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CNET Content Solutions
CNET Content Solutions

1) Direct Alliance implemented CNET Channel's DataSource solution to manage their clients' massive product content in a more reliable, consistent and cost-effective manner. 2) With over 600 attributes to work with through DataSource, Direct Alliance can now easily bundle additional third-party products into solutions for their customers. 3) Implementation of DataSource has significantly improved Direct Alliance's business operations - their electronic direct marketing purchases increased 500% and sales agent productivity grew 23%.

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With DataSource, the content is reliable, consistent and very cost effective. Its a very flexible, rich data model because you have so many attributes to work with, and it creates an enablement process that you really cant replicate without it. So in my mind, DataSource is a must-have part of doing business today. Ian Gilyeat, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Direct Alliance Corporation Customer Profile Direct Alliance Corporation Enjoys 500% Hike in Electronic Direct Marketing Purchases and 23% Growth in Sales Agent Productivity with CNET Channel DataSource Direct Alliance Corporation is a business process outsourcer that Its not uncommon for a manufacturer to package third-party related provides managed services to enable manufacturers to go directly to products onto an offering to create a solution, but they dont want to their end consumers. Since 1993, Direct Alliance has helped maintain or create the SKU, they just want to be able to sell it. The sales customers expand markets, increase profits, and improve customer staff at Direct Alliance is able to apply a consistent format to the content satisfaction by linking them to systems that successfully manage so that the customer sees servers, laptops, desktops, and accessory profitable direct and channel relationships. third-party products all in a uniform format. With multiple divisions, this feature is crucial for large manufacturers. Critical to staying competitive in the direct and channel market today is the ability to empower a sales team with scalable, flexible, high- A third determining factor in Direct Alliance choosing the DataSource quality content. Sales associates need to be able to view a product solution was the tremendous breadth of the IT and consumer electron- and understand its features, functionality, and benefits in order to ics product SKUs. In many cases, the model might have been there but compare "product A" with "product B," and present that information to it was frequently blank so the attributes werent populated, says Gilyeat. the customer. Ian Gilyeat, Senior Vice President of Marketing for The depth and the breadth of the product SKUs, in some cases incorp- Direct Alliance, recalls some difficulty with the process before the orating over 150 detailed attributes per SKU, was really a factor in company implemented the CNET Channel solution. addition to the availability of product images. One of our clients had over 100 employees dedicated just to maintaining content, and had a product set of about 150,000 SKUs. There physically was just no way to maintain that many SKUs in a reasonable fashion. And yet, the business continued to grow and At a Glance change, he says. "Direct Alliance began the search for a robust and reliable content solution. Implementing DataSource eliminated costs Company: Direct Alliance Corporation and allowed the company to deploy a much richer and more scalable Website: www.directalliance.com data set for less money. Headquarters: Tempe, AZ (U.S.) Founded: 1993 A Partner Who Understands: Content is Everything Employees: 750 Prior to their relationship with CNET Channel, Direct Alliance clients Parent Company: Insight Enterprises (NASDAQ: NSIT) found themselves spending precious time and resources managing and maintaining enormous amounts of content. With a huge and Summary of Challenges: Direct Alliance needed to growing product set and a tremendous churn factor within that product set, their clients needed to find a way to better manage the rising upgrade their content management strategy and deliver costs of maintaining such a massive amount of content. In addition, more flexible, scalable, and integrated product options to Direct Alliance was looking for a consistent and reliable database that their Global 50 customers. would allow for standardized processes across multiple client solutions. For example, one of their Global 50 customers needed to Summary of Results: Implementation of CNET Channels have up to 35,000 different main parent products and accessories for DataSource has significantly changed the way Direct customers to consider. Alliance is able to do business. With over 600 attributes After analyzing their needs and comparing a variety of content available for building solutions, the company engages its management solutions, Direct Alliance implemented CNET Channels customers in finding the perfect solution. Now Direct DataSource in March 2001. The solutions efficiencies in deploying Alliance can easily bundle additional products into solutions large amounts of SKUs for clients were a major determining factor in that customers want to purchase without draining its staff. choosing DataSource. Another factor was that DataSource would provide the companys sales team with the ability to create complete solutions for their customers, and to easily access content about other manufacturers products.
