Business-to-business advertiser ace-quote has revamped its web site
to improve customer service for IT buyers who use the site to find
suppliers
When business-to-business advertiser ace-quote.com recently
revamped its Web site, the designers wanted to give it a more
friendly and accessible feel, writes Pravin Jeyaraj. They
felt that the old look was too cold and techie, but knew they had
to keep the layout relatively straightforward so that users could
easily get hold of the information they were looking for.
The original site was launched in June last year, but more and
more functions were added over the next few months. Project manager
Nicole Roderick, who led the design team of 12, explains,
"Basically, so much had been done to it with regards to added
functionality, that we had to take a step back and simplify the
process."
The site matches IT buyers with suppliers. It runs on an NT
server with Internet Information Server 4. Supplier information is
stored in a Microsoft SQL 7.0 database.
The service is used by businesses of all shapes and sizes, from
construction to retail, as well as public sector organisations and
resellers. Companies simply post the details of their requirements
on the site and the information is forwarded to registered
suppliers, whose credit ratings have been checked. The buyer then
sits back and waits for quotes to roll in.
Before starting work, Roderick and her team asked for feedback
from users of the site. Top of the buyers' wishlist was a
Java-based autosearch facility to scan the ace-quote database for
the latest special offers. Suppliers wanted to get sales leads via
e-mail and were keen for the site to include the daily public
tenders published in the Official Journal of the European
Community.
A further aspect of the redesign was to internationalise the
site so that users across the channel in France and Germany can log
on. This meant organising the coding into modules for different
countries.
Rather than use traditional HTML, the Web server uses ASP to
generate each page on demand. Each of the 3,000 modules,
incorporating text and images, is stored in a database, and added
to the Web page as it is delivered to the user.
The biggest challenge was coming up with a good look and feel.
Roderick says, "The site still had to maintain the right atmosphere
for the users, so it had to be new and refreshing yet functional
and easy to use. Our audience wouldn't want to wade through several
layers of menus."
Curriculum Vitae
Name: Nicole Roderick
Age: 38
Qualifications: BA English
IT Skills: AS400, Unix, Solaris, Oracle, NT
Hobbies: Tai Chi, watching rugby
Favourite Book: Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen
Fielding
Favourite Film: Anna and the King
Roderick on Roderick: professional, tenacious, enjoys a
challenge
E is for excellence
Next week: Siaron Hughes, Web designer behind the site
Levi.com
Have you developed or designed an e-commerce project that
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