Ideastorm - Premier

I'd love to see the premier price, partner portal price, and public price when quoting systems on the premier page!

Chris


ADMIN NOTE:  Reseller and Partner pricing is an ongoing area of focus for our Global Online teams.  As we work towards development of solutions in this arena, our Online Marketing team will communicate any coming enhancements to your Dell Account team.

Thank you for using PremierStorm.

1)Slow   Slow    Slow

2) If my sesssion times out all my work is lost. I get to the end of a quote and walk away for a minuite and when i come back an error message says we're sorry etc. and i have to logback in and start all over.   very irritating.

3)Product organization:  Servers for instance. If i select servers i get all servers, rack mount and  tower, and not in any particular order.  Sorting by price didn't seem to work. If i choose just tower servers, i don't get the full array of tower servers, so if i want one that isn't listed there i have to wade through both tower and rack mount servers.

4) How about putting the same help info about components you have on the regular site on the primier site?  when i'm doing a server quote and i run into something i'm not sure of--which array adapter, drive config,  or an explanation of  the various warranties etc--to use i have to go somewhere else to get it. Often when i get back to the quote---you guessed it---it timed out and i have to start over......

Thanks!

We need to make the Dell Premier page as easy to use as possible. Here are current inefficiencies that need improvement:

I use firefox so i am not sure if IE will be better... however the site should be coded to run in firefox like the rest of the world.

1. Login process
Our password and username do not autosave. The login system needs to both remember you forever if you want or to autosave.

2. Login timeout
It drives me nuts that the website times out and logs you out after a short time. I think the premier page logs me out quicker than my bank. We need to have an option to never be logged out.

3. Simplify equote and cart process.
There needs to just be 1, either cart of equote. I think equotes sounds nice but simple is better. Why don’t you guys just call it a eCart. Just have people add to cart... and have the cart autosave. I cant tell tyou the number of times I built a system for a client, got a phone call, went back into premier page and the system signed me out and I lost the cart. Autosave is crucial. Each cart should have a cart # and allow us to rename them. So when we need to send something to someone... we can just call it a cart # and not a equote #. Right now the whole system is so hard to use and drives us nuts. You should be able to save a cart with 1 click. Then you can email cart, or adjust cart, or check out.

4. Format of data
The specs are formatted VERY crudely. When we try to copy and paste those specs to anyone we have to spend 2 minutes cutting out all the irrelevant information such as product codes, blank spaces, and other junk. Then we do the same when plugging it into our invoice system. The way the specs display should be flawless… and you should just be able to copy and paste that into an email or an invoice or anywhere with zero editing required.

5. Simplify address book
We often to ship to same people. The current address book is ok but it is really difficult to use. This needs to be changed so you can just import your address book from outlook/exchange and ship systems off that.

I have a ton of other suggestions. I have seen HP’s systems and they are terrible but they are making big pushes toward efficiency.

I have plenty of other ideas. All I said above was just off the top of my head. Call me directly if you want to chat. 914.620.5319

I work for a municipality and as such I cater to many diverse departments, requiring their own unique System Configurations. Because of this I would find it VERY useful to be able to save a specific System Configuration to return to time and time again. I would like to ask for the ability to create my own Categories and then within these, have System  Configurations specific to the Categorie's requirements, for purchasing again at a later time.
For example: The Coroner's Departments requirements differ vastly from the Public Works Department. Makes sense, right?

Well this would make my job so much easier. I am doing my best to "Standardize" the hardware and software within each department and have to go back and put together these systems over and over again. This is a huge waste of time...and we all know that time equals money, right?

Thank you for this opportunity.

Enoonmai


ADMIN NOTE - Customer ability to customize Standard Configs is a current request, and is in evaluation for future development.  Your feedback will be included in the evaluation, along with any who vote for or comment on this idea.

A limited version of this idea is currently offered.  When configuring a System, options are "Review Summary", "Add to My Saved Items", or "Add To Cart".  Selecting "Add to My Saved Items allows you to save a customized config, but the limitation is that this will only allow you to save a configured system for 30 days.

If you do not see "Add to My Saved Items", please contact your Dell Sales representative, who can enable the Wish List/Saved Items feature within your Premier page. 

I as well as many others I'm sure use some sort of methodology when it comes to asset management.  It could be a database, maybe with a web front-end, a folder structure with random purchase documents, an excel document or any of a number of other methods to tracking your hardware.

What I would like to see is an all encompassing interface on the premier site.  Database with all purchases filtered a number of different ways, maybe on order number, on service tag, on the product itself.  I'd like to see online printable order documentation from beginning to end, the quote, the invoice and the packing slip.  I'd like for my lists to retain addable fields like you would see in an excel document so I could add the machine name if I changed it, maybe our company's asset tag, and who that computer was assigned to.

I do know that some of this exists, but it seems you need special Premier training to accomplish even getting a list of your purchases from X date to X date.
 