CNET Channel has been a very, very good partner for us, says Gilyeat. They have been accommodating and attentive to us whenever we have challenges with our clients. Every one of our clients needs to have a content source and CNET Channel's DataSource is the solution we always recommend. Data That Serves Many Purposes The information generated through DataSource is utilized both for exter- nal e-commerce, as well as for internal purposes through the companys CRM applications. Were using DataSource to support public facing Web sites, says Gilyeat. Were using it to support private extranets. Were using it to support procurement from clients where we may just punch out to their hosted applications, and were using it for electronic direct marketing where were managing or creating e-mail relationship management systems. We use it for the creation of the quote process, and we use it on invoicing. Were using it anywhere content is necessary. The flexibility of the data generated by DataSource suits the constant demand that Direct Alliance deals with. With DataSource, the sales staff can grab a particular image or a specific attribute of a product, allowing them to create a communications vehicle that is unique and fits what the Direct Alliance Corporation powers its Global 50 customer's customer wants. Some clients want a certain set of data attributes and e-commerce platform with CNET Channel product information other clients choose a different set where they can add emphasis. The ability to immediately access and utilize components of the data as necessary is crucial to meeting Direct Alliances goal to automate "Historically, Direct Alliance has primarily been a processes and create an electronic conversation. direct solution for manufacturers. But, since Electronic Sales 500% More Effective implementing the DataSource solution, we now Direct Alliance has seen huge returns on their investment in DataSource. also focus on extending into supporting channel By migrating to an HTML-based quote system and utilizing the features of the product to link customers to a Web site with images and additional partners. As we continue to use DataSource to specs, Direct Alliance has seen its electronic sales volume increase by leverage the content into additional segments in 500 percent. Gone are the days of having a sales person send a quote out to a customer that is viewing the product in a text-only format and the marketplace, Direct Alliance definitely antici- waiting for the customer to call back and buy before the sales person pates a bright future and a continuing partnership can complete the order. With the implementation of DataSource, Direct Alliances revenue per employee (among those clients that use with CNET Channel. DataSource and electronic direct marketing services) grew at 23 percent in one year. This, without any additional headcount. Ian Gilyeat Senior Vice President, Marketing, Direct Alliance Corporation In fact, the entire sales process has become more efficient because the customer can choose to buy when he or she wants, without having to call the salesperson to actually go through the process of placing an order. All that is required of the customer is clicking a buy button. The quote then converts into an order and, since Direct Alliances financial process is enabled, the company automatically checks the customers credit limit. The sales person gets paid on the transaction without having to do anything more to complete the order. This self-service mentality of e-commerce enablement in the procurement process extends outside the Web site to an e-mail that contains an electronic quote. That just makes everybody a lot happier and more productive, says Gilyeat. CNET Channel Corporate Headquarters The CNET Channel solution offers a "win-win" for both the sales agent 235 Second Street San Francisco, CA 94105 USA and customer. The sales staff is pleased because they have an extranet Toll-Free 1.877.276.5560 solution right in front of them that lets them perform product compari- Tel 415.344.2000 sons, make comments, and give direction to the customer about making www.cnetchannel.com specific product purchases. The customer appreciates being able to view and compare the benefits of each solution as its being discussed. CNET Channel, DataSource and Transactive Product Data are trademarks of CNET Networks. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright 息 2005 CNET Networks. All rights reserved.

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  • 1. With DataSource, the content is reliable, consistent and very cost effective. Its a very flexible, rich data model because you have so many attributes to work with, and it creates an enablement process that you really cant replicate without it. So in my mind, DataSource is a must-have part of doing business today. Ian Gilyeat, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Direct Alliance Corporation Customer Profile Direct Alliance Corporation Enjoys 500% Hike in Electronic Direct Marketing Purchases and 23% Growth in Sales Agent Productivity with CNET Channel DataSource Direct Alliance Corporation is a business process outsourcer that Its not uncommon for a manufacturer to package third-party related provides managed services to enable manufacturers to go directly to products onto an offering to create a solution, but they dont want to their end consumers. Since 1993, Direct Alliance has helped maintain or create the SKU, they just want to be able to sell it. The sales customers expand markets, increase profits, and improve customer staff at Direct Alliance is able to apply a consistent format to the content satisfaction by linking them to systems that successfully manage so that the customer sees servers, laptops, desktops, and accessory profitable direct and channel relationships. third-party products all in a uniform format. With multiple divisions, this feature is crucial for large manufacturers. Critical to staying competitive in the direct and channel market today is the ability to empower a sales team with scalable, flexible, high- A third determining factor in Direct Alliance choosing the DataSource quality content. Sales associates need to be able to view a product solution was the tremendous breadth of the IT and consumer electron- and understand its features, functionality, and benefits in order to ics product SKUs. In many cases, the model might have been there but compare "product A" with "product B," and present that information to it was frequently blank so the attributes werent populated, says Gilyeat. the customer. Ian Gilyeat, Senior Vice President of Marketing for The depth and the breadth of the product SKUs, in some cases incorp- Direct Alliance, recalls some difficulty with the process before the orating over 150 detailed attributes per SKU, was really a factor in company implemented the CNET Channel solution. addition to the availability of product images. One