Case Study: Fortune 500 Dealer Extranet Development

Masco

Client Profile

Masco Corporation is the global leader in home improvement and building products and has been in operation since 1929. Valued at $4 billion, the company has focused on the building products, do-it-yourself, and home improvement consumer markets, as well as compatible commercial markets. Masco serves as parent company to several subsidiaries, including Zenith Products Corporation, Peerless Faucets, KraftMaid Cabinetry, and the Marvel Group.

Challenge

To develop a more efficient means of connecting the company to its product dealers by leveraging the use of existing technologies.

Technology

Front-end Interface

• Adobe Acrobat
• ASP
• JavaScript
• Marcromedia Flash5
• Microsoft Windows Media
• Real Networks
• VBScript

Operating System

• Microsoft Windows 2000

Application Server

• Microsoft IIS
• Microsoft SQL Server
• Microsoft Windows Server

Solution

Fortune 300 Masco Corporation's Marvel Group manufactures and markets a wide range of furnishings to the business and home office markets with an extensive product line spanning from modular workstations and panel systems, to file cabinets and office chairs. The company's sales force is comprised of nationwide dealers who rely on Marvel to supply sales collateral, product updates, pricing, and other corporate related information. Traditionally, Marvel has supplied this information to dealers by sending out printed material when new products were released or updated. Furthermore, dealers were required to call Marvel sales centers when additional sales resources were needed. The process was extremely time consuming and expensive as the cost to sell Marvel products began to cannibalize actual profit realized at the company.

As a result of process inefficiencies, the Marvel Group partnered with Azavar Technologies Corporation to develop and implement a more efficient mechanism of connecting the company to its sales force.

Azavar's strategy consultants proposed the implementation of a dealer extranet, connecting the dealer to Marvel in real-time.

The solution would not only diminish the cost associated with supplying sales collateral, but would also provide a more centralized and homogenous sense of community between the company and its product dealers.

Azavar's systems integrators and development teams designed and implemented a mechanism to provide dealers with access to all sales collateral, pricing and product updates through a secured website presence. By accessing this secured extranet through Marvel's existing online presence, Azavar exceeded Marvel's goal of eliminating costs associated with rebuilding the company's own data-warehousing systems.

Furthermore, the solution incorporates an administrative utility that allows Marvel to manage its respective content in-house. This feature streamlines the process and minimizes the need for additional education of programming and syntax on Marvel's part. Corporate headquarters simply access the data from a browser and add, change or delete information so that it is immediately viewable to all authenticated users. Dealers have instantaneous access when new company case studies, tear sheets, product specs, company updates and pricing guidelines are released. The technical architecture of the dealer extranet provides a more effective means to share and store information without manipulating Marvel's standard business and cultural practices.

Marvel wanted to solidify dealer relationships by providing a highly functional, yet aesthetically appealing dealer-only web presence, allowing Marvel to save on cost to sell while enhancing dealer awareness of the Marvel brand. The site was designed to engage users of the extranet, while also fostering a heightened sense of brand awareness for the Marvel family of dealers. From the clean and consistent navigation to the varied selection of virtual tours, users are engaged, enticed and provided with a heightened sense of Marvel's brand identity.

This complete web-based information resource has not only reduced the time and costs associated with distributing sales collateral to dealers, but has also provided Marvel with a more effective means of uniting its family of dealers. Azavar's solution has helped drive new sales for the company by helping to cultivate a better informed, brand aware, and unified sales force.

Based on the overwhelming success of the dealer extranet, Marvel and Azavar again joined forces in updating Marvel's existing online presence, marvelgroup.com. Azavar's strategy consultants suggested revamping the interface to more effectively display their unique positioning as makers of "real world furniture." Facing the industry's toughest competitors such as Hon Industries, Steelcase and Herman Miller, marvelgroup.com needed a sleek new interface and enhanced Webability™.

The solution resulted in a cutting-edge and easy to use interface that communicates Marvel's "real world" approach through interactive media, such as Flash animation and fresh website design relative to the company's larger competitors. With marvelgroup.com's new look, users view a consistent and enhanced theme throughout the site. As Marvel's products are the bread and butter of the organization, all products are visually displayed to their fullest potential while server side components provide for seamless updates and expansion by Marvel staff.

From the secured dealer extranet to the inviting new customer interface, Marvel has realized a tremendous return on investment through an Azavar designed, developed and implemented complete sales generating solution.

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