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Air Products unveils powerful online customer
portal
Wednesday 5th December 2001 — Air Products
PLC announced today the European launch of its APDirectSM
extranet, an on-line portal that enables customers to conduct
a wide range of transactions with the company on a secure
and easy-to-use site.
The portal has been developed specifically for the European
market, based on technology successfully implemented in
the USA over the past year. It includes a multi-lingual
capability, offering customers a choice of six languages:
English (UK and US versions); French (France and Belgium
versions); German; Dutch; Flemish; and Spanish.
As well as enabling customers to place product orders in
a secure on-line environment, the APDirect portal allows
them to check order status, track delivery shipments and
review purchase histories directly on-line, irrespective
of whether an order is placed on-line, by phone, or in person.
Customers can also create links to access specific information,
such as safety data sheets, on-line technical information
and discussions, collaborative research and development
data.
For the company's range of Specialty Gases products, there
are a series of product selection and specification tools
available on-line which provide links to technical literature.
Moreover, chemicals customers can now order product samples
on-line.
E-procurement pages have also been developed and have created
important economies of scale through the elimination of
'maverick buying' and the concentration on key vendors.
As Walt Smith, e-business manager, Global Packaged Gases,
says, the portal has been designed with simplicity, ease
of use and security in mind.
"Each customer is assigned their own portal page,
which acts as a secure personal gateway to the information
and functionality contained within the APDirect portal.
"They can then tailor the portal to suit their own
individual requirements, so that it contains only the applications
and information they need. Business transactions that would
in the past have required numerous phone calls and paperwork
can now be done with a few mouse clicks," Walt says.
A feature of the portal development has been the advisory
role played by a panel of customers. This has ensured a
customer focus throughout the design process, with the APDirect
portal's powerful technology used as a means to an end -
i.e. simplicity of use and functionality - rather than an
end in itself.
The APDirect portal has also been designed as a flexible
and easily updateable system, allowing further improvements
to be made based on customer feedback and suggestions.
Underpinning the portal's security capabilities is Air
Products' front-end system used for security, privacy and
identification across all the company's web-based e-business
sites. This maintains a common registration process for
all Air Products sites containing private information, ensuring
that a customer has easy access to any registered applications.
"E-business continues to revolutionise the way we
interact with our customers, suppliers and other supply
chain partners. It enables us to share valuable information
and develop much closer relationships - based on mutual
understanding of our respective businesses," says John
Rosevear, e-business Project Manager.
"The launch of the APDirect portal is an exciting
new step that will drive supply chain efficiencies and help
our customers save time and money in the process."
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