Andersen Corporation / EMCO Enterprises
CLIENT INFORMATION
EMCO Enterprises, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Andersen® Corporation which specializes in the manufacturing of all-season doors. Founded in 1932, the company began focusing on storm doors in 1977, when it introduced the Forever® storm door line. EMCO® is also the first manufacturer to offer thermal storm doors with insulated, energy-efficient, double-pane glass.
SITUATION
EMCO Enterprises, Inc. relied primarily on traditional forms of media to market its products as well as to provide the necessary product support to its customers throughout the United States. The company first began exploring the possibilities of the Internet a few years ago by launching their corporate site. In addition, EMCO® developed an All Seasons™ Doors catalog which included static information and covered only a few company areas, such as customer service and general information about the company’s products. Despite those changes, the company’s increasing need to leverage the power of the Internet combined with the limitation that their web site content could only be managed by a technical person, encouraged EMCO® to contract Global Reach for the improvement and expansion of its web presence.
SOLUTION
Global Reach stepped up to the challenge of substantially improving EMCO’s online presence by developing three separate online projects. The first project was re-designing the company’s Corporate web site. In addition to providing general information about the company, EMCO’s improved corporate site also contains a number of interactive features. For example, when users register their door on line, the information they provide is automatically exported to a proprietary registration database housed on an AS/400 server. The corporate web site of EMCO® doors also enables a designated site administrator to manage two other important site areas - job postings and press releases.
The second project developed by Global Reach was the design and implementation of the Buying Guide. The Buying Guide is made up of a series of interactive tools that provide a designated site administrator the flexibility to manage the online door catalog of All Seasons™ Doors. For example, a new door can be added to the catalog by selecting from a wide range of color schemes, door sizes, and warranties options, in addition to entering the door’s general specifications, such as energy efficiency, beauty, convenience, security and durability. Also, a frequently asked questions section provides answers to questions public users may have about a specific EMCO® door-related problem they may be experiencing.
The third project developed by Global Reach is the Storm & Screen Doors web site. Similar to the Buying Guide for All Seasons™ Doors, the Storm & Screen Doors web site enables a designated site administrator to manage the online door catalog as well as the various store locations that users employ to search for and obtain service.
BENEFITS
By using the Internet combined with the web development services provided by Global Reach, EMCO Enterprises, Inc. has established a substantial online presence that has the perfect foundation for launching the company into the next phase of it’s online initiatives--e-commerce. The Frequently Asked Questions section of the Buying Guide essentially acts as a knowledge management center by duly documenting all possible door-related problems and all corresponding solutions to such problems. The Human Resources department of EMCO® maintains an updated record of all available positions within the company and receives applications from prospective employees directly from the EMCO® corporate web site. The combination of the above tools creates the potential to substantially improve customer service, which will inevitably translate into more business for EMCO Enterprises, Inc.
