Direct 500 Product Brochure

 

               

Direct 500 Product Brochure

 

                                                               

Table of Contents

Direct 500 Solution

eCommerce and Order Management for Multi Sales Channels ... 2

The Unified Solution – Website, Call Center, Catalog! ... 2

Product Marketing Support ... 3

Same Features Everywhere – Call Center, Order Entry, Website ... 3

Technology

The Problem ... 4

Previous Options ... 4

The Solution – Direct 500 ... 4

SEO – Search Engine Optimization ... 4

XML Sitemaps ... 5 Meta Tags ... 5 Google Analytics ... 5 .NET ... 5 ASP ... 5 HTML ... 5

Sage 500 Application Framework and Direct 500 ... 6

PCI Compliance ... 6

SSL Certificates ... 6

 

eCommerce

The Direct 500 eStore ... 7

eStore Features ... 7

Call Center

The Direct 500 Call Center ... 9

Call Center Features ... 9

Distribution and Fulfillment

Direct 500 Distribution and Fulfillment ... 11

Distribution and Fulfillment Features ... 11

Marketing

Direct 500 Marketing ... 12

Direct 500 Solution

eCommerce and Order Management for Multi Sales Channels

Direct 500, an integrated eCommerce and order management software solution,

extends the functionality of Sage 500 ERP with important features geared towards organizations with multiple selling channels – call centers, catalogs, eStores and dealers. Direct 500 improves the operational effectiveness of the web site, call center, marketing and fulfillment areas within these businesses.

Direct 500 improves the sales order entry module within Sage 500 ERP by expanding the pricing models available to the company – deals, promotions, coupons and bundled pricing are all standard features of Direct 500 and the Direct 500 eStore.

Direct 500 improves the effectiveness of the fulfillment department by expanding the shipping options within Sage 500 ERP. Address normalization improves the accuracy of shipments and Starship integration calculates shipping charges during order entry.

Direct 500 improves marketing activities by providing source code tracking at a

customer and transaction level. RFM scoring is an excellent predictor of whether a customer will place another order.

Direct 500 is the solution for multi-channel sales organizations who are looking to improve the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and improve the efficiency of their call center and eStore business areas

The Unified Solution - Website, Call Center, Catalog!

In today’s world of highly competitive distribution sales, businesses are looking for ways to improve their Call Center, eStore and catalog sales channels. Direct 500 is designed for organizations with multiple selling channels.

Businesses often implement multiple software solutions to meet these many different business requirements. For example, sales order entry and inventory management, a hosted eCommerce site which is not connected with the ERP software, spreadsheets to track marketing campaigns and many other manual processes that attempt to overcome the shortcomings of a non-integrated solution.

Product Marketing Support

Multi-channel sales organizations are product marketing specialists. They create targeted marketing campaigns that need to be integrated across the organization and across the many channels through which they reach their customers. Promotions may be targeted to one customer segment but must be consistent across the Call Center and the eStore. When these businesses address their needs with individual software solutions, they often become disjointed and operationally ineffective.

Same Features Everywhere – Call Center, Order Entry and Website

Direct 500 provides a consistent, efficient and dependable solution to the multi-sales channel organization. We provide a powerful sales order entry tool set for your Call Center and we put these features in our integrated eStores.

Technology

The Problem

Multi-Channel sales organizations are product marketing specialists. They create targeted marketing campaigns that need to be integrated across the organization and across the many channels through which they reach their customers. Promotions may be targeted to one customer segment but it must be consistent across the call center and eStore. When these businesses address their needs with individual software solutions they often become disjointed and operationally ineffective. They limit offers to only on the web, they track special deals on a weekly memo to the call center, they have system over rides and duplicate checks prior to shipping, they have

specialized call center supervisors to contact customers to correct mistakes, they lose money in their shipping department – they struggle to survive

Previous Options

Multi Channel sales organizations need more than an eStore. Often it is the eStore that is the source of many problems for these businesses. The eStore was going to be the savior for the business. It would “open up many other markets and customers for our products.” “We just need to synchronize the data into our accounting system.

