Anglia Telecom
« We had heard of the .NET concepts but didn't realize how powerful they were until
this system was implemented. We were delighted at how quickly and efficiently Partner
Power UK (Anglia Business Solutions) designed and deployed the online solution.»
Aidan Coughlan, General Manager, Anglia Telecom
Anglia Telecom implemented a seamless e-commerce extension to its Microsoft Navision
business management software so that its network of dealers can access all relevant
information about mobile phone products and customers quickly and efficiently. This
functionality-rich 24-hour information and communications service, one of the first
of its kind in the UK, gives i an edge over competitors, allowing it to cement the
loyalty of its dealer network. Within three months of launch, it had 20% of its
dealer base using the website, reducing the time it takes for Anglia Telecom to
respond to requests for information from minutes to seconds. Microsoft partner Partner
Power UK (Anglia) was able to get the service up and running to budget and timescale
within ten days by using the Microsoft .NET Framework. Although it is still early
days in the project, the management is already experiencing reductions in administration
costs, telephone enquiries, data entry, stock control and reporting activities.
Situation
Anglia Telecom is a leading nationwide telecommunications company, which makes most
of its revenues from distributing mobile phones to a network of some 200 dealers
across the country. Part of TTG Europe Plc. which is listed on the AIM market, Anglia
Telecom works with all four UK national mobile network operators - O2, Orange, T-Mobile
and Vodafone - and aims to become the country's leading mobile phone distributor.
Anglia Telecom decided to streamline its business
processes for better visibility
of what dealers are ordering, volumes being ordered, sales figures, how much credit
it was offering dealers, stock levels, best selling products and most profitable
dealers. It was compiling this information using a team of sales personnel to man
the phones and input customer and product data into its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. But this proved costly and work was often duplicated. So its goal was to replace this with a labour-efficient and consistent online communications
link with its dealers.
Differentiation is crucial in this fast-moving and highly competitive sector of
the telecommunications market. Anglia Telecom knew that its business and that of
its dealers would benefit exponentially if it were able to unplug the bottleneck
that arose frequently when dealers tried to access information and process enquiries
from customers by phone, post or email. This frustrated both dealers and customers
and inevitably resulted in loss of potential business.
For Anglia, dealers are partners, not just third party facilitators, so it wanted
to enhance its service to them by providing real-time access to all relevant data
on its ERP system. Streamlining that process would simplify dealers' own administration
and cement loyalty to Anglia. It would also attract new dealers, which is crucial
to Anglia Telecom's future growth plans. The company wanted to position itself for
growth not only in communicating with dealers, but also, in future, communicating
direct with consumers.
« We recognized that we would have to adopt an e-business operating
model if we were to fully realize our market leading potential, » said
Aidan Coughlan, General Manager of Anglia Telecom. « The integrated
e-commerce facilities were key factors in our initial
decision to adopt Navision.
We were conscious that these would provide us with further significant efficiency improvements and operating online became a more accepted business practice.
»
Solution
In 2001 systems integrator Partner Power UK (Anglia), as separate company to Anglia
Telecom, engaged to support the Anglia Telecoms Navision ERP system. This system
manages all aspects of the telecommmunication company's administration, including
stock control and inventory and billing.
Anglia Telecom was keen to streamline the process to avoid costly duplication so
that dealers could process orders and make product and customer enquiries online
rather than making a phone call or use the post. In May 2003, it decided to approach
Partner Power UK (Anglia) to resolve the problem it had experienced with traditional
approaches to ecommerce. Using the Microsoft .NET Technology, Partner Power UK (Anglia)
embarked on building a flexible and robust solution. Using .NET had a dramatic impact
on the project, as Richard Jones, Head of Development at Partner Power UK (Anglia)
describes.
« We built the solution in ten days, compared with about six
months for a normal project of this nature" he said. "it's absolutely leaps and
bounds more productive using .NET Technology to build B"B and Ecommerce projects
» Applications built using the .NET can connect with existing systems and packaged
applications - regardless of their underlying platform.
Thanks to the component library built by Partner Power UK (Anglia) applications
have never been faster to build than with the .NET Framework and ASP.NET technology.
Other customers who have moved from ASP to ASP.NET report that they are seeing the
same significant increases in speed, reliability, security and scalability.
The Anglia Telecom Dealer Connection Website was built well within budget and timescale
and was up and working within ten days. It provides a functionality-rich and technically
advanced .NET web site, which when completed, would be easily maintained and updated
by Anglia Telecom via its Microsoft Navision system.
« We had heard of the .NET concepts but didn't realize how powerful
they were until this system was implemented. We were delighted at how amazingly
quickly and efficiently Partner Power UK (Anglia) designed and deployed the online
solution. » said Coughlan.
Benefits
Reduced Development Time
The .NET Framework's object modelling reduced development time dramatically, as
Jones points out. « We were able to produce a website in the
space of 2 weeks, whereas normally it would take months » he said.«
It's absolutely leaps and bounds more productive with .NET than
with anything else. » Using the .NET Framework an application can be
transformed into a Web service with one simple line of code.
