Intranet Journal Update CIO Update CodeGuru Update CrossNodes Networking Instant Messaging Planet HTML Practically Networked HTML Enterprise Storage Forum HTML Optically Networked HTML DRM Watch Datamation IT Management Careers Datamation IT Management Update Developer.com Update Gamelan Java Update Goodies to Go Javascript.com HTML JARS Java Update OpenSource Update SysOpt Tech Notes Grid Computing Planet HTML E-Security Planet HTML

Case Study: Panasonic Picks Intranet Dashboard

August 25, 2009

Go to page: 1 2   

Printer Friendly Version

As the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturer, Panasonic has built its reputation on reliable products and service. To maintain this standing, Panasonic needed to ensure its staff and partners had quick and easy access to technical documentation relating to the thousands of products it brings to market.

Panasonic was being hindered in supplying technical information to its authorized service centre (ASC) partners because it had thousands of documents spread across the business which it needed to draw on at different times.

The company selected a cost effective solution from Intranet Dashboard (iD), to manage and publish documents for its network of 600 ASC partners using one central extranet platform. The iD platform launched in late 2008, giving Panasonic's partners instant access to the technical documents they needed in one easy to use location. Partner feedback has been positive, with traffic more than doubling since the iD platform launched in late 2008.

The reliability and reputation of Panasonic products has made them part of our everyday lives, with consumer products ranging from VIERA TVs and LUMIX digital cameras to business solutions such as notebooks and Plasma panels. Panasonic manufactures more than 10,000 products for the worldwide market, 2,000 of which are available in Australia, with a nation-wide network of 600 authorised repair centres.

Communication challenge

Panasonic launches hundreds of new products each year, so has a continuous need to provide technical information and updates to its network of authorised service centre (ASC) partners.

Panasonic identified that it had 10,000 internal documents which needed to be captured in one centralised, searchable location in order to ensure timely access to the most up to date information for the staff and business partners.

"We knew we needed to centralise because the information was spread all over the company - on different computers, different drives and sometimes just in people's heads. Basically, you needed to know where to look to find technical information, and that wasn't good enough," said Jeremy Grofski, Panasonic Technical Services Manager.

Panasonic had a pre-existing website for service centres and retailers, built on an old system which was inflexible and difficult to update. As a result, the company struggled to keep it refreshed with the latest product information.

"Feedback from our partners was that the old website was cumbersome and often out of date," said Grofski. Panasonic also needed to reduce the number of calls coming into its technical help desk. "A skilled air conditioning tradesman who makes money with his tools doesn't care about searching for information online. If it's not right there, he just picks up the phone," said Grofski.

The new dealer extranet needed to be very easy to use to convince partners not to pick up the phone. Data security was another important consideration. Panasonic required a site with permissions-based access which would ensure protection of its IP while helping partners by customizing the information they received to their individual needs.

The business case

Panasonic identified the need for a new communications platform in late 2007, and began the process of defining the scope of the project and the information it would need to supply to its various stakeholders. The extranet was to encompass technical data, communications, customer service and technical news bulletins, on one centralised content management system.

The goals of the project were:

To achieve a flexible, scalable extranet to centralise its communications to partners

To support the delivery of specialised information to different stakeholders by controlling information based on profile and security settings

To ensure that information shared with partners complied with Panasonic's security policies.