Background
Mitsubishi Electric UK is a £530 million operation consisting of 2,000 staff based at 9 locations, four of which are factories. Mitsubishi opened its doors in the UK in 1976. Today it manufactures and distributes a broad range of consumer audio/visual products as well as industrial products and personal computers. The audio/visual products are brought to the UK market through a network of nearly 1,000 licensed dealers, who provide sales and repair services to the end consumer.
Mitsubishi Electric's UK operation operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, a multi-billion dollar, trans-national enterprise. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is recognised as a world leader in the manufacture, marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development and satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation, and construction.
Commitment to Service and Technical Excellence - Examining the Issues
Priding itself on a leadership approach, Mitsubishi concluded that integrating this on-line order processing function with its Internet presence would create a "one-stop" resource for dealers to access any company information, product information, technical reference, product updates, dealer messages, and product ordering.
At the same time, this solution would provide a user-friendly, familiar format, that is easily accessible from any computer with a standard browser -- a true open-system world standard. An Internet solution that could run on a web server at Mitsubishi would eliminate the cost and administration issues of client/server based solutions.
The solution would have a direct, real-time connection to the Mitsubishi mainframe-based order processing system without the need to rewrite application code or upgrade system software.
Mitsubishi soon realised that this Internet electronic commerce solution could be used to provide a standard interface throughout the company, not just for the Consumer Products Division.
Finding the solution
The Information Technology Department developed a specification for the electronic commerce solution they envisioned. It would replace each of the current dial-up systems and provide one common method of connecting to Mitsubishi.
After considering several proposals, Modcomp was selected to provide its ViewMax solution. Mitsubishi was impressed with Modcomp's solution for the following reasons:
- PRODUCT: ViewMax provides all of the functionality required to implement an on-line Internet/Intranet solution.
- EXPERTISE: Modcomp's background in integrating mainframe applications and its track record in the consumer electronics industry demonstrated knowledge of the marketplace and the technology challenges in this project.
- SERVICE: Modcomp was responsive to Mitsubishi's requests and requirements. Modcomp produced a demonstration which proved, very quickly, its ability to produce web pages and drive Mitsubishi's current mainframe application without any upgrading or modification to the mainframe software itself.
- RAPID DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION: Within ten weeks of selecting Modcomp, Mitsubishi had their Dealer Club running in its headquarters.
The Solution
Modcomp configured a state of the art solution based on Mitsubishi's requirements. For the web server, a Sun SPARCserver 20 dual processor platform running the Solaris UNIX®-based software environment was installed. The SPARCserver and the UNIX operating environment both had excellent track records in the Internet world. Netscape Commerce Server was selected for the server software, again based on its popularity and functionality for this type of solution.
The size of the server was selected to allow Mitsubishi to expand the use of ViewMax to cover its other divisions and provide support for additional applications. They licensed 16 "concurrent" mainframe sessions which will easily handle the network of 1,000 dealers, with the opportunity to increase that to 32 if necessary.
Security
Mitsubishi already had a firewall in place for their Internet e-mail and Web access. The Modcomp solution allowed this security to remain intact and implemented two additional layers of security. Incoming Internet traffic uses Netscape's Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and a required dealer log-in authentication and is then routed through the existing firewall. This created a solid security system, protecting the core business application from tampering, unwanted access to information, and other improper use.One Stop Information Source
- PUBLIC INTERNET -- http://global.mitsubishielectric.com/ -- the Mitsubishi Electric Europe web site contains information on products, warranties and dealer locations. It also has consumer tips on product set-up, trouble shooting and full explanations of the product technology. This site is available to anyone with Internet access and a browser.
- DEALER EXTRANET -- The Dealer Club is accessed using a log-on and password. Dealers can access product updates, technical bulletins, and the ViewMax electronic commerce module for on-line ordering and order tracking.
- INTERNAL INTRANET -- Mitsubishi use web browsers and Internet technology internally to implement a modified version of the ViewMax electronic commerce module. Telesales and other staff members are able to access this information from Mitsubishi's mainframe over their corporate Intranet.
Mitsubishi's Dealer Club remote ordering system (ViewMax) empowers the dealer. With order entry, stock verification and delivery status at their fingertips the dealer has full control of ordering process, allowing Mitsubishi to operate more efficiently and focus resources on manufacturing and fulfilment.
Mitsubishi's IT presence is now structured into three categories:In early 1996, the Consumer Products Division of Mitsubishi Electric Europe started to explore new methods of on-line transactions for their dealer network. Mitsubishi had a history of being progressive -- having provided options for electronic commerce to dealers for several years in the form of Viewdata technologies and more recently mainframe terminal emulation through direct dial-up from PC's.