The intuitiveness of the programming mode, the amount of code already provided in
the class libraries and the amount of work that the .NET Framework handles behind
the scenes in areas such as memory management mean that developers can reap big
productivity gains. « You're never starting with a blank screen,
you're slotting together some fairly big objects to start with, » said
Jones.
Partner Power UK (Anglia) built the solutions using the .NET Framework on Microsoft
SQL Server 2000, using "a message queue interface" (not implemented yet) to link
up with the Navision ERP system. The entire Web system was built using Microsoft
Windows Server 2000 and ASP.NET, an integral part of the Microsoft .NET Framework,
which meant the design of the Website, could be separated from the code. « In the past, you'd have to stop building the application while
the designers did their thing, » said Jones. Partner Power UK (Anglia)
used the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 multi-language development tool for rapidly
building and integrating Web services and applications.
« We had 20% of our dealer base using the Website within three
months of launch, » said Nick Hall, E-Solutions Developer at Anglia Telecom.
The Website is now providing account information, credit status, customer activation
completions, product updates, stock availability and pricing information from Anglia's
Microsoft Navision business management software on a 24/7 basis. It also gives dealers
a view on which products are popular because they can view what other dealers are
ordering and then configure their accounts via the Website to automatically record regular products and specified intervals. The system can also recommend complementary
products to accompany those ordered by dealers, which gives them a cross-selling
opportunity.
Anglia Telecom plans to extend the service in future to operate in a B2C capacity.
As Coughlan says: « We had heard of the .NET concepts bud didn't
realize how powerful they were until this system was implemented. We were delighted
at how quickly and efficiently Partner Power UK (Anglia) designed and deployed the
online solution. »
Zero System Downtime
Normally if a software vendor wants to move a server it needs to go through all
of the settings files that contain the server's address, which can be in many different
locations. That can be extremely time-consuming. The .NET Framework's in-built XML
configuration system simplified the process, as Jones points out. «
Whereas we used to have to schedule large maintenance outages when developing a
project of this kind, now it's literally a five-minute job, » said Jones.
By using ASP.NET, Anglia Telecom's staff was also able to use the site while it
was being built, as Jones describes. « During the 10-day implementation
period for this project, it was important that the customer was fully involved in
the process at all stages. The .NET technology toolbox of components allowed us
to very rapidly create working prototypes of the Anglia Telecom solution. As the
functionality
was created, Anglia Telecom personnel were able to log into the new
site. They could then simulate how the system would work using actual data. This
provided us with immediate feedback on how the system could best meet their very
specific needs. »
Security was paramount since Partner Power UK (Anglia) was working with dealers
with different pricing structures, particularly when information is accessed over
the public internet. The ASP.NET model made it possible to shield the internal workings
of Anglia Telecom's Navision system from anyone who logged in. And a single member
of staff now maintains the entire ERP system, compared with the previous sales team.
Streamlining Business Operations, Reduced Costs
All though it is still early days in the project, the management is already experiencing
reductions in administration costs, telephone enquiries, data entry, stock control
and reporting activities. The Website has dramatically improved the service Anglia
Telecom provides to its dealers, something its competitors have failed to do. "We
are first to market on this," said Hall.
The time it takes for Anglia to respond to requests for information has fallen from
minutes to seconds. It can make changes to product stock availability or pricing
by inputting the data once into its Microsoft Navision ERP system. The Website is
then automatically updated for all dealers to see simultaneously.
« We're maximising return on investment for ourselves and our
customers, » said Hall. « The cost of computing is becoming
a commodity and we're offering best value by choosing .NET. »
The benefits of the Anglia Telecom Connection Website to dealers are myriad:
They can view what other dealers are ordering, which gives them a window into which
products are in demand and those which are not selling so well; the system can recommend
complementary products to accompany those they order, which offers them a cross-selling
opportunity; both dealers and Anglia Telecom can post product reviews on individual
products for other dealers to read; dealers can configure their accounts using the
Website to automatically reorder regular products at specified intervals (not currently
implemented).
Dealers' commission is dependent on the number of customers being activated on one
of the four mobile phone networks and the Anglia Telecom Dealer Connection Website
now gives them a 24/7 window on how much commission they are earning from month
to month. Dealers can now get details of customers' account credit status and see
where they are in the queue of activations on a real-time basis.
Positioned For Future Growth
Hall says Anglia Telecom's dealership has increased this year after it expanded
into least-cost routing services, which provide cheaper phone calls for businesses.
The Anglia Telecom Dealer Connection Website is extensible and can be expanded to
accommodate a volume of dealers and user accounts.
Hall says Anglia Telecom plans in future to let its dealers use the Anglia site
to accommodate their own customer requirements. « We're going
to take it to the next level and actually white label the entire Website so dealers
can use their own logos and promote it as if it is their own site.That may lead
to a true B2B service, where dealer systems can directly interact. »