| Igenti |
 |
|
 |
|
Igenti Family of
Products – Web-Centric Marketing & Assessment Toolset
To implement a B2B & B2C strategy, Igenti Inc. required
a Web centric marketing and assessment solution for its clientele,
including - restaurants, automobile outlets, and corporate houses.
The objective was to provide an interface that clients could
use to market their services and allow customers to shop online,
without incurring extra costs in setting up a dynamic Web portal
and managing its operations. Igenti teamed with Icreon to develop
the Igenti Family of Products, entailing Web marketing, assessment,
online shopping, and other modules. As a complete package of
customizable plug-in modules, the Igenti Family of Products
brings cost-effective Web marketing for Igenti’s clients
to explore and manage their customers, globally.
Customer Profile
Igenti Inc. is a marketing consultancy organization, based in
Florida, USA. It is a member of the Igenti Group, which started
operations in 1996. The group has ventured with Fortune 500
companies to provide Web-centric marketing, hiring, and career
counseling solutions.
Business Requirement
Igenti Inc., observed the need for effective marketing
of services for owners of restaurants, automobile outlets and
restaurants. As a marketing consultant, Igenti wanted to provide
a solution that its clients could use to attract larger number
of prospective customers, while incurring minimal costs. To
capitalize on this concept, Igenti conceived the idea of a Web-based
solution that would allow clients to communicate with their
customers and facilitate customer interaction. The solution
had to be developed as a comprehensive set of interoperable
modules with in-built capabilities to identify prospective customers,
generate and send customized newsletters to customers, process
orders online, and monitor online transactions. These modules
would provide Igenti clients with an online presence, where
they would be able to highlight their services and allow customers
to interact with the online system for shopping and other services.
Solution
Benefits
 Flexible
plug-in modules to suit Igenti client requirements
High-end
tools for customization of the interface as per client requirements
Streamlined
administration and management of Igenti-to-client-to-customer
relationship
Increased
scalability of operations driven by a 3-tier architecture setup
Technologies Used
ASP.NET
SQL
Server 2000
XML
SOAP Web Services
Requirement
Igenti Inc., required a solution that would provide its clients
with a cost-effective solution to manage their marketing operations
and generate higher sales. They intended to develop a three-way
solution to manage marketing operations for clients, who in
turn, manage their customers, proactively. The entire cycle
was highly sensitive because Igenti needed to meet the requirements
of its clients and the market they were targeting. A customized
Web-based application was required, using which clients could
market and support their products. In addition, the application
required features to allow clients to customize the interface
as per their business requirements. The solution would prevent
costs, usually incurred on setting up and maintaining expensive
Web portals, to carry out marketing operations. Additionally,
it provides features such as, online assessment, shopping cart,
and order processing capabilities.
Igenti teamed with Icreon, to develop this solution with business-oriented
features to meet the requirements of Igenti clients and their
customers.
Business Driven Solution for
Effective Web Marketing
Igenti and Icreon required a solution that would effectively
exploit Internet-based solutions for marketing the services
of Igenti clients including restaurants, automobile outlets
and corporate houses. There were two facets to this project
- Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Customer (B2C).
Due to the complexity and vastness of the project, we prepared
an extensive prototype for Igenti. The prototype helped us in
establishing the requirements for the project and understanding
their perception of effective Web-centric marketing.
Once Igenti approved the prototype, we designed the backend
database using SQL Server 2000. Thereafter, the development
of the first front-end module, the Igenti Manager™ began,
followed by Igenti Suite™ and Igenti Order™ modules.
The entire development process underwent rigorous testing based
on parameters such as defect detection, adherence to market
standards and client requirements along with time tracking techniques
to meet the specified timeframe.
Igenti Manager is the administrator module used by the Igenti
staff and consultants to manage client relationships and perform
other functions for the Igenti Suite module such as, enabling
the Igenti Suite for individual clients. The module is responsible
for managing Igenti client channels, monitoring reports for
client transactions, configuring marketing policies, adding
and removing customers from the e-mail list of target customers.
Igenti Suite is a collection of sub-modules used by Igenti clients
and consultants to manage various activities such as customization
of marketing elements and creation of target lists. One Igenti
Suite system or channel is assigned to each client. The sub-modules
available with Igenti Suite include the market, assessment and
Opt-in modules. Igenti Order is a plug-in module available with
Igenti Suite. It is used to provide online shopping services
to customers. The focus of this module is to provide target
customers an easy shopping experience through secure channels.
Customers can purchase gift certificates and pre-paid vouchers
from an Igenti client. Gift certificates and vouchers are marketed
to customers through client e-mail communication available in
Igenti Suite. The Igenti process model is displayed below. |
 |
The entire process is
explained using the following hypothetical example.
A customer receives a newsletter from Pizza Hut, an Igenti
client, for purchasing a gift certificate offering lunch for
two people at Pizza Hut. The newsletter contains a link directed
to the Web site where the customer can purchase the gift certificate.
The customer decides to buy the certificate and places an order
with Pizza Hut. This order is processed and stored in the database.
In this process, the Igenti Suite will be responsible for creating
and sending the newsletters; the Igenti Order is responsible
for processing the purchase order and Igenti Manager handles
the payment structure to be followed after the final sale.
We developed Igenti modules over the .NET framework. The architecture
for the module is based on a 3-tier model. The technical architecture
for Igenti is displayed below. |
|
The Igenti modules are
available on the front-end and have been developed using ASP.NET.
The backend is developed using the SQL Server 2000 database.
XML Web services form the business logic layer. The entire setup
is integrated using .NET and SOAP XML. This enables the system
to work on a common platform using Internet standards and services.
Summary
The successful accomplishment of the project with Igenti has
been a milestone for Icreon. With this project, we upgraded
the skill sets of our team and also built a dedicated team for
developing solutions based on the Microsoft.NET framework.
For the entire project, we at Icreon, focused on meeting the
timelines, achieving service level standards, and maintaining
quality. Consequently, Igenti Inc., was able to achieve its
goals of providing enhanced Web marketing services to its clients
with the Igenti Family of Products.
|
|
