Why Webtelligence? Solution Architecture. Virtual Server. Multi-Tenant Architecture

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1 Why Webtelligence? Webtelligence is the most sophisticated web store and ecommerce platform available for Adagio. The array of features and functionality available, relative to any competitive offering, make Webtelligence your best choice to lead your ecommerce strategy and provide a significant return on your investment. When evaluating your options as you launch your ecommerce strategy, it is important to educate yourself on what is important and why. Below are some key attributes that warrant your attention. Solution Architecture There is much talk lately about SaaS (Software as a Service) or what may also be described as multitenant architecture. Contrast that with the alternative of having individual installations of a solution for every customer, usually on a virtual server. What are the advantages or disadvantages of one over the other? Virtual Server A virtual server is essentially a fenced off area (partition) within an existing physical web server (computer housed at some location). All programs and data are installed on that virtual server for use by a specific customer. Let s imagine that a particular web store provider has 1,000 customers and they utilize this methodolog- Now let s consider the scenario where Softrak releases a new version of Adagio and it requires changes to the ecommerce solution to maintain compatibility to continue to function with the new release. Or, perhaps the provider adds new functionality to their product and wants to make it available to all customers. In this environment, the ecommerce provider will be required to upgrade each of the 1,000 customer installations independently. The result is a long queue of customers waiting for their upgrades, possibly disrupting their business, and a cost, potentially significant, to install the upgrade. Often the timing of the peripheral software starts dictating the upgrades of the ERP system. Multi-Tenant Architecture In a SaaS environment there is a single code base installed on a web server that is utilized by every customer; one instance of the ecommerce solution. The customer data is protected by multi-level military-grade security so it is accessible only by those with the proper credentials. The programs and data are replicated on multiple web servers in different locations to provide fail-over protection in the event 1

2 of a problem with any one data center. Each system monitors the other to ensure that the system stays active and any potential problems are discovered and corrected, often before the customer even realizes there was a problem. Consider the situation described above regarding an Adagio upgrade or a feature addition to the ecommerce solution. In a SaaS environment only one instance of the software needs to be upgraded making it available to all customers immediately, at little, often no cost. No queue, no big expense, keeping your total cost of ownership low and your web store up and running without interruption. Webtelligence utilizes multi-tenant architecture. Platform When researching your options for an ecommerce solution you will hear much about why one platform is superior to another. Many competitive offerings will extol the virtues of the Microsoft.Net platform. We agree that.net is a very good platform for many applications; but not as a web server. Consider these points. Much of the code and processing power of a Microsoft server operating system is dedicated to serving up a user experience. In a web site or web store application, the user experience is more properly served up by the HTML code, or JavaScript, or other web programming built into the page design rather than the server operating system. Considering that a vast majority of business computers run Microsoft Windows, we ve all experienced the frequent security updates (sometimes weekly) that may require a server to be rebooted, thereby bringing down your systems for some period of time. When dealing with a mission critical application, like your web store, that may cause undue customer aggravation and potential lost revenue. The vast majority of web sites around the world use Apache on Linux as their web server platform. See below for the results from an August 2013 Web Server Survey done by Netcraft, an Internet research company based in the UK. 2

3 As the statistics above indicate, Apache on Linux is, by far, the platform of choice for web sites. The primary reasons are that it is stable, secure, and just keeps running without interruption. Webtelligence uses Apache on Linux as our web server platform. Device and Browser Support As more people increase their use of mobile devices in both their work and personal lives, it is imperative that your site design supports the medium of choice for your customers. In addition to that, you must also make technology choices that will be supported on multiple browsers (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari) and operating systems (Microsoft Windows, Apple ios, Android). With Webtelligence you have the option of employing the services of our design team to ensure that your site design adheres to all of the above criteria. In addition, any designs developed will take full advantage of the complete array of features and functionality that Webtelligence can provide for you. Webtelligence also offers branded mobile apps that you can make available to your customers for a device specific experience. Integration This is a topic that can be easily misunderstood. What does integration really mean? From the perspective of Webtelligence it means that data need never be entered in more than one place and orders from a web store need never be exported, imported, or touched in any way, unless desired, to end up as an order for fulfillment in Adagio. Your web store and your Adagio data are always in sync without the need for time-consuming and error-prone rekeying of data. Value of Integration Ecommerce has evolved from its inception of stand-alone web stores with no connection to back-office systems like your ERP, tax services, shipping companies, etc. As the volume of business transacted on the Internet continues to increase, so does the burden on merchants staff to enter those orders into their ERP, calculate the applicable tax, get accurate shipping costs, and provide shipping notices to the warehouse, among other tasks. That requires a lot of time and expense to pay those staff. 3

