A Publishing Company Deploys an Integrated, On-line Promotion and Sales Application

The client, one of the country's largest providers of online reference material, used their customer service system to manage requests for promotional products. The client had identified a loss in sales due to poor coordination between their customer service department and their sales force. Often this stemmed from the client's complicated sales force organization, which made it difficult for the customer service department to identify the appropriate sales representative to notify with potential leads. The client sought to improve coordination by automatically assigning promotions to sales managers as soon as a promotion was engaged by a potential customer. Additionally, the client wished to provide customers with an easy way to subscribe to product promotions through a web site, and thus further drive leads to their sales force.

Solid Foundations for Flexible Growth

West Pole identified the project as one that would grow in scope and complexity if the initial promotional program was successful. West Pole recommended an iterative approach to the client and used the analysis phase to develop a robust and flexible sales and product model that would be delivered to both the sales teams and the clients through an integrated web site. West Pole created a role-based web application that selectively generated the appropriate data on each page, allowing considerable re-use of data for both clients and sales teams.

Iterative Development in an Ongoing Relationship

West Pole delivered the first iteration of the trials system with the expectation that its success would determine whether or not the model would be expanded. The product has been an enormous success, and West Pole has been closely involved with the client in providing additional functionality, including advanced data cube reporting and sophisticated client relationship management.

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