SCH), has been using the DataSource solution to provide datafeed to its internal and external web sites, enabling uniform deployment of simple and effective software functions with rich and dynamic content. One of the very first operators on the French professional IT market, SCC recognizes and appreciates the value-added services provided by DataSource.

"Prior to the DataSource implementation, we were using paper catalogues; we had also developed an internal computerized solution. However, this system proved to be relatively expensive in terms of maintenance, and limited our capabilities for development, since we were not able to provide interactive access to data from the outside", states Alain Champlon, e-business director at SCC. "We were able to set up an Extranet for our customers with a reliable online catalog which was constantly up-to-date; this was a key strategic move. CNET Channel offered a sustainable solution with interesting development perspectives, which was fully in line with our requirements. We made the decision to go with CNET for our own Intranet and for the Customer Extranet development".

SCC's mission is to contribute to customers' competitiveness by providing infrastructure components and global solutions enabling more effective usage of the enterprise information system. In this context, quality of service plays a key role. For this reason, product data maintenance and automatic, regular updates, as provided by DataSource, represent a source of significant added value for SCC, especially for its sales and marketing teams. The time which had previously been devoted to searching for new product information was considerable, and the automation of this task thanks to the CNET Channel service solved a major problem for SCC.

"The introduction of the DataSource service, which enables dynamic updating of our 12,000 articles, was heartily welcomed by our sales staff, who very quickly realized that with extremely complete product information, which was automatically and continously updated, we were able to increase not only our productivity, but also the effectiveness of our marketing strategies", comments Alain Champlon. "In addition, by replacing our old system with the DataSource solution, we were able to cut back on resources dedicated to entering and maintaining product information, and thus to reduce overhead. It has become increasingly important for companies such as SCC to effectively manage operational costs on a long-term basis, and relying on the CNET Channel solution has enabled us to predict and control costs from one year to the next."

DataSource Powers SCC's Extranet and Intranet to Effectively Display Product Information

Today, approximately 80% of the 5,000 major SCC customers use the Extranet, and its sales staff of 250 regularly connects to the Intranet or the Extranet in order to obtain product technical specifications and other information essential to meeting their sales objectives. Globally, the computer, marketing and sales teams at SCC save time and resources by using a single source of support, i.e. the structured online catalog, which enables them to focus more effectively on customer relations.

"Today, our site is a virtual information hub, a central source of information which is highly appreciated for the sophisticated features it offers", declares Alain Champlon. "Our customers particularly appreciate the comparison features, which enable them to make comparative assessments of competing brands. By delivering quality services and product data, DataSource helps us attract new customers and develop customer loyalty."

The DataSource service provides customers with daily datafeeds of detailed, modular and standardized product information, called Transactive Product Data™ (TPD), used to build streamlined product catalogs for online e-commerce platforms. The DataSource service includes the initial datafeed to the product catalog, as well as maintenance and regular updates of each product reference. Thanks to structured data, DataSource enables the customer to support and build transactive website functionalities, such as product display, search engine, product comparisons and configuration, as well as to design well-informed and customized product information pages. The CNET Channel product information database contains more than 1.5 million technology product SKUs from 5,000 manufacturers and software publishers; it is available in 40 markets and 12 languages.

About SCC

SCC is a subsidiary of Specialist Computer Holdings International Ltd., largest privately owned group in the field of information technology. SCC's mission is to contribute to customers' competitiveness by providing infrastructure components and global solutions enabling more effective usage of the enterprise information system.