IBS E-Commerce on ICe
Joanna Doyle
International Business Systems (IBS, Stockholm, Sweden) this week released the latest version of Internet Connection, its ERP-integrated e-commerce software. The new version, called Internet Connection eXtreme 2 or ICe2, includes significant performance improvements over previous releases, including shorter implementation time, according to the company.
Internet Connection is designed to improve customer service by supplying real-time information about pricing, availability and order status to customers and business partners. By compressing fulfillment cycles, it also produces reduced cost and accelerated implementation.
ICe2 offers a number of advanced features compared to earlier releases. It uses HTML to modify or redesign Web page templates and SSL-enables each Web page for secure data transfer. It allows companies to monitor their Web servers and balance their workload automatically, and includes more flexible graphic capabilities. For more efficient customer service, the software offers credit card management and order processing, easy order entry and customized customer order and shipment tracking.
Of all the new features, however, IBS says the reduced implementation time is the most significant, according to Lowell Feil, product manager, e-business and logistics systems for IBS.
“Recent installations of Internet Connection eXtreme have taken as little as 24 hours and rarely more than 48 hours to install, configure and implement,” Feil says. “This means the distributor’s Web sites were fully developed and ready to take orders within a day or two. And ICe2 allows even faster implementation. … The quick implementation is made possible by the tight integration of ICe2 with IBS’ supply-chain software system, ASW. Real-time information means there are no interface files or messaging agents to steal server cycles or get out of synchronization.”