Then questions and limitations start to limit the possibilities. Business rules for the eStore that cannot be replicated on the call center. Information available to the Call Center that cannot be integrated with the eStore.

Their savior became a glorified fax machine.

The Solution = Direct 500

The Direct 500 platform is designed to meet the specific needs of mid-sized, multi-channel merchants.

Direct 500 is a Windows-based software solution for all companies selling over the internet. Direct 500 leverages and enhances the functionality of Sage Software’s award winning Sage 500 ERP

With Direct 500, an out-of-the-box customer service application, businesses get up and running quickly with an integrated, powerful web site for B2B and B2C order taking and account inquiries.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of getting traffic from search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing to find and present your site to as many viewers as possible. The majority of catalog sales are now placed online. Direct 500 is rich in functionality to help your eStore achieve the high rankings that drive sales.

XML Sitemaps

Sitemaps Inform search engines about URLs on your eStore that are available for crawling. The term “sitemap” refers to two different kinds of pages on your eStore. One is a static page you create manually, to help shoppers navigate the site. The second type is an XML file which is created for the benefit of Search Engines. This section deals with the second type. Direct 500 maintains this explicit, vital link to every item on the eStore for you.

Meta Tags

Meta Tags optimize your eStore’s chances of being favorably indexed by the search engines. You manage Meta Tags per item from the MAS 500 Item Maintenance window, without ever needing to manually edit HTML.

Google Analytics

The Direct 500 eStore easily accommodates Google Analytics, a free web utility that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. With Google Analytics, you're more prepared to write better-targeted ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives and create higher converting websites.

.NET

The ASP.NET implementation allows merchants to easily change the personality or “look and feel” of the store using common web publishing products. For example, you will want to have a distinctive homepage, you may wish to have your company’s logo in a certain place on every page, and you may want to offer links to other sites. With knowledge of HTML you can make many of these changes yourself. Direct 500 offers creative services for users who are not interested in web authoring

ASP

Direct 500 eStore was developed with ASP.NET, a Microsoft technology for creating Web applications using the Internet Information Server (IIS). Microsoft's development platform for creating ASP.NET web applications is Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the main markup language for creating web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser. ASP pages or HTML pages can be modified using popular web authoring tools such as Microsoft Expression Web, DreamWeaver and many others.

Sage 500 Application Framework and Direct 500

Sage 500 ERP is a highly reliable, robust and integrated series of enterprise applications covering all areas of business, including financials, distribution, customer relationship management (CRM), manufacturing, human resources, payroll, project accounting, financial reporting, electronic commerce and more. Sage 500 ERP offers market-leading functionality in a variety of areas. Its distribution capabilities are extensive, supporting multiple warehouses, forecasting, and automated procurement.

Direct 500 is developed in the same application framework as the base Sage 500 ERP product, giving Direct 500 full access to the entire Sage 500 solution. You’ll also notice that not only is Direct 500 embedded in the Sage 500 desktop, but it has the same look and feel so users are comfortable working with the entire solution.

PCI Compliance

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a worldwide information security standard assembled by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). The standard was created to help

organizations that process card payments prevent credit card fraud through increased controls around data and its exposure to compromise. The standard applies to all organizations which hold, process, or pass cardholder information from any card branded with the logo of one of the card brands.

Direct 500 utilizes the Sage 500 ERP credit card module which communicates with Sage Payment Solutions. Sage has received certification of the solution as PCI compliant.

SSL Certificates

An SSL Certificate establishes a private communication channel enabling encryption of the data during transmission. It contains unique and authenticated information about the certificate’s owner, providing confidence for web users when they send sensitive

information such as credit card numbers or a login password

This function is established by installing a certificate on your server. SSL Certificates are purchased through many established vendors such as VeriSign, GoDaddy and others.

It is the responsibility of the site’s owners to buy and install a security certificate.

Direct 500 utilizes SSL mode for all eStore pages that require security and accept confidential information (such as credit card numbers, etc.)

eCommerce

The Direct 500 eStore

The Direct 500 eStore is a fully integrated solution with the Direct 500/Sage 500 ERP system. They share and utilize the same system databases, stored procedures and business logic. Configurations, setup, rules, items, pricing all apply consistently on the eStore as well as in Sage 500 ERP.

