Printing.com

Streamlining the sales process with NetServices

The Challenge

Printing.com offers printing facilities on a broad product range to consumers and companies across the UK. The business effectively combines its store presence (200 stores nationwide) with an online service, giving customers a convenient choice to suit their circumstances.

Printing.com's technology and communications set up underpins every aspect of the organisation's work. Stores are sold on a franchise basis with Printing.com providing the entire IT infrastructure to the franchisee. This is complemented by the online abilities, which have been established over the years.

Printing.com required a secure and reliable application to streamline and monitor its sales order process, to save costs and avoid duplication. This also requires the correct networking infrastructure to ensure connectivity between the retail sites and the central hub.

The Solution

NetServices already provided Printing.com's virtual private network (VPN) connecting each UK store network back into the one centralised production hub, where all the orders are processed.

Over the years the relationship has developed with NetServices providing support to the in-house IT skills of Printing.com. NetServices also provide in-house software development support to Printing.com on its Flyerlink® application. This is a web application used by Printing.com which enables the sales order process from point of order to point of delivery.

The Benefits

The Flyerlink® system streamlines and manages the sales processes from point of order to point of delivery, enabling each order to be tracked by everyone from retail staff to production and finance. The application is hosted offsite at NetServices' Manchester headquarters, with the front end of the site being wholly maintained and content also managed by NetServices.

On top of the sales ordering application, Printing.com are also benefiting from an Intelligent Network (IN) Platform, from NetServices. The IN Platform is a voice solution which enables Printing.com to advertise a single phone number for its products and services across the UK, despite its multiple locations. The IN Platform recognises the area code of incoming calls and routes them to the store nearest to the caller's location.

CHALLENGES

• Ensuring customer choice by providing online access to services
• Supporting a business critical application cost-effectively
• Connecting sites of varying sizes nationwide to central services

SOLUTION

• Single VPN connecting the sites to the central production hub and using NetServices to provide software development support alongside internal development resources.

RESULTS

• Streamlined order and delivery process
• Assured networking infrastructure
• Development skills to complement in-house resource