of our clients had over 100 employees dedicated just to maintaining content, and had a product set of about 150,000 SKUs. There physically was just no way to maintain that many SKUs in a reasonable fashion. And yet, the business continued to grow and At a Glance change, he says. "Direct Alliance began the search for a robust and reliable content solution. Implementing DataSource eliminated costs Company: Direct Alliance Corporation and allowed the company to deploy a much richer and more scalable Website: www.directalliance.com data set for less money. Headquarters: Tempe, AZ (U.S.) Founded: 1993 A Partner Who Understands: Content is Everything Employees: 750 Prior to their relationship with CNET Channel, Direct Alliance clients Parent Company: Insight Enterprises (NASDAQ: NSIT) found themselves spending precious time and resources managing and maintaining enormous amounts of content. With a huge and Summary of Challenges: Direct Alliance needed to growing product set and a tremendous churn factor within that product set, their clients needed to find a way to better manage the rising upgrade their content management strategy and deliver costs of maintaining such a massive amount of content. In addition, more flexible, scalable, and integrated product options to Direct Alliance was looking for a consistent and reliable database that their Global 50 customers. would allow for standardized processes across multiple client solutions. For example, one of their Global 50 customers needed to Summary of Results: Implementation of CNET Channels have up to 35,000 different main parent products and accessories for DataSource has significantly changed the way Direct customers to consider. Alliance is able to do business. With over 600 attributes After analyzing their needs and comparing a variety of content available for building solutions, the company engages its management solutions, Direct Alliance implemented CNET Channels customers in finding the perfect solution. Now Direct DataSource in March 2001. The solutions efficiencies in deploying Alliance can easily bundle additional products into solutions large amounts of SKUs for clients were a major determining factor in that customers want to purchase without draining its staff. choosing DataSource. Another factor was that DataSource would provide the companys sales team with the ability to create complete solutions for their customers, and to easily access content about other manufacturers products.
  • 2. CNET Channel has been a very, very good partner for us, says Gilyeat. They have been accommodating and attentive to us whenever we have challenges with our clients. Every one of our clients needs to have a content source and CNET Channel's DataSource is the solution we always recommend. Data That Serves Many Purposes The information generated through DataSource is utilized both for exter- nal e-commerce, as well as for internal purposes through the companys CRM applications. Were using DataSource to support public facing Web sites, says Gilyeat. Were using it to support private extranets. Were using it to support procurement from clients where we may just punch out to their hosted applications, and were using it for electronic direct marketing where were managing or creating e-mail relationship management systems. We use it for the creation of the quote process, and we use it on invoicing. Were using it anywhere content is necessary. The flexibility of the data generated by DataSource suits the constant demand that Direct Alliance deals with. With DataSource, the sales staff can grab a particular image or a specific attribute of a product, allowing them to create a communications vehicle that is unique and fits what the Direct Alliance Corporation powers its Global 50 customer's customer wants. Some clients want a certain set of data attributes and e-commerce platform with CNET Channel product information other clients choose a different set where they can add emphasis. The ability to immediately access and utilize components of the data as necessary is crucial to meeting Direct Alliances goal to automate "Historically, Direct Alliance has primarily been a processes and create an electronic conversation. direct solution for manufacturers. But, since Electronic Sales 500% More Effective implementing the DataSource solution, we now Direct Alliance has seen huge returns on their investment in DataSource. also focus on extending into supporting channel By migrating to an HTML-based quote system and utilizing the features of the product to link customers to a Web site with images and additional partners. As we continue to use DataSource to specs, Direct Alliance has seen its electronic sales volume increase by leverage the content into additional segments in 500 percent. Gone are the days of having a sales person send a quote out to a customer that is viewing the product in a text-only format and the marketplace, Direct Alliance definitely antici- waiting for the customer to call back and buy before the sales person pates a bright future and a continuing partnership can complete the order. With the implementation of DataSource, Direct Alliances revenue per employee (among those clients that use with CNET Channel. DataSource and electronic direct marketing services) grew at 23 percent in one year. This, without any additional headcount. Ian Gilyeat Senior Vice President, Marketing, Direct Alliance Corporation In fact, the entire sales process has become more efficient because the customer can choose to buy when he or she wants, without having to call the salesperson to actually go through the process of placing an order. All that is required of the customer is clicking a buy button. The quote then converts into an order and, since Direct Alliances financial process is enabled, the company automatically checks the customers credit limit. The sales person gets paid on the transaction without having to do anything more to complete the order. This self-service mentality of e-commerce enablement in the procurement process extends outside the Web site to an e-mail that contains an electronic quote. That just makes everybody a lot happier and more productive, says Gilyeat. CNET Channel Corporate Headquarters The CNET Channel solution offers a "win-win" for both the sales agent 235 Second Street San Francisco, CA 94105 USA and customer. The sales staff is pleased because they have an extranet Toll-Free 1.877.276.5560 solution right in front of them that lets them perform product compari- Tel 415.344.2000 sons, make comments, and give direction to the customer about making www.cnetchannel.com specific product purchases. The customer appreciates being able to view and compare the benefits of each solution as its being discussed. CNET Channel, DataSource and Transactive Product Data are trademarks of CNET Networks. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright 息 2005 CNET Networks. All rights reserved.