When we talk to our clients or prospects one of the questions that often comes up is "how does your customer portal work? What type of information can I obtain in the portal? How does this tool benefit me?
We pride ourselves in being there for our customers. Our customer portal allows our customers to access account specific information 24/7/365.
Part of this process is safeguarding our customer's intellectual property. When a customer requests a new portal we create a user id and password so their information is encrypted through an SSL certificate.
Once our customers log in, they can access several key areas that are pertinent to their account. Product catalog, usually broken down into product categories can be drilled down to search a specific product. Product drawings, pictures, manuals, schematics and other literature can also be found where applicable. Drawings can be downloaded to a PDF format and easily emailed to field service and construction personnel.
Open and closed orders can be searched by store number, purchase order and other fields. Once you find an order, you can drill down at the line item level or obtain a tracking number and a link to the freight carrier's website. This makes it is real convenient when our customers are looking for a proof of delivery. (POD)
Quote and project tracking is another neat feature that lets our customers track real-time the status of their projects. For customers where we are working on multiple new product development and R&D projects, this tool helps them track each milestone in the project's lifecycle.
Self-service allows our customers to log in an issue related to a product or service they've purchased from EMI. They can track the status, resolution and add any information (e.g., photos) that might help solve their problem. Customer-specific Service Level Agreements (SLAs) can also be displayed through the portal as well as a knowledge base of frequently asked questions (FAQs).
Finally, we have customers using the portal to purchase products from us. That's right. It works just like Amazon.com or another retailer's ecommerce website. As our customers browse through their catalog, they can add a product to the "shopping cart", select a location and check out. It is that simple.
Customers using these portals tell us the real benefit of having them is the flexibility they provide. Customers can access them whenever it's convenient, work at their own pace and stay as long as they need to. Staying organized is another benefit we often hear from our customers especially those that are managing multiple suppliers/product categories.
If you are a customer and would like a customer portal, please call us at 800.322.9925 ext.236