Electronic Commerce/Variable Data Printing Case Study

Client:	C.I.T. Technology Group
Industry:	Automotive
Project:	Web enabled Variable Data Printing

The company
Founded in 1998 and based in Ontario, Canada C.I.T. Technology Group is a research and development firm focused on developing and delivering leading-edge technology solutions. One of the unique technologies developed by C.I.T. allows organizations to personalize and customize documents, brochures, postcards, and direct mail campaigns quickly and cost effectively. To market this technology, they have two divisions: Varigraphics (for commercial applications) and Secugraphics (for security applications).

The challenge
C.I.T. approached Emerge2 in the summer of 2000 with a unique challenge: build an e-Commerce solution for one of North America's top automakers, which allows individual dealers to personalize and customize print collateral on-line for their dealerships.

The Corporation's objectives included providing a centralized environment that allowed individual dealers to customize and order print collateral for a new corporate initiative to help build customer relationships at the dealer level. One of the objectives was to provide a consistent look and feel across all dealerships throughout the United States. The other objective was to provide a cost-effective solution for the production of personalized posters and support literature.

The solution
C.I.T. and Emerge2 collaborated to develop a web-enabled solution that served the needs of the parent corporation and the dealerships.

The first step was to fully understand the complexities of the project. Then, to understand the goals and requirements of the system and how it would serve the needs of both the dealer and parent corporation. From the beginning, we understood that the dealerships had a variety of individual needs that had to be addressed within the web-based solution. Some of these requirements included the ability to customize elements of the posters on-line and to immediately view these changes. Each dealer needed access to a detailed transaction history, along with other marketing and information needs.

With these requirements in hand, the Emerge2 team drafted technical specifications and began engineering the system. From the outset, we were under very tight timeline constraints, so maintaining open communications with C.I.T. and the client throughout the development process was critical.

The project was completed within a matter of months and officially launched in the autumn of 2000.

The Results
Within hours of the official launch, the first order had been received. The posters and collateral material were printed and shipped directly to the dealer. More orders continued to pour in.

Today the dealers continue to use the site for ordering their customized posters and marketing materials. Plans are in place for adding new products and features.

Dealer Feedback
"I think that all (the company's) web applications should be done like this. This is the fist (company) web site that has been well designed and helpful" - message sent by a dealer shortly after the launch.

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