Sennheiser France optimizes its relationship with its distributors by cashing in on Convertigo Mashups.

Paris, January 7, 2010. Convertigo, Enterprise Mashups publisher and specialist, has assisted Sennheiser France in the implementation of a platform providing its distribution network with a web application for tracking orders and the product catalog, with access to price lists and real-time stock availability.

The Sennheiser Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of headphones, microphones and wireless transmission systems. Sennheiser France distributes nearly 2,000 products covering about fifteen brands via a network of thousands of distributors.

In a highly competitive market, it is important to stand out from the competition by offering new services to clients. Access to accurate prices, real-time stock availability and order status tracking are just a few of the services that Sennheiser France aspired to provide to its 3,000 distributors via the web.

Sennheiser France applies a sales policy with a sophisticated pricing system, notably with respect to discounts on achieving turnover goals, which requires real-time calculation on orders entered.     

All this business logic and the data required to implement it were already available in the ERP on the AS/400 system. Therefore, Sennheiser wanted to reuse this existing information in the eCommerce application. But, as with 70 % of the applications currently available in companies, no API was integrated that would have enabled access to this information.

A static catalog must also be used to present the products for commercial purposes (product features, pictures, etc.).

Therefore, Sennheiser must be able to publish data in real-time from the AS/400 system for the calculation of prices and availability. The objective was to provide the distributor with a catalog that is easily accessible, with multiple criteria and selections, pictures and technical descriptions. This had to be delivered through a user-friendly and attractive interface while integrating these various applications stored in heterogeneous systems for publication on the web - all in a short period of time and for a reasonable cost.

Sennheiser France initially planned to develop a web site by creating interfaces with its ERP, but this solution happened to be very costly, and could not guarantee real-time updates of data. The company then turned to Convertigo who offered its enterprise mashups solution, designed to retrieve not only data but also the processes already available in the ERP, without the need for traditional APIs.

Thanks to the Convertigo Mashup Sequencer, a service orchestrator and Convertigo Legacy Integrator modules (which enables non-intrusive access to legacy applications), this solution places a premium on reusing existing information and meets Sennheiser’s technical requirements. To optimize performance, the Convertigo solution retrieves data on prices and stocks using a simple query on the AS/400, which collects all the information required on a single screen. The data is “mashed” with the information in the static product catalog and then published on the web, integrating the look and feel of the corporate site.
Implementation of this solution took just a few weeks, and creation of the mashup solution took only about twenty days, instead of the several months initially planned for the development.

Sennheiser France distributors were used to completing their orders by calling the sales administration department. The time saved by reducing the number of calls is part of the project’s return on investment.

The application also provides the retailer site with a "trusted partner" follow-up feature, a specific system that allows distributors to obtain articles on loan. In the past, this required filling out forms and sending them by fax. Now that this service is online, distributors can access the stock and accelerate the process.

“The distributors who use the application are very satisfied with the system and have made this clear to our sales and marketing team. Their feedback has enabled us to upgrade the system with the second version of the retailer site,” explained Jacques Cohen, CIO Sennheiser France. “The Convertigo mashup solution is perfectly adapted to our needs and we would not hesitate to recommend it."

All implemented workflows use Convertigo Mashup technology, and enable reliable and regular automated retrieval of data and sales management processes on AS/400.
Another important advantage: upgrading the sale management platform does not jeopardize the web publication, as the mashup will simply be reused against the new system.

Olivier PICCIOTTO, CEO of Convertigo stated, “Mashups once again prove their ability to fulfill the requirements of value-added business needs. The Sennheiser application is a perfect example. By deploying our solution, Sennheiser France was able to modernize its operations and its relationships with its distributors."