Longwood Software, Inc., developer of the TagTeam marketing materials management system (www.tagteam.com), announces that TagTeam was chosen by Essilor of America Inc., the leading manufacturer of optical lenses in the United States, for its comprehensive Marketing eLibrary. TagTeam manages Essilors 600-plus marketing assets and enables Essilors sales consultants to have immediate access to current materials needed for customers. Since implementing TagTeam, Essilor has saved significantly on printing, shipping, and labor costs.
TagTeam was a great decision, said Steve Nussbaumer, Essilors Vice President of Channel Management. It has many features and solutions already built in. We can pick and choose which features we want. Not only has it virtually eliminated phone orders from our 350 unique users for marketing collateral and materials, and more than paid for itself in labor and shipping cost savings, but it has dramatically reduced print costs by tens of thousands of dollars while also reducing print waste.
The TagTeam eLibrary utilized by Essilor is also used by over 140 branch offices and contains brochures, demo units, displays, and sales aids. It has a zone set up that is viewable by only eye care professionals. It features electronic fulfillment capabilities, including a searchable database for marketing assets; a visual shopping cart for collecting items for distribution; multiple email delivery modes; click-through tracking of electronically-fulfilled materials and reporting tools.
Essilors sales force was quickly brought up to speed with the TagTeam eLibrary. Nussbaumer said, Its a most intuitive and user-friendly system. Anyone who can turn on a computer can use it. Salespeople almost never order by phone now. The shipping delays that were typical in the past are gone. Once an order is submitted into the eLibrary, we receive electronic notification of the order within a few minutes and oftentimes are able to ship the order the same day. The TagTeam eLibrary is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so our people can select the tools and materials they need to perform their jobs at any time. TagTeam acts as a reference to see whats available for a product or promotion, keeps a record of what was ordered and when, and allows each user to look online at his TagTeam account and see the status of each order.
TagTeam is designed for out of the box use. It requires no technical training, IT support, or consulting services, noted Nussbaumer. Not only is TagTeam user-friendly, but it is administrator-friendly. It took only a couple of weeks for everything to be loaded into the TagTeam eLibrary. New items can be uploaded in less than five minutes, including a description and a photo of the item, and we can re-configure the system to meet our needs no programmer is needed.
It also helps with inventory management. When an item is running out, or when a price sheet is about to expire, it can be blocked from access or pulled from the eLibrary. Auto Reports, another feature of the TagTeam management system, helps inform how much of an item to order to avoid waste. Before, it was a guess to know how much quantity to order. Now we can pull a report that quickly tells us what was used in the past six months, a year, or any timeframe of our choosing, and order just enough to replace the item and not order any excess.
Nussbaumer also gives high praise to the excellent customer service and fast and responsive help received from TagTeams staff. They care about our needs and are dedicated to helping us do our job efficiently.
ForFile.com, a companion product to the TagTeam management system, enables Essilors graphic artists to send their large graphic files to printers or publications electronically, rather than by burning CDs and overnight mailing them, as they did before. The stress on our artists to get their designs completed while the overnight mail carrier waited in the lobby was enormous, said Nussbaumer. Now, theyd never send it any way other than ForFile.com. We also use it so sales can get their sales reports electronically, while before we needed to mail them.
About Essilor of America, Inc.
Essilor is the leading manufacturer of optical lenses in the United States and is the market leader in progressive, high-index and anti-reflective coated lenses. A pioneer in the development and production of ophthalmic lenses, Essilor employs more than 8,500 people throughout North America. Essilor manufactures optical lenses under the Variluxฎ, Crizalฎ, Thin&Liteฎ, DEFINITY and other Essilor brand names. Essilor Laboratories of America (ELOA) is the largest, and most trusted, optical lab network in the U.S. and offers a wide choice of services and lens brands, including Essilor premium lenses, to eye care professionals across the nation. Essilor of America, Inc. (Essilor) is a subsidiary of Paris-based Essilor International, S.A., a publicly held company traded on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (Reuters: ESSI.PA). Varilux, Crizal and Aliz้ are registered trademarks and Crizal Sun, DEFINITY and Pad Control System are trademarks of Essilor International, S.A. Thin&Lite is a registered trademark and Crizal Aliz้ with Clear Guard is a trademark of Essilor of America, Inc.
About Longwood Software
Longwood Software, Inc., Maynard, MA, is a leading provider of solutions for marketing and sales teams in manufacturing, technology, and business services. The companys TagTeam.com service is an innovative solution for managing and delivering marketing information via the Web. TagTeam is used by leading companies including American Greetings, Beiersdorf, Corning Life Sciences, Dunkin Brands, MeadWestvaco, Pitney Bowes, Kronos, The MathWorks, and Thermo Fisher. For information visit http://www.tagteam.com.