Supply Chain: Sterling Commerce Sets New Standard In Multi-Channel Selling With Complete Service Contract Product
Sterling Commerce, a subsidiary of AT&T Inc., announced recently the availability of Sterling Service Contracts, a new product within the Sterling Multi-Channel Selling Solution that delivers industry leading capabilities for administering and automating the entire lifecycle of service, subscription and other duration-based offerings. It helps companies in a variety of industries including telecommunications, media, software, high tech and manufacturing deliver a better buying experience to their customers and partners by managing the complexities of selling and post-sales management of duration-based offerings, such as product and service bundles (i.e.: cell phone and service plans), service and maintenance contracts, and software subscriptions.
"To develop this product, Sterling Commerce worked closely with our customers to understand the complex business process challenges they faced in providing subscription-based service offerings. Sterling Service Contracts delivers a holistic approach to those complex processes of defining, managing and selling service bundles, and managing them throughout the duration of the contract," said Andreas Nicholas, vice president of product management at Sterling Commerce. "Sterling Commerce is uniquely positioned to address these processes. Traditional order management systems were designed to take and fulfill an order, not to deal with long-term customer commitments, such as maintenance contracts, warranties, and service plans for cell phones."
Sterling Service Contracts allows companies to match the right product and service bundles with customer needs, helping grow revenue by up-sell/cross-sell, reduce customer churn, and improve customer service. It is based on a flexible and rules-based architecture that enables companies to manage multiple types of service contracts and is unique in enabling companies to:
- Manage the complex business rules that define how product and service offers are bundled and priced for selling and post-sale contract changes (upgrade, change, renew, cancel, etc.).
- Proactively monitor equipment warranties, maintenance agreements, and service commitments, and automatically notify customers of contract expirations and offering auto-renew contracts
- Manage the sale and maintenance of service contracts through self-service Storefronts, as well as applications for CSR's, direct sales and indirect sales, through distributors, resellers and other selling partners.
- Manage complex pricing for services, including multiple price types to support, for example, one-time fees, subscriptions, cancellations and usage charges.
Sterling Service Contracts is part of the Sterling Multi-Channel Selling Solution, formerly the Comergent eBusiness System. Sterling Multi-Channel Selling helps companies cost effectively expand markets and drive higher customer loyalty by providing customers and partners with the ability to find, configure and order complex products and services through every available touch-point. Sterling Multi-Channel Selling is part of the Sterling Selling & Fulfillment Suite, a set of integrated applications that enable the synchronization and coordination of shared business processes for effectively managing demand and supply across an extended network of customers, partners and suppliers. The result is higher customer loyalty and sales, improved customer, partner and supplier relationship management, and lower supply chain costs.
Recently, Forrester Research published a Quick Take on the Sterling Commerce-Comergent acquisition, titled "Acquisition of Comergent Moves Sterling Commerce A Step Closer to the Perfect Order." The entire report can be found at [INSERT URL].
About Sterling Commerce
Sterling Commerce, a subsidiary of AT&T Inc. , helps 80 percent of the FORTUNE 500 thrive in a global economy by solving complex business process challenges. The company's innovative software and services integrate customers' systems ? inside and outside the four walls of the enterprise ? so companies can conduct business without borders. Sterling Commerce solutions help customers adopt best practices in e-sales, supply chain execution, payment processing and business-to-business integration. The solutions also give executives and front-line managers greater visibility inside and outside the enterprise in order to improve profitability, reduce costs and minimize risk. Sterling Commerce enables businesses to innovate key processes in real time, while continuing to deploy ERP or transaction system infrastructures. With more than 30,000 customers worldwide, Sterling Commerce has unparalleled experience in retail, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, financial services, supply chain, logistics, and telecommunications. More information on Sterling Commerce can be found at www.sterlingcommerce.com.
SOURCE: Sterling Commerce