Extranets are usually in addition to, the company's public web site
which is accessible to everyone. It is a secure,
password-protected network that can be accessed from anywhere.
There are generally two types of Extranets, one that goes down
the chain (B2C), and one that goes up (B2B).
1) Customer Service Portals for your clients, or customer
companies (B2C)
2) Trading partner or supply chain portals (B2B)
Customer Service Portals
A business to customer (B2C) which extend the organization to
its customers for the purpose of ordering, billing, customer
service, self-service, etc. The focus of a business to
customer portal is to improve a company's ability to acquire,
serve, and retain customers. Companies are competing for
access to customers and building loyalty and long-term
relationships. Developing customer intimacy, relationships and
excellent service are vital components of sustaining
competitive advantage. With a secure and scalable portal,
businesses can deliver key information within and outside the
firewall so employees and customers can:
view products and prices
track orders
check inventory
view delivery
service call status
The increased level of customer information and self-service
will improve customer relationships and retention. When an
organization offers its customers external access to selected
internal information, they also obtain the following
opportunities:
Targeted marketing
Prospect information
Increased sales
Innovative field service capabilities
Relationship management
Online Ordering
Improved Customer service and Support
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Business to Partner
Extranet Portals
Companies are focusing more and more on their core
competencies and depending more on synergistic partners for
market presence and competitive advantage. Companies are
looking to reduce their costs, improve their time-to-market,
improve their overall efficiencies and generally improve their
supplier relationships. They can save millions of dollars a
year, depending upon their activities, and they can increase
sales by millions of dollars as well. Improved information
flow across the organization and supply chain will enable
employees to make proactive, fact-based decisions to enhance:
Project management tools for companies and collaborating third
parties.
Sharing proprietary ideas with select a select group. Online
training for resellers A way of using high volumes of data
using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Sharing product catalogs and inventory levels exclusively
partners
Collaborating with other companies on joint development
efforts
Providing services offered by one company to a group of other
companies.
Share news of common interest exclusively with partner
companies
Ordering and Fulfillment
Procurement
Planning
Sourcing
Inventory Control
Logistics and Distribution
Manufacturing Supplier
Share Marketing Documents
Product Release Schedules
Distribute leads to reseller channel
Manage Forecasts from multiple channel partners
Collect up to date partner profile information
Collaborate on joint selling opportunities
Provide channel with a knowledge base for both sales and
technical support
Provide access to partner-specific training, documents, etc. S
chedule resources based on demand
Collect feedback from partners on both sales and product
issues
Companies can provide unbelievable support and value to their
sales forces, brokers, suppliers, and so on.
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