Bell Micro Case Study

 

Beacon develops solution to improve Sales Order Process

 

Overview

Bell Micro is a global, specialist distributor of a wide range of high-tech products, solutions and services, including storage systems, servers, security, software, computer components and peripherals, as well as integration, maintenance and professional services.
 


Business Requirements

They had identified a specific issue with their current sales order process whereby certain orders were not being managed efficiently. The process currently requires a great deal of manual intervention and re-keying of data and is not able to transfer data automatically to back-office systems.
 
The main area requiring manual data entry involves Software Licensing orders. Administrators had to manually re-key certain orders into back-office systems because additional information required by vendors could not be captured at the point-of-sale.
 
These manual processes introduce the possibility of data capture error and slow the process enough so that occasionally at busy periods additional staff are drafted in from other departments to assist with throughput.
 
Finally, some vendors require orders to be submitted in agreed formats, such as XML, and Bell Micro needed to ensure these requirements are met.
 


Our Solution

Beacon was asked to propose an application solution which would help resolve these issues and support the growth of the company.
 
As a solutions provider, one of the key reasons companies turn to Beacon for help is due to our speed of response. Bell Micro had been experiencing processing delays that was affecting their business. We were able to act quickly and move to a requirements and development cycle without delay.
 
The key objectives of the system are:
  • Avoid manual re-keying of data
  • Remove the necessity for additional resources to process orders by improving the data capture and entry mechanisms
  • Ensure the required mechanisms are in place for output to vendors in the agreed formats
 In response to these objectives, we proposed the following:
  • A set of web pages to allow the Sales Force to electronically submit orders to the License Desk
  • A License Desk facility to allow them to manage submitted orders including review, approval or rejection processes. In addition, it provides the ability to search and display an order based upon Sales Order number
  • An interface into the back-office systems to automatically submit approved orders and enable automatic output and submission to vendors in their agreed format.   
  

“We were very impressed with Beacon’s speed of response and their quick grasp of the issues we were facing. We have continued to be impressed with the quality of their work and are delighted with the solution they have provided. With their help, we are now starting to see real cost and efficiency benefits in our sales order process.”

Karl Harris, Head of E-Services (Europe)
 

Technology used

  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Microsoft ASP.NET
  • Microsoft .NET Framework
  • Active Directory Authentication
  
 

 Client Profile

Bell Micro is an industry-recognized specialist in storage products and is one of the world's largest storage-centric value-added distributors with revenues of over €1.2bn in Europe and $3.2bn world-wide. 
 
Bell Micro is uniquely qualified with deep technical and application expertise to service a broad range of information technology needs. From design to deployment, its products and services are available at any level of integration, from components to sub-system assemblies and fully-integrated, tested and certified system solutions all designed to enhance its’ partners. Bell Micro operates through three channels to market – industrial, commercial and enterprise – each of which offers a wide range of services and products from major IT vendors.
 

www.bellmicro.eu