Inadequate software resources can place a severe strain on day-to-day operations. Many organizations have tried to make do with pre-packaged products, for example, only to find after a long battle that their specific needs demand professionally developed software. Others insist on reinventing the wheel by developing software in areas where the vendor offerings are already mature, reliable and relatively cheap to acquire. And it's not uncommon for companies to waste months attempting to "customize" off-the-shelf products in hopes of magically transforming them into something else entirely.

FusionStorm’s Enterprise Software Group not only helps customers avoid these pitfalls but provides software planning and development services internally. FusionStorm’s skilled software developers are actively involved in creating applications that streamline internal processes and make it easier for customers to do business with FusionStorm.

“One thing we’re working on is a customer portal based upon the SharePoint platform,” said Steve Soper, director of FusionStorm’s Enterprise Software Group. “We have some real business needs that require a platform where we can update quotes, manage projects and work collaboratively with specific customers.

“Traditionally, technology providers such as FusionStorm procure products from multiple distributors, making it difficult to give customers a real-time view into what they’ve ordered from you, either currently or historically. We want to be able to allow customers to log in and see all of the hardware they’ve bought from us in the past three years, with serial numbers and pricing, broken down by vendor. We want them to be able to get a quick report showing all their current support contracts and when they expire. And, actually, you can take it to the point of helping customers manage assets down to the specific device. That’s very powerful, and something customers are increasingly interested in.”

Assembly Required

In developing the customer portal, FusionStorm’s Enterprise Software Group is taking data feeds from the various distributors and consolidating them in a single place where the customer can review order information. As a result, the portal ultimately will provide more than reporting, Soper says. The goal is to have the software streamline the order process both internally and for customers.

“Customers want the ability to place orders online and develop their own preconfigured bundles,” Soper said. “Customers often spend a lot of time defining equipment quotes that can be replicated across the enterprise. We want to allow customers to transform those quotes into set configurations that can be ordered in one simple step.

“We are building a database of products that customers have ordered from us so they can see their order history and sort it in various ways. We can also allow them to drill down to device IDs so that going forward they can order hardware based on old configurations. It sounds easy, but it’s not, because you’re dealing with numerous distributors on the back end who store information in very different ways. Aggregating all of that data, making it usable to the customer and delivering it in a secure manner is the challenge.”

Delivering Information

Soper also hopes to automate the order-tracking process.

“Customers want real-time order status updates just like you get when you shop online — an invoice, shipping notice and tracking number in real time, automatically. I think the reseller community is struggling to find ways to provide that same experience. Right now, our approach to that is very manual. A person checks the distributor’s Web site or calls the distributor and asks when the product is going to be shipped, and they put that in an e-mail and a spreadsheet. Our goal is to eliminate those manual steps as much as possible.”

Once the portal is finalized, the information can be delivered in a variety of ways. In fact, FusionStorm plans to tie the portal to its mobility initiatives so that detailed order data can be delivered to a customer’s iPhone or other mobile device.

“SharePoint has full mobile capabilities, allowing us to build specific views for mobile devices. We can also deliver the information through a standard browser or even send delivery notifications via e-mail,” Soper said. “Once customers are inside the portal they can manipulate the data using applications they’re very familiar with, such as Excel and Word. The portal will also allow us to work collaboratively with our customers.”

FusionStorm’s customer portal will also offer proof that the right software resources can improve operations. The FusionStorm software development team has the knowledge and experience to build applications that automate back-end processes, provide a real-time view of data and allow customers to access that data in a variety of ways.