Sensor firm goes with Click Commerce for portal to provide visibility into channel sales, reduce internal process costs of channel management
Chicago — February 12, 2004 — Global sensor firm SICK AG has selected software from channel management specialist Click Commerce to drive its channel partner initiatives and automate key transactions in quoting, ordering, and managing claims, with goals of gaining visibility into channel sales and reducing the internal process costs of channel management.
The company's Partner Portal will offer self-service capabilities to the company's channel partners and will allow SICK channel managers to predict and measure channel growth and revenues, according to Click.
SICK is one of the world's leading producers of sensors and sensor solutions for industrial applications. The company, founded in 1946 and headquartered in Waldkirch, Germany, had sales of $538 million in 2002.
With multiple affiliates and more than 40 subsidiaries in over 20 countries, the company needed a solution that would provide the sales and executive teams with a higher level of visibility into their sales-related business processes. Automating these processes through the Partner Portal lets the company capture and report on channel activity and harness their worldwide resources in a more profitable way, Click said.
SICK will also be looking to more effectively market to its channel partners through targeted promotions, personalized information and customer surveys, the company said. The new Click Commerce-powered portal will be integrated with the company's multiple enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to leverage these existing data sources and extend existing IT investments.
"Using the Click Commerce software to integrate all of our remote data systems and make business information available to partners will simplify our channel management efforts," said Joe Griep, e-business manager at SICK. "By automating key processes and offering greater self-service capabilities through our Click Commerce solution, we will be able to significantly reduce process costs and have a positive impact on the way we do business with our partners."
"For global corporations, the process of improving channel relationships can be challenging, particularly when managing across markets and regions," said Michael Ferro, CEO of Click Commerce. "Our solutions help to reduce the administrative burden of managing these relationships and make them more productive sales channels."
