The Client
Telindus is a group of companies offering ICT Solutions and Services on an international level to businesses, service providers and public bodies. It has 2,700 employees in 15 countries in Western Europe, Sweden, Hungary, China and Thailand.
With over 37 years experience in ICT, Telindus invests considerably in expertise to service modern IT and telecommunications infrastructures throughout their life cycle. Telindus serves business and public market needs as a solution and sourcing partner, delivering secured converged networking, and secured systems and applications underpinned by management and support services.
The company’s track record and longstanding partnerships with leading equipment suppliers offers a safe route for enterprises, telecom operators and government bodies looking for long-lasting ICT solutions.
In January 2006, Telindus joined the Belgacom Group to become the IT Services Branch of a new business leader in the market. Belgacom is the leading telecommunications company in Belgium.
The Brief
Telindus provides major bespoke networks and telephony systems to its customers, which requires a high level of expertise, but it also deals with repeat orders of simple network devices from existing customers.
“All these requests for simple, repeat orders had to be dealt with manually.” said Adele Parker, Head of Business Improvement at Telindus, “Customers would call requesting a quotation and the sales team would find the information and email it back to them. Then we had administrators dealing with the order and someone else to key it into the system manually. It was very repetitive work which added no value for either party.”
“We wanted an extranet system that would allow the customers to generate their own quotations and order online. We have a product list with set prices, so when the customer knows which piece of equipment is needed they can do it all themselves.”
Adele contacted Transputec on the recommendation of a colleague and invited them in to discuss the solution.
The Solution
Transputec created TOPS (Telindus Online Procurement System), an extranet that enables customers to search for products, see prices, order equipment online and then track the order to delivery.
The extranet is accessible from the main Telindus website and has customer-specific pages to which companies have the own passwords.
It has online quotation processing, online customer quotation approval workflow and allows for quotation verification by sales staff and maintenance contract quotations. It can give customer-specific prices when required.
TOPS integrates with Telindus’s main line of business application, Enterprise Resource Planning, and has extensive security and access rights.
It is used by both Telindus’s own sales force and its customers, and has a portal to the intranet and other web functions. The internal CRM system is automatically updated when customers place orders through TOPS. Daniel McGinley, project manager at Transputec, said: “Adele came to us with a very clear idea of what she was looking for. We already had our own in-house system which we were able to base this on. We then made modifications and enhancements to suit their requirements.”
The Benefits
TOPS has speeded up the ordering process for both customers and Telindus staff and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Adele said: “It removes a lot of steps from the process and makes things much quicker for the customer. Instead of having to wait for us to get back to them with a quotation, they can do it instantly themselves and are in control of the whole process. It’s also easier for us internally because the request goes straight into our ordering system.”
The system was up and running by late 2007, and will eventually be used by the company’s whole UK sales force. There are plans to begin using TOPS in the Netherlands shortly and then roll it out to other countries.
Adele said: “Transputec turned our vision into a commercial reality. They worked hard to make sure we fully understood each of the components. It was very enjoyable working with them”. “There are always small things that need to be tweaked as we go along, but it’s been a pleasure working with Transputec because of the quick turnaround of any changes.
“The constant communication has meant our teams have worked well together.”
Telindus staff and customers have given positive feedback about TOPS because it is instinctive and quick to use.