4 Human error is always a factor when transcribing data from one source to another. This leads to incorrect orders being processed resulting in returns, additional shipping costs, re-processing the correct order, and unhappy customers. All of that translates to lost revenue opportunities and a poor use of working capital. All of it affects your bottom line. With a properly integrated system, most of this burden is either handled automatically through the system or off-loaded to the customer who enters his own order details on your web store. All other relevant information is provided automatically from your ERP and other integrated systems. That means you can do more business with less resources and realize much higher profits with the same number or fewer staff. You will also have much happier customers because their orders are done right the first time. There are generally two types of integration when dealing with a web store; the mass update of information on a periodic basis and the real-time access to information, on demand. Synchronization The component of Webtelligence that manages the mass synchronization of data is called Dataport. It manages this and other functions, one of which is to retrieve web orders and payments and provide them to Adagio. This synchronization may be done at predefined times, based on some event occurring, or triggered manually at your discretion. Generally it is a good idea not to have orders flow immediately from the web store to Adagio. Consider a very high volume web store with hundreds of orders flowing in on a regular basis. Imagine the impact that could have on the performance of your system and your staff s ability to perform their daily functions. Rather, it makes more sense to have orders flow in at a scheduled time, under your control, when you know there will be the least impact on system performance for your staff. The same is true for updates to item information and price lists. This is better scheduled to happen in the evening when the demand for your system s resources are at a minimum. Dataport gives you the ability to control how and when you synchronize your data between your web store and Adagio. It is important to distinguish what information is appropriate to synchronize to what web and what infomation is not. Customer accounting and transactional data and credit card data, for example, should never be stored on a web server. It should always stay secured behind your secure firewall or with a properly certified payment gateway so it can t be compromised. Live Access There are certain circumstances when it makes sense to provide real-time access to specific information that resides in Adagio data files. For example, you may want to allow your customers to self-manage many aspects of their account, such as view previous orders, check order status, view, re-print and pay invoices, or any other self-serve function. In this case, having live access to their information in Adagio makes sense. Webtelligence Connect provides live access to Adagio through a secure, IP to IP communication from the web store. When a customer makes a query of their data, Webtelligence Connect serves up the data in their browser or device for them to view and act upon. When they close that view, the data is gone from their device. It is never stored on the web and cannot be compromised, respecting your corporate security for customer data. Webtelligence Connect provides you the capability to offer your customers a self-serve portal that will improve your customer service levels while reducing the burden on your staff. Site Design We strongly believe that your web store must be an extension of your brand identity and image that you want the world to see. Your web store design must sell your products to your customers. Having to adhere to a rigid template may not provide you with the flexibility you need to best represent your products to your customers. 4

5 With Webtelligence you have choices. We have an in-house design team that can work with you to design the web store experience that you want for your customers. We will adhere to modern design methodologies and ensure that we take full advantage of the full array of functionality that Webtelligence provides. You may choose to work with your own design firm to develop your web store look and feel. It would be necessary to consult with our technical people to ensure that appropriate design decisions are made to best take advantage of Webtelligence functionality. If you have your own in-house design team we will be happy to work closely with them to create a web store experience that suits you and your customers. And finally, if you are fortunate you may find a template that very closely matches your desired look and feel. We can create your web store to those design specifications as well. With Webtelligence, you have choices. Managed Services Every Webtelligence system comes with a package of Managed Services that are designed to keep your web store current, available, and effective. These services are provided to give you the peace of mind that your web store is working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so you don t have to. System Monitoring Web servers are, by necessity, open to everyone who has access to the Internet. This makes your products available to countless numbers of people but also substantially increases the risk and exposure to maleficent activity. In an environment where your web store is hosted as a stand-alone entity you will probably learn of problems from frustrated customers who cannot get access. The structure of the Webtelligence data centers allows us to monitor the general health and activity of the Webtelligence system and to react to any problems, or even potential problems, and correct them immediately, often before anyone else notices, including you. For your customers your web store and customer portal is always available and always functional. Hosting North49 maintains redundant data centers to host all Webtelligence merchants web stores. These data centers maintain all required certifications to meet the necessary standards for security and service. Included with the Managed Services is an appropriate level of data and bandwidth capacity to effectively run your web store. The level can be adjusted at any time if requirements change. Product Maintenance All product updates, upgrades, and compatibility releases are included with the Managed Services. Webtelligence is continually being improved based on customer feedback, technology changes, industry trends, compatibility with new releases of Adagio, and more. These are all included with the monthly subscription of Managed Services for Webtelligence. Administration Portal Keeping your total cost of ownership down and providing a good return on investment are key considerations in any business expenditure. Ongoing site maintenance can be an expensive proposition if you are required to engage the services of the web store provider or some other third party, simply to maintain your web store content or administer the site. The Webtelligence Administration Portal is an intuitive, easy to use tool with drag and drop functionality that makes it easier to use for non-technical staff. The Administration Portal is available via your browser from any internet accessible place and allows you full access to not only the content on your site but also the code and functionality of your website. 5

6 Content Management The Webtelligence Content Management System (CMS) is specifically designed to allow merchants to self-manage the content of their web stores. The CMS does not require any web specific expertise. In fact, it can be managed from within Adagio, if desired, or in its own standalone application. The Webtelligence CMS allows you to keep your web store maintenance costs as low as possible to provide a much quicker return on your investment. Webtelligence has many happy customers and we will gladly share them with you, on request. solutions@north49.com