Remember, NO SYNCHRONIZATION! Once an order is saved on the eStore shopping cart, it is in fact now a sales order in Sage 500 ERP. Change an item description in Sage 500 and press Save - it is immediately changed on the eStore.

eStore Features

 

 B2B versions (Business To Business)

 B2C versions (Business to Consumer)

 Up to 999 eStores

 Multiple ERP Companies

 Credit card processing with Sage 500 ERP

 Sage Payment Solutions Certified

 Avalara AVATAX™ Sales Tax Solution Certified

 Melissa Data™ Address Hygiene & Normalization

 Favorites

 Daily Specials

 Up-Sell – Suggest more profitable merchandise to the shopper

 Cross-Sell – Suggest related merchandise

 Deals – Such as Buy 1, Get 1 Free / Buy 2, Get 1 at 50% Off

 Promotions – Offered automatically for qualifying orders

 Coupons – Shopper can redeem during checkout

 Gift Certificates

 Bundled Pricing

 Styles

 Assortment Items – ad-hoc BTO kits

 View Invoice History

 View Sales Order History

 View Shipment Tracking

 Pay Invoices Online

 TreeView Navigation Option

 Breadcrumb Navigation

 Advanced Keyword Search

 Product List Pages

 Product Detail Pages

 ERP Integration  Customers  Items  Bill-To addresses  Ship-To addresses  Sales Orders  Pricing  Payment terms  Credit limits  Credit cards

eStore Features - continued

 Sort Product Lists –Most Recent, A-Z, Z-A, Low-High, High-Low, etc.

 Product Categories – Sage 500

 Product Categories – Direct 500

 Quick Order Form

 Additional Product Images

 Document Downloads

 Assign items to any or all eStores

 Multiple Units of Measure

 Item Alias

 Save Shopping Cart

 Pricing – Supports ALL Sage 500 and Direct 500 Pricing Models

 Display Quantity Available- actual, message or graphic

 Display Quantity Available – per warehouse

 Automated Order Confirmation Emails - Customizable

 Automated Password Reset Emails - Customizable

 Keep shopper on page after adding to cart or send to Shopping Cart review

 Multiple Ship-To addresses

 Password Reset

 Manage Failed Web Orders

 XML Sitemap Generator

 HTML Pages can be fully customized

 ASP

 ASP Master Pages

 Multi-Browser Support

 Mobile

 Google Analytics

 Microsoft SQL Server

 Branded Websites

 Match Existing Website Design

 Custom Website Design

 … and more 

Call Center

The Direct 500 Call Center

Call Centers are usually high volume order entry departments. Speed of entry and accuracy of data is critical. Direct 500 provides an advanced sales order entry search engine to expedite the lookup of current customers or prospects. It provides a multi-field lookup using Postal Code, Last Name, Company Name, Phone Number/Email address.

This search engine functionality greatly improves the effectiveness of the Call Center employees and the

accuracy of locating the correct customer. Once the customer is located, Direct 500 enables the operator to focus on serving the customer. Direct 500 also offers the following features to enhance efficiency and accuracy. Remember, the Call Center and eStore share and utilize the same system databases, stored procedures and business logic.

Call Center Features

 

 Advanced Customer Search Engine – quickly locate customers & start an order

 Search on partial fields  Search on multiple fields  Search on multiple partial fields  Search on any combination of …

 Customer ID  Sales Order Number  Web Order Number  Purchase Order Number  Postal Code  Last Name  Company Name  Phone Number  Email Address  Ship-To Addresses  Contacts

 Drill Down & Launch

 New Sales Order  Customer Maintenance  Credit Status  Status  Items Previously Ordered  Sales History  Memos  National Account  Open Quotes   Open Orders  Open Invoices  Recent Shipments  Recent Returns  Recent Payments  Export  Print

 

Call Center Features - continued

 Enhanced Sales Order Entry – designed and optimized for rapid order entry

 Avalara AVATAX™ Sales Tax Solution Certified  Melissa Data™ Address Hygiene & Normalization  Buyers

