As the accounting manager, system administrator, and occasional switchboard relief operator at Guardian Fire and Safety, she takes on dozens of tasks at one time. "Anyone who works in a small business understands that there's never enough time," she said.

According to Boseman, Prophet 21 Web-based support relieves her from the responsibility of waiting for return calls. "I can enter my query via the Web and check back every so often to see if someone updates my case," she said. "Because it answers my questions unobtrusively, it gives me time to go about my normal duties."

"We know that many of our customers are so busy, and doing so many jobs at once, that it's difficult for them to wait for a response to their support questions," said Chuck Boyle, Prophet 21 president and CEO. "Web-based support helps distributors increase employee productivity by giving them the opportunity to get their jobs done while getting answers to questions about their Prophet 21 solutions."

Helping Customers Stay Focused

Web-based support also offers distributors access to a comprehensive Web-based solutions database, searchable 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Boseman said corresponding with Prophet 21 support staff via the Web gives her information she needs should similar issues ever arise. "All of the documentation related to my cases is stored online so I can reference it really easily," she said. "I can access any of it with the click of a button."

"It can be nice to talk on the phone with somebody, but we all have jobs to do," Boseman concluded. "Web-based support gives me what I need to stay focused on my tasks at hand while resolving outstanding issues."

Since 1967, Prophet 21 has provided durable goods distributors with solutions for running their businesses. The company says it has more than 2,400 customers and 80,000 users conducting over $41 billion in supply chain transactions annually.

For more information, visit www.p21.com.

Publication date: 03/22/2004