At many manufacturing companies, business customers have traditionally had to contact the company by phone or email to access information about their order history, product specifications, and pricing. And for those who sell their services through dealers, those dealers have to manually request updated pricing sheets on a regular basis or risk pricing errors and discrepancies.
Traust recently worked with one such manufacturer of metalworking tools, including CNC punch press tooling, machinery workholding, and press brake tooling, to upgrade the company’s customer portal. The manufacturer asked to remain anonymous, because they believe the portal represents a competitive advantage for their business.
The new portal — built on the Oracle APEX rapid development platform — provides customers with easy access to all their order history, technical drawings, and specifications for the tools the company has manufactured for them. Customers can quickly review their tooling and reorder as needed. The portal also includes order tracking information to keep customers informed on the status of their orders.
Keeping Dealers in the Loop
In addition, the customer portal also allows the manufacturer’s network of independent dealers to access up-to-date pricing and product data based on their region, ensuring that all customer quotes are based on accurate information. This is a significant improvement from the previous process where dealers might accidentally use out-of-date pricing to create their customer quotes.
Finally, Traust created an innovative file-sharing tool for the company’s marketing team that allows them to easily upload marketing files to a designated set of folders on their internal network. These files are then automatically added to the customer portal, including their folder structure, making it easy for customers to access and download relevant marketing materials.