newlook
helps boost
Sterling
Commerce
sales
Background
Sterling Commerce,
a wholly owned subsidiary of SBC Communications
Inc., (NYSE:SBC) is a worldwide leading provider
of e-business integration solutions for organizations
of all sizes. The company specializes in creating,
powering and managing secure e-marketplaces where
multiple buyers and sellers can exchange goods
and services, collaborate on business opportunities
and share information.
Challenge
With 50,000
customers,
Sterling
is regarded
as a leader
in the provision
of
e -business solutions.
GENTRAN:Server™ is Sterling Commerce's
open systems strategy for electronic messaging
- the next generation of EDI. GENTRAN:Server's
main purpose is to analyze, translate and move
data to designated areas within and outside the
enterprise automatically. This eliminates the
need to have expensive personnel constantly monitor
the system and perform these tasks manually.
When Sterling found sales results were being
effected by the lack of a graphical user interface,
the decision was made to reface GENTRAN. Sterling’s
iSeries expert commented, "To that end
we evaluated AS/400 system modernization software
for a period of more than six months."
"We seriously appraised all the leading
vendors in this application space. In retrospect,
I feel that we were somewhat fortunate to have found
newlook relatively late in this
process. For, if we had not, I don't believe we
could have fully appreciated the technical superiority
of the newlook product."
Solution
"From the start of the graphical front-end
development process, newlook
installed in minutes with instant TCP/IP and SNA
support," adds Terry.
"newlook’s
dynamic 5250 data stream recognition just simply
works better for us than using what appears to
be the industry standard extra step of compiling
our AS/400 DDS into something that it is not.
Using the intuitive Designer tool is a snap for
anyone even remotely familiar with modern IDEs.
By using newlook’s filters
and universal settings, the development process
is further expedited. The initial overall cost
savings, in conjunction with the expected development
hours saved, is certainly a plus. All this, in
conjunction with professional, responsive and
friendly sales and support staff made doing business
with looksoftware the logical
choice."
Benefits
One person
with 2 days
training
used newlook
to graphically
enable GENTRAN:Server,
creating
the new GENTRAN:Vista
graphical
interface.
In the 6
months following
the launch
of GENTRAN:Vista,
sales on
the iSeries
platform
increased
30%.
In the words of Dan Edwards, Product Director,
such an increase is "outstanding".
"Without a sophisticated graphical interface,
we were often not given the opportunity to demonstrate
the strong functionality GENTRAN offers. Now that
we’re involved in more opportunities, our
sales have increased," says Dan.
"Our
pre-sales
people tell
me that demonstrating
GENTRAN:Server
with GENTRAN:Vista
allows them
at least
to get into
and stay
in the deal,
and the graphical
interface
really impresses
potential
clients.
This is the
reason why
newlook
has contributed
to such a
dramatic
increase
in our sales."
"Our
customers can
also clearly
see we are
investing in
GENTRAN, improving
ease of use
and desktop
integration.
newlook’s
integrated
green screen
support allows
our customers
to choose the
interface they
prefer. The
new graphical
front-end gives
a feeling of
comfort to
many clients,
especially
smaller iSeries
shops, that
GENTRAN is
a very progressive,
sophisticated
product, even
if they do
not necessarily
want to initially
use the graphical
front-end."
Sterling
Commerce has now sold its newlook
powered GENTRAN:Vista interface to over 150 customers.
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