Press release
2005-08-24
Black Box Network Services (Voice Services) launches unique Intranet-based Vendor Import, Configuration and Quotation system, developed in conjunction with Tacton Systems, to support customers.
Many organizations find that effective sales configuration is a key to producing rapid and accurate proposals which meet their customers' needs. This capability is a vital competitive advantage in the communications field, where customers often have complex requirements. Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ: BBOX), via its Black Box Network Service (Voice Services) Group, a full service provider of integrated voice, video and data communications, has implemented a Vendor Import, Configuration and Quotation system developed in conjunction with Tacton.
The new Vendor Import, Configuration and Quoting Tool system enables Black Box's customers to swiftly and accurately purchase customized communication solutions, which are often comprised of components from multiple vendors. It will also substantially improve Black Box's means to provide efficient customer service throughout the entire purchasing process.
The Tacton Configurator is at the heart of the system, enabling Black Box's sales representatives to interactively and efficiently configure optimal and fully quoted solutions for their clients. The customized Bill of Material (BOM) output from the Configurator integrates with the Vendor Import and Quoting Tool, where it can be further manipulated in advanced quotation formats.
Black Box's objective with the system is to support their core success factors of flexibility, speed of response time to customer needs, accuracy, and customer service. The new Vendor Import, Configuration and Quoting Tool will empower their 100+ sales professionals/engineers in the United States and Canada to quickly and accurately configure customer proposals via the company Intranet. It also provides advanced functionality in generating, saving/loading and manipulating customer quotations.
A central strategy for Black Box is to bring about a transition from being a "hardware centric" solutions provider to an "applications centric" solutions provider. Tacton's system is a critical part of this strategy. By utilizing Tacton's configuration and quotation functionality, Black Box will be able to effectively support their customers to find the value-added solutions that meet their needs.
"The new Vendor Import, Configuration and Quoting is an important step in our applications centric strategy", Rich Jorgensen, IS Director of Black Box Network Services said. "The system supports our sales process with powerful vendor import, configuration and quotation capabilities. It enables our sales force to effectively help our customers find the optimal total solution, in real time. Our collaboration with Tacton resulted in a superb application that is well received by our sales executives and sales engineering staff".
Dave Porter, Manager of Front Office Systems, attributes the success to "Tacton's proven expertise in delivering vendor import, configuration and quotation management systems for the telecom and manufacturing industries. Tacton has been responsive to the needs of our development team and an excellent business partner."
Prior to this project, Black Box has been a user of the "Pocket SolveIT" system that Tacton built for Ericsson Enterprise, which is used by over five hundred Ericsson resellers worldwide including Black Box. The industry analyst The Aberdeen Group selected Tacton's Pocket SolveIT system at Ericsson Enterprise for their report "What Works in Europe: Ten Success Stories in Customer Relationship Management". As a result of their experience with PocketSolveIT, Black Box commissioned Tacton to provide a vendor import, configuration and quotation system for Black Box's own complex needs.
Further information:
Christer Wallberg, CEO, Tacton Systems AB. tel: +46 8 690 07 50, e-mail: christer.wallberg@tacton.com. Stefan Pessirilo, Vice President North America - Tacton, tel: +46 8 690 0750, stefan.pessirilo@tacton.com.
Donna Warner - Black Box Network Services (Voice Services), tel: +1 952 352 4000, info@blackbox.com.
About Black Box Corp.
Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ: BBOX) is the world's largest technical services company dedicated to designing, building, and maintaining today's complicated network infrastructure systems.
The Black Box team of approximately 3,400 Team Members serves more than 152,000 clients in 141 countries around the world. Founded in 1976, Black Box operates in five continents and is headquartered near Pittsburgh in Lawrence, Pennsylvania. www.blackbox-vs.com
About Tacton
Tacton Systems is a global vendor of sales configuration software and services. Tacton Configurator Solutions are used by customers such as Ericsson, ABB, GE Healthcare, FläktWoods, Albany Door Systems and Marconi to effectively sell their customized and complex products online or offline. The Tacton Configurator integrates seamlessly into leading CRM, e-commerce and ERP systems, while connecting to CAD, PLM and manufacturing systems. Tacton works closely with go-to-market partners such as IBM, SmarTeam, Intershop and Intentia around the world. www.tacton.com