A Microsoft Windows 2000 based e-commerce platform provides PWC customers with an e-enabled business model that integrates core activities, making PWC the first warehousing company in the region to offer a complete end-to-end e-commerce solution.

Established in 1979, The Public Warehousing Company (PWC) provides high quality warehousing solutions and supply chain services to local, regional, and multinational customers. Currently listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) with a total market capitalisation of approximately 100 Million Kuwaiti Dinars, PWC has a broad shareholder base, that includes prominent private and public sector investor such as the National Real Estate Company (owners of the Free Trade Zone Concession) and the Public Institute for Social Security (PIFSS).

PWC's services include leasing activities that provide its customers with Warehousing and Storage Solutions that are designed, developed, operated and financed by PWC. Other activities include asset-backed Trade Finance, Third Party Logistics and Supply Chain, Freight Forwarding, Transportation and Delivery and Custom Management and IT services to the Government of Kuwait. PWC is also responsible for managing the government's land based customs operations.

Why 'e'?

Key advantage: Availability of established core services in the area of logistics, fulfillment and distribution. The implementation of these services typically represents a significant challenge for any business that wants to operate online.

* Expand core activities to initiate business growth
Use existing business operations to attract customers to build e-solutions, providing PWC with new sources of revenues based on new business models

* Facilitate information exchange
Efficiently share a large volume of transaction-intensive information with customers, the government, and private sector organizations.

* Increase customer satisfaction
Gain competitive edge by providing local and international customers with a range of top quality services that allow them to rapidly and cost-effectively establish an e-commerce presence by taking advantage of PWCs core business strengths

* Enhance shopping experience
Provide buyers a single, one-stop resource through which to conduct all operations in the supply chain; product selection, online order processing, payment and goods delivery

* Faster time to market
Reduce traditional paperwork,operational delays, customs clearing issues and manual work processes to ensure fast and efficient movement of goods from origin to warehousing and then on to customers

* Decrease overheads
Decreased costs projected in operations management and costs associated with distribution and fulfillment services

* Low implementation cost for high returns
Microsoft's best-of-breed product suite offers a dependable, reliable and competitively cost-effective technology platform on which to host multiple e-commerce sites, allowing PWCs customers economies of scale while generating high consumer returns

The id'e'al solution

The solution establishes an end-to-end, business-to-consumer technology platform, termed the 'e-store'. This platform will be capable of creating, integrating and hosting e-commerce sites for PWC customers. By seamless integration with PWCs Warehouse Management and Financial Systems, the e-store is a complete solution that interlinks all operations involved in the warehousing and supply chain.

"Working with Microsoft's Consulting Services (MCS) team and Microsoft Certified Solutions Provider, Arabesque Systems Company, PWC identified the opportunity to complement services close to its core business with a flexible offering of new Internet-based services like online product selection, ordering and payment, shop design and hosting, online consumer services," said Mohammed Ghassan Farra, director of strategic business solutions, PWC.

The e-store solution essentially consists of three broad layers:

Consumer Features:
The registration page captures user and delivery details requesting both mandatory and optional information. It also provides service features such as delivery option specification and preferred payment method specification, allowing the option of 'late registration' where a user's details may be entered even at the last stage of the purchasing decision.

The e-shopping experience allows buyers to access online catalogues and provides cross-catalogue navigation facilities. Consumers can search for products by name, department or brand. A unique feature enables buyers to save multiple shopping lists with preferred combinations of products that might be used for periodic purchases. Shopping lists may be modified temporarily or permanently by adding or removing articles or changing quantities.

The e-store is integrated with PWC's Warehouse Management Systems and notifies the consumer on information on product availability, with the shopping basket being updated accordingly. If applicable, the site can also offer a recipe page with predefined sets of articles and quantities and by selecting the recipe button, all necessary ingredients are added into the shopping basket.

Other site features that ensure a unique e-shopping experience include options to browse through a detailed purchase history of past orders, direct integration with a buyer credit point programme for real-time update, cross-selling and up-selling promotions, online customer service features and English and Arabic that allows the user to switch between languages at any time during the navigation.

Logistic features

Supporting the front-end user experience are mission-critical features that help logistics, warehousing, delivery and operations personnel confirm the order and trigger the process of payment and delivery. 'Shop Management' personnel working behind the scenes can update, modify and classify products in real time or alter delivery and payment options in case of contingencies. 'Shop Management' can also dynamically manage advertisements and promotions offered on the site, customising these for specific user profiles.

Administrative features

These features ensure site maintenance allowing administrators to virtually operate the site. The Internet a key enabler of PWC's total logistics & supply chain solution, allowing its customers to access their data in real-time from anywhere in the world. This includes critical functionalities that allow network traffic analysis, analytical report generation etc. The data generated may be used to determine key market indicators such as online buying patterns, user navigation behaviour, etc. all of which are central to the development of research-based, user-oriented marketing strategies and consumer approaches.

"The 'e'-solution was architectured taking PWC's overall e-commerce strategy into account," said Gianni Zorzino, Principal Consultant for Microsoft. "The platform will enable customers to conduct all their business with PWC and its partners over the Internet. Customers will also be able to use PWC's e-commerce solution and support services to take their own businesses online and integrate their new electronic business processes with PWC's own powerful e-commerce system."

Microsoft hard facts
The e-store runs on Microsoft® Windows 2000 server using Microsoft® SQL Server for data storage, Microsoft® Internet Information Server for web services and Microsoft® Commerce Server for e-commerce services and Microsoft® Visual Studio. The web farm is connected to PWCs back-end ERP systems running on Windows NT Enterprise clusters.

Windows 2000 delivers Business value:
dependability and ease of use allow PWC to economically use emerging technologies to improve business profitability, increase employee productivity and enhance agility in an ever-changing marketplace with the Windows 2000 environment providing a low total cost of ownership and a high return on investment.

High availability, scaleability, integration and security:
High availability features ensure least possible downtime while scale-out features protect PWCs technology investment allowing for scalability as its business volume grows. Seamless integration, using open Internet standards like Extensible Markup Language (XML), with PWCs existing Warehouse Management and Financial systems, render a completely unified solution that enhances information exchange and sets the stage for secure e-transactions.

.Net Enabled:
The Windows 2000 environment, together with the .Net Server products (Microsoft® Commerce Server 2000 and Microsoft® SQL Server 2000) provide the essential building blocks that make PWC one among international businesses that are ready for computing, anytime, any place and on any device.

E-enabling their operations through customised technology adoption is PWCs road map to the new digital economy. The next stage on this path will be increased functionality and more integration in all areas of its e-business and the creation of an intelligent building-block wizard that enables the creation of a customer e-store within 2 hours.



Having leveraged its internal resources to harness the potential of the Internet in improving its supply chain services increasing its offerings, PWC expects capitalise on its existing investments in IT infrastructure to add new e-commerce services to its portfolio in order to maintain its market leadership, increase mind share and compete on a fully global level.