 Daily Specials

 Up-Sell – Suggest more profitable merchandise to the shopper  Cross-Sell – Suggest related merchandise

 Deals – Such as Buy 1, Get 1 Free / Buy 2, Get 1 at 50% Off  Promotions – Offered automatically for qualifying orders  Coupons – Shopper can redeem during checkout  Gift Certificates

 Bundled Pricing  Styles

 Assortment Items – ad-hoc BTO kits  Item Alias

 Item Memo’s

 Item Extended Descriptions – up to 5000 characters

 Hold Codes – unlimited & user defined, assign automatically, suspend an order from further processing

 Customer Alert Codes  Call Center Scripts

 Order Origin – track how an order was received – ex: Phone, Web, Mail, Fax  Custom Business Insights Explorer (BIE) views

 Pricing

 Additional Direct 500 Pricing Options  Direct 500 Customer Price Sheet  Direct 500 Customer Class Price Sheet

 Direct 500 Current Supplemental Source Price Sheet  Direct 500 Current Source Price Sheet

 Direct 500 Current Default Price Sheet  Direct 500 Warehouse Price Sheet  Standard Sage 500 500 Pricing Options

 Contract Pricing – Item

 Contract Pricing – Product Price Group  Contract Pricing – Customer Price Group  Inventory Pricing

 Matrix Pricing by Customer Price Group

 Matrix Pricing by Product Price Group 

 Product Price Group 

 Customer Price Basis 

Distribution and Fulfillment

Direct 500 Distribution and Fulfillment

Many distributors that sell through multiple channels are high volume shipping organizations. These companies can live or die by their shipping costs. Address accuracy, shipping and handling calculations and on-time delivery determines if these companies thrive or barely survive.

Direct 500 provides extensive shipping capabilities focused on simplifying the Call Center and eStore transactions. Shipping methods have been expanded with features to allow shipments by address types, restrictions by postal codes and countries. Shipping charts can be defined by geographical region and level of service. Direct 500 also offers an integration to StarShip, allowing customers to have a calculated freight and handling charge directly from the StarShip rate tables.

Shipping rates are important to multi-channel sales organizations; however there are many other business requirements that save them money every day. Call Centers are usually high volume order entry departments. Speed of entry and accuracy of data is critical. Direct 500 provides an advanced sales order entry search engine to expedite the lookup of current customers or prospects. It provides a multi-field lookup using Postal Code, Last Name, Company Name, Phone Number/Email address.

Distribution and Fulfillment Features

 

 Melissa Data™ Address Hygiene & Normalization  StarShip Integration

 Redundancy Name Checking  Auto Ship Programs

 Holiday Calendars

 Item Level Shipping Restrictions  Service Level Shipping Restrictions  Review by Recipient

 Lead Days by Postal Code  Valid Ship Days

 Valid Arrival Days

 Advanced Shipping and Handling

 Shipping Restrictions – restrict delivery of an item to a geographical location or type of address  Shipping Charts – custom shipping charges

 Priority Shipping Schemes

Marketing

Direct 500 Marketing

Distributors that sell through multiple channels often face challenges in tracking sales, marketing campaigns and their effectiveness. Direct 500 offers a multi-level source code that tracks how new customers are created and the source of each new order, providing valuable analysis data for the business.

Integrating source codes with the Call Center and the eStore provides the business with a powerful promotion and analysis tool set. For example, an email blast with integrated source codes and promotions can automatically take the customer to a special offer on the eStore, complete the shopping cart with the promotion and place the order in Sage 500 ERP with no interaction from the Call Center staff. Source Code tracking is one of the many

marketing features within Direct 500.

Marketing Features

 

 RFM Scoring – Recency, Frequency, Monetary

 Customer Demographics Codes

 Alert Codes

 Source Codes

 Order Origin Codes

 Info Request Codes

 Do Not Mail

 Do Not Sell

 Do Not Email

 Do Not Call

 Mail List Selection

 Temporary Customers – convert to Active status when an order is placed

 Catalog Requestors – allows the call center or eStore to generate a shipping/mailing label for catalog

 Auto Ship Programs

 Holiday Calendars

 Corporate Gift Giving Programs