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ROBERT SIEGER

Boise Cascade takes a customer-centric approach to its business by gathering feedback and fulfilling requests. It relies on customer councils and a tech advisory board to understand what customers want from the company's website and services. By launching new programs and sites based on this input, like a loyalty program and order tracking site, Boise Cascade aims to increase customer satisfaction and contract compliance.

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Welcome Guest. | Log In | Register | Membership Benefits RSS FEEDS SUBSCRIBE EVENTS DIGITAL LIBRARY Home News Blogs Software Security Hardware Mobility Windows Internet Global CIO Government Healthcare Financial SMB Printer ready Innovation 100: The Innovation 100 Home Page Buy the Innovation 100 Research study The benchmarking tool Send Us Your Feedback December 11, 2000 Boise Cascade Gives Businesses What They Want By Sandra Swanson oise Cascade Corp. takes a time-worn approach to establishing much of its customer-service strategy: Ask businesses what they want, then give it to them. That philosophy certainly applies to Boise's revamping of bcop.com, the Web site for its office-products division. "Users have to maintain ownership of a site," says Robert Sieger, director of E-commerce for Boise Cascade Office Products. By constantly seeking user feedback, companies foster greater customer loyalty, he says. When it comes to E-commerce, Sieger has plenty of reason to take the guesswork out of knowing its customers' needs. Online sales comprise 30% of Boise's office products sales, and Sieger expects that percentage to double next year. To encourage customer feedback, Boise relies on customer-quality councils--regional gatherings of top Boise customers where improvements for all aspects of the business are discussed--as well as a newly formed tech advisory board that solicits customer opinions on fine-tuning the site, which has more than 185,000 registered users from 11,000 companies. One common refrain that Sieger has heard when speaking with customers: Help companies encourage their employees to comply with Boise contracts. "It's hard to get buy-in on contracts," says Sieger. The reason: the lure of instant gratification. Purchasers are often tempted to pick up pens or other supplies from a local store instead of ordering through Boise. As a result, an average of 40% of purchasing occurs outside of contracts. Boise is responding by creating an E-loyalty program that promotes contract compliance by letting buyers earn points with purchases. Slated to launch in March, the program can be customized by companies so that points can be redeemed for Boise merchandise or for employee time off, for example. In its paper-products business, Boise is launching a Web site with invoice and order-status informa-tion despite not yet having full E-commerce capability because that's the data customers want most, says Bob Egan, Boise Cascade Corp.'s director of IS. Two-thirds of the calls to customer-service reps are information requests about existing orders. "It's a huge convenience for customers who are reluctant to call customer-service reps repeatedly," says Egan. Boise customer Scott Cunningham appreciates the company's willingness to keep customers happy. Cunningham, a corporate buyer for Putman Investments in Boston, recalls a recent crisis that occurred after 6 p.m. on a Friday. Boise's sales force wasn't available after working hours, so its operations staff stepped up to the plate and ensured that an emergency load of paper was delivered the following Monday--at no charge. Says Cunningham, "They'll do anything to solve problems." Photo by Steve Welsh Back to This Week's Issue Send Us Your Feedback Top of the Page Search InformationWeek.com http://www.informationweek.com/816/rbboise.htm;jsessionid=ZJ15WX... 1 of 3 1/31/2010 6:33 PM
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  • 1. Welcome Guest. | Log In | Register | Membership Benefits RSS FEEDS SUBSCRIBE EVENTS DIGITAL LIBRARY Home News Blogs Software Security Hardware Mobility Windows Internet Global CIO Government Healthcare Financial SMB Printer ready Innovation 100: The Innovation 100 Home Page Buy the Innovation 100 Research study The benchmarking tool Send Us Your Feedback December 11, 2000 Boise Cascade Gives Businesses What They Want By Sandra Swanson oise Cascade Corp. takes a time-worn approach to establishing much of its customer-service strategy: Ask businesses what they want, then give it to them. That philosophy certainly applies to Boise's revamping of bcop.com, the Web site for its office-products division. "Users have to maintain ownership of a site," says Robert Sieger, director of E-commerce for Boise Cascade Office Products. By constantly seeking user feedback, companies foster greater customer loyalty, he says. When it comes to E-commerce, Sieger has plenty of reason to take the guesswork out of knowing its customers' needs. Online sales comprise 30% of Boise's office products sales, and Sieger expects that percentage to double next year. To encourage customer feedback, Boise relies on customer-quality councils--regional gatherings of top Boise customers where improvements for all aspects of the business are discussed--as well as a newly formed tech advisory board that solicits customer opinions on fine-tuning the site, which has more than 185,000 registered users from 11,000 companies. One common refrain that Sieger has heard when speaking with customers: Help companies encourage their employees to comply with Boise contracts. "It's hard to get buy-in on contracts," says Sieger. The reason: the lure of instant gratification. Purchasers are often tempted to pick up pens or other supplies from a local store instead of ordering through Boise. As a result, an average of 40% of purchasing occurs outside of contracts. Boise is responding by creating an E-loyalty program that promotes contract compliance by letting buyers earn points with purchases. Slated to launch in March, the program can be customized by companies so that points can be redeemed for Boise merchandise or for employee time off, for example. In its paper-products business, Boise is launching a Web site with invoice and order-status informa-tion despite not yet having full E-commerce capability because that's the data customers want most, says Bob Egan, Boise Cascade Corp.'s director of IS. Two-thirds of the calls to customer-service reps are information requests about existing orders. "It's a huge convenience for customers who are reluctant to call customer-service reps repeatedly," says Egan. Boise customer Scott Cunningham appreciates the company's willingness to keep customers happy. Cunningham, a corporate buyer for Putman Investments in Boston, recalls a recent crisis that occurred after 6 p.m. on a Friday. Boise's sales force wasn't available after working hours, so its operations staff stepped up to the plate and ensured that an emergency load of paper was delivered the following Monday--at no charge. Says Cunningham, "They'll do anything to solve problems." Photo by Steve Welsh Back to This Week's Issue Send Us Your Feedback Top of the Page Search InformationWeek.com http://www.informationweek.com/816/rbboise.htm;jsessionid=ZJ15WX... 1 of 3 1/31/2010 6:33 PM
  • 2. Today's Top News Breaking Point: 2010 State Of Enterprise Storage Survey Breaking Point: 2010 State Of Enterprise Storage Survey How Text Analytics Drive Customer Insight How Text Analytics Drive Customer Insight Web Development Renewed In ASP.NET MVC 2.0 CIO Profiles: Jeffrey Sorenson, Lieutenant General And CIO, United States Army See Image Galleries Specialty Resources Manage Mainframes Cost-effectively. Visit the Mainframe 2.0 Solutions Center The Deduplication Advantage How to Lower the cost of your Mobile Workforce Learn how Managing Transaction Performance gives Businesses a clearer view into their IT Infrastructure Web Security Simplified VIEW ALL BRIEFING CENTERS Featured Microsite SPONSORED LINKS FreeCreditReport.com A Good Credit Score is 700 & Above. Click here to see yours for $0. FreeCreditReport.com FREE Download: Why SIP Makes Sense Learn from XO® the advantages of SIP as an enabler of Unified Communications www.xo.com/SIP InformationWeek.com http://www.informationweek.com/816/rbboise.htm;jsessionid=ZJ15WX... 2 of 3 1/31/2010 6:33 PM
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