A New e-business System Is Needed

Prior to 1997 Bridgestone/Firestone had no formalized e-business strategy. By 1997 the company realized that it needed to unify its efforts and create a company-wide system. Part of this realization was due to requests from the dealer network and part of it came from competitive pressures. Out of these competitive and customer pressures came the concept for ENTIRENET, Bridgestone/Firestone’s e-business solution for its dealer network.

Bridgestone/Firestone had several issues to address with ENTIRENET. First and foremost was order status. Previously this information was found in a series of reports run from Bridgestone/Firestone’s proprietary ERP system.The information from the reports was faxed or sent to dealers on diskette, rendering it at least partially obsolete when it arrived.

Initial efforts in 1997 consisted of a HAHTsite-based system running on Windows NT. This application was well received. It debuted at a dealer show in November 1997, and by the end of 1997, 50 to 100 dealers were using the system. About this time, Java was emerging as a flexible internet development language. Therefore, by the end of 1998, a decision was made to move away from the HAHTsite/Windows NT platform.

Goals for the New System

Companies often have different goals in mind as they move to deploy new technology and e-business initiatives.  Bridgestone/Firestone was clear in its resolve for the new system. Its single, overriding goal was:

• Make it easier to do business with Bridgestone/Firestone. Orders from the dealer network are the lifeblood of Bridgestone/Firestone’s business. If dealers find Bridgestone/Firestone easier to do business with, dealers will be better able to satisfy their customers, leading to greater success for both Bridgestone/Firestone and its dealers. In a very competitive industry, Bridgestone/ Firestone had made the decision to do just that, rather than competing strictly on price. Business tools such as ENTIRENET help make this feasible.
• Improve efficiency and customer service. By having a goal of making it available 24 hours a day, dealers can check inventory and order tires during their busy weekend times.

In addition, the self-service aspects of ENTIRENET reduce both Bridgestone/Firestone’s and its dealers’ customer service costs, by giving its dealers tools to improve their businesses.

Ancillary goals in developing ENTIRENET were:

• Create a simple design. ENTIRENET is intended for use by thousands of users, many of whom have little or no experience in the use of e-business applications. It was paramount for ENTIRENET to maintain a simple design.
• Leverage past investment. Bridgestone/Firestone has made significant investments in proprietary systems. It was important for ENTIRENET to integrate into Bridgestone/Firestone’s back-end.
• Create a secure environment. Bridgestone/Firestone had always pursued "banking environment" level of security as a goal.  As ENTIRENET was being designed, it was important that this goal be maintained.

The following PDF contain this complete case study, including insightful system diagrams and user screenshots showing how IBM proceeded to:

1.  Identify the 'States' of e-business adoption

2.  Select the right ENTIRENET Websphere Architecture

3.  Implement the solution

4.  Manage the global transistion

5.  Create simple end user views (see screenshots)

6.  Identify the technical and business/cultural challenges

7.  Indentify the benefits and map the future

Download full case study in PDF format

Published by iStart - July 2002

The Company

Bridgestone/Firestone is a world leader in the provision of tyres and rubber products for everything from cars and trucks to agricultural and construction vehicles.

The Situation:

Forced with the challenge of serving its dealer network that includes 8,500 retail outlets, Bridgestone/ Firestone turned to IBM to help redesign its e-business site to maximize revenue while making Bridgestone/ Firestone easier to do business with.

Software:

• IBM WebSphere Application Server V3.5
• IBM DB2 Universal Database/DB2 Connect
• Java
• IBM VisualAge for Java
• IBM IMS/IMS Connect

Servers:

• IBM RS/6000 SP
• IBM AS/400
• eServer zSeries (formerly S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server)

Services:

IBM Global Services:- Business Innovation Services, Automotive Industry Practice

The Bottom Line:

• $100 million of sales per year flowing through system and continuing to grow
• 500 inquiries per day for order management, 400 inquiries per day for invoices
• Each inquiry is a potential customer service call
• Each order on the phone takes approximately 10 minutes, so the system enables the customer service staff to focus on more value-added activities
• Increased productivity for internal call-center representatives who use the system