Column Office Equipment

Lombard, IL

The Need

Column Office Equipment was incorporated in July 1990 and quickly grew to four Chicago area offices with over $20 million in annual revenues. Although established as one of the Chicago areas largest independently owned office-imaging companies, their market position was increasingly challenged by the emergence of Internet based eCommerce from national competitors.

(site no longer active)

The Solution

Column's management engaged the development team to evaluate, recommend and implement an Internet strategy geared toward increasing sales and enhancing customer service and relationships. As part of our phased implementation, Column Office Equipment's web site was re-designed and the content updated. Next, an online catalog was developed that included over 10,000 office supply items. We also added a rules-based pricing system that allows Column's customers to obtain pricing based on existing purchase agreements, service contracts, and established volume discounts. Finally, Columns order processing and general ledger application were integrated with the online ordering system. The system is built within Microsoft's Site Server 3.0, Commerce Edition.

Technology


Operating System:	Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

Web Server:	Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0

Software:	Microsoft Site Server 3.0, Commerce Edition Active Server Pages 2.0

Database:	Microsoft SQL Server 7.0