Online service lets users keep track of VARs

An online service which allows customers to monitor transactions with their resellers will be available to the channel by the end of the year.

An online service which allows customers to monitor transactions with their resellers will be available to the channel by the end of the year.

Distributor Ideal Hardware has recently added the service, Boris Dealer, to its online offerings. Aimed at Ideal resellers, it comprises a suite of real-time services on top of its existing Boris system.

Boris Dealer allows resellers to manage their entire relationship with Ideal from pre-sales activities, such as determining real-time price and availability and product comparisons, to post-sales activities, including providing delivery information and account status.

Alex Tatham, Ideal's commercial director, said: "We have created a service that is set to provide our customers with any information relating to their account that they may need."

The service is similar to online banking, he added, because it allows users to "drill right down into individual transactions and see the total line details".

Users of the new system will be able to access the following online: a product comparison service which searches on either specifications or manufacturers; a full history of customer purchases for the past three months; full product back-order status reports; a real-time balance of accounts; real-time pricing; the ability to order online; and electronic proofs of delivery.

It also has built-in security mechanisms which allow only authorised staff to order, view account details, specify delivery dates and purchase products.

Tatham added that the product will soon be available for resellers to pass on to their own customers in the form of Boris Affinity.

He said: "If resellers like Boris, the day will soon come when they can re-brand the service as their own, add new products and mark-ups and then sell it to their own customers."