"Companies operate today in a highly competitive environment to attract and retain customers," said Jean Kovacs, Comergent president and CEO. "We recognize this challenge and tailor our eBusiness solution to help organizations facilitate the timely delivery of products and services and ensure a satisfying online customer experience throughout the sales process."

The internet has dramatically changed customer expectations.

Quick and easy access to the right products and services, personalized interactions and direct access to account information are no longer market differentiators-they are requirements. To accommodate customer demands, companies are increasingly turning to the internet to conduct business with their customers and partners directly through eBusiness.

In a recent national survey conducted on issues and trends driving eBusiness initiatives, "improving the customer experience" was the number one response. And the benefits don't stop there. The internet has the potential to grow sales volumes, decrease order errors and lower administrative overhead.

But to realize these benefits and remain competitive, many corporations must make more areas of their business accessible to customers through self-service offerings. Traditionally, sales, marketing, and customer service were the only outward-facing groups interacting with customers. But the internet now makes it possible for customers and partners to log directly into their account to configure and place orders or to determine order status. To capitalize on eBusiness and the internet, you need to turn your company inside out and Web-enable all the parts of your business suitable for customer interaction.

Start by tracking a customer inquiry through the entire selling process to determine which customer-facing processes to automate through eBusiness. This can be done by analyzing the business process from inquiry through to guided selling and configuration, then to quote and proposal and ultimately to order capture and fulfillment.

EBUSINESS@WORK

One wireless service provider also figured it out, by retooling their eEusiness offering with enhanced guided selling and configuration. Now customers can select equipment and also compare as many as five different packages including phones, service agreements, pricing, and the cost to add more lines. Throughout the customer experience, the provider cross sells and up sells by providing recommendations on pre-selected plans and accessories.

But automation is not in and of itself the goal-customer satisfaction is. A lot of companies make a significant financial investment to drive their customers to the web, but fall short of providing them with a satisfying experience. Without exception, your business solutions must integrate with your traditional selling processes in order to satisfy your customer and partner needs. Customers need to be confident that your web self-service interaction will enable them to contact the sales rep for help if necessary to complete the transaction and then check the status of an order anyway they chooseover the phone, via a call center or in person.

It is equally important to accommodate your complete sales model. If channel partners, distributors, and resellers are critical to the delivery of your products and services, you must synchronize with them for a unified customer experience. Some companies ensure partner participation by providing them with personalized storefronts or they facilitate an integrated sales process.

Finally, a web self-service experience also must be personal and unique. It should enable potential customers and partners to quickly and easily find, configure, and purchase the right products and services at the right price, and it should be easily searchable and intuitive.

UNDERSTAND THE FIVE SIMPLE RULES OF SELF-SERVICE:

1. Make it easy for customers and partners to conduct business the way they want via phone, web, kiosk, or in-store.

2. Provide customers with a unified experience while they are conducting their business over the Web whereby they can communicate directly with internal sales and customer service organizations and with outside partners.

3. Uniquely address customer and partner requirements with guided selling and configuration that hide the complexity of the 'multiples such as product lines, service offerings, business units, and build-to-order offerings, as well as multiple back-end systems and processes.

4. Sell integrated products and services-seamlessly up sell and cross sell products and services to the installed base and prospects. Leverage service contracts to drive additional product sales and leverage products to drive additional service sales.

5. If your sales model includes partners, distributors or resellers-include them in the overall eBusiness automated sales and customer offerings.

The web has raised the bar on the customer expectation. With your web self-service, you can meet and raise the bar on customer satisfaction.

Comergent is the leading provider of eBusiness solutions for the extended enterprise. The Comergent eBusiness System(TM) orchestrates complex product, selling, and order management processes across multiple enterprise systems, business organizations, and sales channels. Comergent's customers are able to increase revenues while reducing the cost of sales by making it fast and easy for their customers to do business with them. Customers include industry leaders such as Applied Biosystems, Best Buy, DIRECTV, Gates Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Group, J. C. Penny, NEC Solutions America, Pearson Education, Pitney Bowes, Symbol, The Toro Company and World Wide Technology. Comergent is privately held with headquarters in Redwood City, Calif.

For more information, visit www.comergent.com or contact us at salesOcomergent or 1-866-236-6156.