When the Premium Partners of T-NET, a division of Cable & Wireless, wanted to order a new product, they would manually complete a form and fax it to Cable & Wireless. Often, the form would be difficult to read and contain incorrect data. Such problems could further delay the order fulfillment process.

Cable & Wireless knew it would soon fall behind its competition if a new e-Business model were not developed and implemented quickly. To help design and implement a new system, Cable & Wireless turned to Deloitte to build a customer self-service Web site, equipped to serve the organization's partners, agents, and the general public.

The challenge
Working as a collaborative team, specific objectives for the engagement were set. The new system had to:

• Allow for online product ordering and status checks;
• Reduce manual intervention by Customer Care representatives;
• Dramatically reduce error rates;
• Interface with the existing system.

This front-end Web application would also need to be capable of detecting order errors, providing on-line help, and accelerating the overall process.

The solution
Having successfully implemented several systems at Cable & Wireless in the past, we were a trusted partner, and Cable & Wireless had confidence in our ability to deliver a solution within budget and time frames. Several vendors proposed hardware and software products for review, but, because of circumstances unique to Cable & Wireless, our team proposed a custom solution that combined a dedicated application server, load balancing hardware, and existing client systems.

The collaborative approach
We used a "time-boxed" approach to complete the project within the budget and deadlines set by the client. In an initial kick off meeting, Cable & Wireless order process leaders were identified. Joint application requirements sessions were held to gather, categorize, and prioritize the requirements for the system.

Following this assessment, our team and the director of T-NET Systems Operations of Cable & Wireless's IT group, along with other key Cable & Wireless staff, collaborated to build the system. At each stage of the engagement, the director and his staff leaders were kept informed of all project developments and were involved in all decisions throughout the process.

Results
The Deloitte/Cable & Wireless team developed a proprietary Partner Link site that met the established objectives. The site, now being used by T-NET Partners, allows on-line order entry of T-NET products including long distance, toll free, and calling card services.

Additionally, the application provides customers the ability to receive regular e-mail updates and to check the status of orders being processed. The application collects, orders and then interfaces with existing Cable & Wireless systems to provide complete order fulfillment with no manual intervention. And, the system interfaces with a third party verification agency so orders can be confirmed.