Ford Europa ha puesto en marcha con el software de Plumtree un Portal para Distribuidores denominado ‘DealerConnection Portal’. Este portal da acceso a información y aplicaciones de Ford a 7500 empresas distribuidoras, 37000 usuarios en 18 países, utilizando 15 idiomas diferentes.
NOTA DE PRENSA DE PLUMTREE USA
HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Plumtree Odyssey User Conference, Oct. 14 — Enterprise Web leader Plumtree Software today announced the successful deployment of Ford Motor Company’s European DealerConnection portal. DealerConnection provides online access to business-critical systems and services to 7,500 dealers and 37,000 users in 18 countries, using 15 different languages. Through DealerConnection, dealers have real-time access to key information and tools previously only available in a paper-based format and that often required up to five days to process. DealerConnection also facilitates self-service among dealers, allowing Ford to implement a more streamlined and centralized back office. DealerConnection is the second corporate portal built by Ford using Plumtree’s technologies; Ford has already rolled out the myFord.com portal to 250,000 Ford employee enterprise-wide. To listen to a Web seminar on the Ford employee portal, go to: www.plumtree.com/03/Ford.
DealerConnection supports Ford dealers in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary and the UK.
What’s in Dealer Connection? Warranty Checks, Parts Ordering
DealerConnection is at the heart of Ford’s European dealer strategy, which aims to make Ford the automotive supplier of choice for dealers. The portal provides dealers with a single point of access to all the information and tools they need to manage daily tasks efficiently, keeping dealers from having to access separate systems. Prior to the portal, updating dealers on new information often took five days for preparation, printing and distribution of material; now all information on pricing, products, servicing, customer services and marketing is available to the dealers online, already achieving real efficiencies for Ford.
Dealers can now to go a single site to:
— View warranty checks, pricing guides;
— Order vehicles or parts;
— Read news on upcoming vehicles, car credit products and services;
— Look up vehicle parts information, service parts data and customer
satisfaction information; and
— Find product specifications and key selling features of new Ford
models, ultimately enabling dealers to sell more effectively.
Why Plumtree? Multi-Lingual Capability, Extensible Framework
One of the greatest challenges Ford needed to address was coming up with a solution that met the needs, both commercially and culturally, of dealers in 18 different European countries. To achieve this, DealerConnection provides local country dealers and Ford representatives with control of their own Enterprise Web application. Unlike traditional applications, Enterprise Web applications built on the Plumtree framework combine existing data and processes from enterprise systems with new shared services, and are managed within one administrative framework at the corporate level.
«Plumtree Enterprise Web technologies are in line with our vision, allowing us to create real, working, online communities,» said Mark Kurring, Company-to-Dealer Systems Implementation Supervisor at Ford. «Instead of creating 18 different portals for the countries in which we operate, we have developed one pan-European portal with applications for each respective country and line-of-business. By adopting this approach, we are empowering each country to create its own environment under the European umbrella of DealerConnection, even though we still have central control over our brand, image and communication. Ultimately, Plumtree’s software was the only product we were confident could bridge the cultural barriers created by 15 different languages and 18 different countries and that could scale to support such a large implementation.»
«DealerConnection has played an important part in building and enhancing Ford’s brand amongst local dealers,» said Charlie Abrahams, Plumtree’s European Managing Director. «We believe the portal has also delivered real ROI both for Ford and its network of dealers.»