Success Stories

Southern Computer Warehouse Streamlines its Sales Operations with ChannelOnline™

From its beginnings in a Marietta, Georgia garage in 1994, Southern Computer Warehouse (SCW) today employs 17 full-time salespeople, each with a singular focus: to deliver technology solutions to business, government, and education customers with the highest quality service at the lowest possible cost.

As a small, regional reseller competing with national discount powerhouses such as Computer Discount Warehouse (CDW), SCW relies on technology itself to stay one — or more — steps ahead of the big guns in the industry. And they're succeeding, with revenues growing steadily, thanks in part to the ChannelOnlineT sales cycle automation solution from CNET Channel. But the path to success hasn't always been smooth.

Early Attempts at Automation

From the company's inception, founder and now-CEO Joseph Gabriel knew that a sales cycle automation solution was crucial for efficient operations. A solution that would allow Gabriel and his employees to stay focused on sales and marketing without requiring a large IT organization for support, would help SCW become profitable. "From day one, using technology to sell technology over the Internet was something I knew we would need to do to gain a competitive edge," says Gabriel. "But it took us a while to get it right."

Early on, SCW began using a product called ProAccess, but the product's functional limitations quickly became clear. Remembers Gabriel, "Because it was single-node workstation software, each salesperson's quotes only existed on his own personal workstation. This meant that if a quote was created by salesperson A, but salesperson B took the follow-up call, salesperson B would have to wheel his chair over to salesperson A's workstation to view, update, or print the quote. Anytime someone got sick or took a vacation, the rest of the staff struggled with trying to find this information."

After two years of inefficient quoting processes, outdated product information and frustrated salespeople, SCW moved to Quote Desk — the predecessor to ChannelOnline. "While Quote Desk allowed our salespeople to be networked and download up-to-date data, it did not have a Web interface to support our online presence," says Gabriel. "So we switched to VARStreet, which did have a Web interface but, as we found out, not much more."

Switching to VARStreet Wrought with Problems; Threatens Revenues and Growth

VARStreet proved a short-lived solution in the face of SCW's rapid growth. "We seemed to consistently have problems with the VARStreet system. Shallow data, infrequent updates, lack of security, and inflexible quoting capabilities actually lost us business," remembers Gabriel. "The final straw came when a large, very loyal customer told me that his company was not going to place a sizable order for servers with us — even though they bought everything else from us — because it was much easier to work with and buy from CDW's Web site, where he could see everything he needed including accessories. At that point, I knew we had to take action — and fast — to keep this customer and many others."

Deja-Vu Looks Better Than Ever

Gabriel decided to revisit Quote Desk because it had offered just about all the capabilities SCW needed, and had been acquired and relaunched as ChannelOnline. "It was blindingly obvious after one look that CNET Channel understood what we needed to succeed as a reseller in the online world," notes Gabriel. "Where we had received a disk with product and pricing updates once a week, now we had (and have) real-time, online access to availability and product information from our top distributors. This real-time insight alone has helped maximize our salespeople's productivity and improve the accuracy of our quotes."

Given SCW's focus on cost-effectiveness, Gabriel is particularly impressed with ChannelOnline's auto-fulfill feature. Auto-fulfill enables SCW to submit electronic orders and get automatic ship/track informa-tion back into PO and linked sales orders so customers can self serve at their convenience. Comments Gabriel, "We want to push as much business as we can through auto-fulfill because it cuts down on costs — and calls. Everyone gets the information he needs, automatically: the salesperson, my accounting department, and the customer. It helps make an inherently inefficient process a lot easier."

Every little efficiency gain counts, especially when salespeople come in early in the morning and don't stop selling until they leave at the end of the day. With quicker access to content, salespeople can create and send out a quote faster, which leads to more sales. "With ChannelOnline, our salespeople don't waste time researching product information. They focus on securing new business or servicing existing customers," comments Gabriel. "ChannelOnline helps us stay on the cutting edge."

ChannelOnline Fuels SCW's Success

At the end of the day, Gabriel attributes a significant part of SCW's revenue growth and success to ChannelOnline. "It is the foundation of everything we do — it's really the primary work environment for everyone at SCW," says Gabriel. "Plus, because we've integrated ChannelOnline with our contact management and accounting software, we save time and money by not having to re-type customer and order data. That automated update translates into huge efficiency gains, reduced costs, and better customer service."

With an increasing number of customers qualifying for discounts — government discounts, education discounts, even volume discounts — SCW is looking to ChannelOnline's hallmark flexibility to help it lead the pack in servicing these customers within controlled profit margins. Notes Gabriel, "By partnering with CNET Channel, we will be able to provide better customer service, so that our customers can go online and have confidence that the price they see includes the appropriate discounts."

So what about that customer who prompted Gabriel to renew SCW's commitment to ChannelOnline? Gabriel laughs, "Not only did he buy those servers, but through ChannelOnline we're also doing our first bundles of hardware and compatible accessories for him. Plus, he introduced us to his supplies purchasing agent, and she's moved all their supplies purchasing from CDW to us. Not a bad end to the story!"

About Southern Computer Warehouse

Headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, Southern Computer Warehouse (SCW) specializes in working with established IT departments, in medium and large seat accounts, to save them time and money on their technology purchasing decisions. Personalized service with a high level of accountability is what differentiates SCW. For more information, contact SCW toll-free at 1-877-GOTOSCW or visit their Web site at http://www.gotoscw.com