(See related pages)
|
|
|
| Industry Perspective The Right Tool for Ace Hardware In most small hardware stores, there’s a gray-haired guy wearing a red shop apron who can answer any question you might have. For example, if you say you want to put a bird feeder on a pole, the wise old guy says, “You need a flange fastener.” Or, if you want to hang shutters he’ll tell you, “You need pintles.” He knows all the doohickeys: T-joints, pan head screws, toggle bolts, rheostats, turnbuckles, and ball valves. Even more importantly, he also knows where they are in the store. That’s great for the customers, but where could the Ace Hardware dealers themselves turn when they needed some advice on how to run their businesses better, how to find and serve business customers better, for example? Up to now, Ace’s dealers were out of luck. They met to compare notes only a couple of times a year, at conventions. Many had little further contact with each other, or even with Ace headquarters because dealers operate as independents. They sell some Ace products but don’t work for Ace and are free to offer goods made by other suppliers. Recently, Ace began deploying a Web site that illustrates the power of a Web-based community by demonstrating that “Nobody is as smart as everybody.” They began with an electronic meeting-place—a sort of virtual gray-haired guy for the 300 or so dealers that peddle Ace products to businesses. The move was so successful it was expanded to serve all 5,000 Ace dealers. While some information and advice is available on the site, the main attraction for Ace’s dealers is that they can discuss do’s, don’ts, and doohickeys with each other. Ace and its dealers are delighted with the site. Although Ace won’t get too specific, it does say that the exchange of ideas and information by the online community has increased sales so much that it achieved a 500 percent return on its investment in the first six months. Industry Perspective Corporate Express Upgrades Its Online Customer Service Corporate Express (www.corporateexpress.com) sells office products, office furniture and computer supplies online and through a direct sales force. Their online ordering system, E-Way, has more than 400,000 active users who are expected to purchase more than $1 billion in 2002. Corporate Express plans to introduce a context sensitive help solution provided by Motive (www.motive.com) as part of an upgrade of E-Way. With the upgrade, when customers have a question or problem, they can simply click on a button available on every page and be presented with a list of questions and answers specifically tailored to that particular page or process. Overall, Corporate Express believes that Motive’s system will improve the online ordering process for its customers, increase customer satisfaction, reduce demand on the service center, and extend its competitive advantage Global Perspective Americans Already Preparing for New Canadian Privacy Law The Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act was enacted in January 2001. The new law stipulates that businesses must give guarantees to Canadian citizens regarding the collection and use of their personal information. Companies will now have to get the customer's consent before sharing any customer information with its affiliates or commercial partners. By 2004, all businesses operating in Canada will be affected. According to Murray Long, a privacy consultant in Ottawa, this law promises to create “some interesting nightmares” particularly for Canadian affiliates that store their customer information on servers south of the border. After 2004, American firms with information on Canadian citizens will have to enter into contractual agreements which will commit them to following Canada’s privacy law. This means that multinational companies operating in Canada will have to have contracts with anybody who supplies them with any personal information, including their own subsidiaries. Of particular concern to many U.S. companies is the lack of a grandfather clause, which would have exempted customer information collected before the law’s enactment. Many companies have already started asking for their customers’ consent before they are legally required to do so. Without this consent, companies will not be legally allowed to use any customer information after 2004 even if the data was collected years before. Source: Thibodeau, P. (2000). Canadian privacy law raises ante – Complying may place burden on U.S. firms, Dec. 4, Computer World, Available at: http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO54674,00.html |