Lands' End researched and interviewed approximately four companies that provided online collaboration before selecting Cisco's software. A team of Lands' End employees, representing IT and customer service, checked out the options. In the end, Lands' End was most impressed with the functionality of the Cisco system. The company uses Media Manager on its international sites to route and manage collaboration sessions that occur within each country. Lands' End currently is implementing eMail Manager on a Windows NT box to manage customer e-mail directed at customer sales and service representatives.
Integration is far from over, however.
Lands' End has begun tying its customer information into one cohesive database. This opens up additional selling opportunities for the company since it will allow phone reps and online tools to recommend purchases based on a customer's buying history. That way customers are not confused or disappointed. Although Lands' End was able to build on its vast repository of catalog customer information, not all businesses trying to create a Web presence have that resource. Eighty percent of Domino's Pizza LLC stores are franchise-owned, and corporate headquarters has given them tremendous leeway to implement their computing systems.