EDP - MERCHANT e-business Options


				MERCHANT For Builders & Plumbers Merchants

solutions




SOLUTIONS:



Merchant Overview

	Features List

	e-business options

	Application Hosting

	Cust. Service Bulletins

	Training Courses

	Licence Fees


An e-business strategy for increasing growth, reducing overheads & offering improved customer service
	In order to take advantage of the opportunities created by the Internet, and protect Builders and Plumbers merchants' investment in their MERCHANT software solution, EDP has established a full Internet Service for its customers. These new services have been developed to deliver a competitive edge to businesses preparing for e-business; the process of sales transactions and enquiries over the Internet.
Quantum VS e-business Solution The Quantum VS e-business solution is specifically designed and developed middleware, allowing integration of the MERCHANT software product with the Internet for e-business. The rich functionality of MERCHANT is brought into the browser, enabling not only selling of products from your electronic catalogue (e-commerce), but also enabling your customers to view data relative to their accounts, such as invoice history, order history and outstanding orders. This added dimension of functionality; the ability to view MERCHANT data via the Internet is true e-business. fastfreenet.com (ISP) - Internet Connection fastfreenet.com is EDP's Internet Service Provider (ISP) facility based at our Information Technology Solution Centre in Milton Keynes. The ISP - fastfreenet.com, provides a quick Internet connection between your customers and your e-business web site. Speed is crucial and our increased capacity combined with a low User to Modem ratio enables a reliable first time, quick connection. Custom CD's can be used as a marketing initiative in getting your customers to click your logo on the desktop. This will then dial-up an 0845 Local Call Rate number accessing fastfreenet.com, taking them through to your site. Software coded with your web address (URL) can be obtained from EDP for CD Duplication. Application Hosting As a MERCHANT customer you can take advantage of EDP's new Internet Services by implementing e-business in one of two ways:- EDP can host both your e-business web site and your MERCHANT application, or: EDP can host just your e-business web site whilst you can continue to host your MERCHANT application. EDP may host both if the demands placed on your MERCHANT application server, particularly at peak times, are unpredictable and may be very much greater than the current peak load. It is vital that the on-line service to your customers is continually available. This means that not only does the MERCHANT application server have to be capable of handling high peak loads, but also needs to be replicated. EDP, as part of the Application Hosting Service, replicates all transactions to 2 servers simultaneously.


	E-BUSINESS: Take advantage of a new sales channel by selling products from your electronic catalogue. Allow registered account Users access to pre-negotiated price breaks individual to that customer.
	ENQUIRIES: Improved Customer Service enables account holders access to rich MERCHANT data such as Invoice history, Order History & Outstanding orders.
	MARKETING: Customised CD's for ditribution amongst your customers, providing a fast Internet connection to your e-business site by clicking your logo on their PC desktop.
	HOSTING: Full service allowing your e-business web site and MERCHANT to be hosted at EDP's Internet Service Centre.
	INCREASING YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE: Protect your investment by becoming an early adopter of e-business and reach your customers through a new marketing channel. Create closer relationships with customers and reduce purchasing & payment cycle time.