Bottleneck Boris is Ideal solution to online orders

Distributor Online process allows resellers to access productinformation over the Web

Ideal Hardware will roll out a Web-based online ordering system in an effort to encourage resellers to engage in electronic commerce.

The distributor has put the finishing touches to the modification of its Profile Online catalogue, which means customers can access product information, configure hardware systems and process purchase orders.

The move is intended to ease the bottlenecks that occur in the supply process.

It will also relieve the salesforce of the mundane process of booking in agreed orders over the phone, allowing them to chase new business.

The online ordering system, codenamed Boris, is designed to interface with Profile Online and Ideal's in-house order accounting system, enabling customers to access details of up to 4,000 products and 200,000 Web pages of technical documentation, as well as track and assess the state of their orders. The system also monitors the behaviour of online customers, so the Ideal salesforce can approach customers with other products that may complement what they have ordered.

'One of the advantages is that the system is Java-based, so there are no additional overheads to the customer. They only need a Java-enabled browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape,' said James Wickes, managing director of Ideal. He added that Ideal may offer increased credit limits to those resellers that show interest in online ordering.

The system will initially roll out as a pilot scheme for about 20 resellers.

P&I and Altima will be among the first to sign up.

Wickes said Ideal will sell versions of Boris on the open market, to organisations that wish to establish an electronic commerce strategy.

For this purpose, the company has spun off IT Network as a separate business unit whose sole customer is Ideal Hardware.