To finish this off, software purchases along with their product keys, order dates, and product names would be fantastic.

All of this along with the ability to export these lists/reports to excel/csv and maybe even pdf.

Any additions to this are quite welcome and encouraged.



ADMIN NOTE:  Thank you for your detailed comments.  Dell will continue to develop and enhance Premier with reporting features and capabilities, but please keep in mind that Premier is designed as a tool for procurement, and not as a scaleable, comprehensive, enterprise level-Asset Management solution.  Currently, there are several different report templates, each of which is downloadable in Microsoft Excel format.  Hopefully these different templates will provide you with the raw data you need to accomplish your asset management objectives.  In the meantime, your suggestions have been entered into our Enhancement Pipeline for consideration and possible future development.

Thanks again for using PremierStorm.

Dell needs to put some serious effort into revamping the reporting features in the My Premier site. I like being able to quickly find what I’ve bought from a vendor for any time period and see the columns of information that would be important when doing this such as:

Order Date

Order Number

Manufacturer Part #

Dell Part #

Description

Price

Qty

Invoice Number

I don’t have an internal inventory/purchasing system just yet so when I need something I need to be able to tell you what I need by part number. The only way is to lookup the part number on your site from my purchasing history, which is nearly impossible to do.

The closest report to what I need is a Product Summary. The Report Type, Order Invoiced Status and Order Date Range are the required fields I have to select in order to get a report. Yet, even if I select ‘Year to Date’, it doesn’t honor that and doesn’t give me a report. It only honors the date range I type in.

Once I get some output, it’s grouped by Notebooks, Non_Tied Peripherals and Desktops. If I click on Non_Tied Peripherals I get a list of the products bought in the time frame I entered. However the only columns visible are Description, Qty, Average price and Total Price. I don’t see a way to easily view the details like Order date, part number, etc. The only other way to do it is to run an Order Summary report and drill down into each order to view the details of the order. It’s maddening!!

Dell seems to like sending e-mail, Order Acknowledged, Order Confirmed, Order Shipped, etc..  More than once I have had an order cancelled by Dell, with no explanation.

It would be nice to at least get an e-mail when this happens.  Of course if you could stop it from happening that would be better.


ADMIN NOTE:  We appreciate any and all feedback, and the opportunity to address issues that arise with your experience on Premier and other Dell websites.  However, we would ask that submissions for this particular forum be focused on ideas for feature and functionality requests within Premier.

Your suggestion is valid, but also outside of the realm of Premier, which is designed as a customized online purchasing portal.  Any action that occurs with an order after the order is placed is not communicated back to Premier or any of the online commerce or order management applications.  I would recommend providing this feedback to your Dell Sales Representative, and if this is a chronic issue, I would recommend speaking to his or her manager.

Thank you for using PremierStorm.

It would be great if you could figure out how to save what I've done when you find it necessary to dump my session.  I have often worked to configure a system, but had to put it on hold while waiting for input from a client.  When I come back to finish, my session has expired and so has all my work.  If Victoria's Secret can remember my cart for a week and send me an email when the sale is about to end, I bet Dell could remember my partial configuration for a day or so. :-)


ADMIN NOTE:  This is current functionality, in the form of E-Qutoes.  Once you have configured one or more systems, and added all of the items needed to the cart, you can save the cart as an E-Quote.  If the configuration changes, you can save a new E-Quote based on the changes made to the existing E-Quote.  E-Quotes are typically valid for 30-days, depending on availability of the system and options selected.

Thank you for using PremierStorm.

So many requests, so little time. I use Premier extensively all day long, every day. It is essential to my business as a Dell VAR. The following improvements would be great: 

1.       Accurate Premier catalog management. I have lost many customers due to order errors where an item shows up in my Premier catalog, an order is placed, and then it mysteriously disappears or is lost in processing due to changes in the item availability that were not accurately reflected in the Premier catalog. This is a serious issue and I would appreciate it being a high priority.

2.       Ability to set up Order Status as my log-in landing page. That is always my first stop.

3.       Links to Order Status from the top or second level top nav that is persistent on every page.

4.       Accurate and real-time status reporting for Order Processing, In Production and ESPECIALLY Shipping.

5.       No more lag in reporting shipping information. FedEx data often lags by 24 hours or more and that’s a colossal NUISANCE.

6.       Improved integrated with the Partner Portal and the ability to move between the Partner Portal Online Store and Premier with single click simplicity. Eliminate redundant logins and the need to scroll multiple pages between the two stores.

7.       Fix the asset management system!!! Enable us to get complete downloads of all Dell products that have service tags including systems AND peripherals. Make it easy to download asset reports and upload asset transfers. The current system requires special requests, incompatible Excel formats that must be extensively edited prior to uploading and incomplete asset reports. It’s a colossal NUISANCE. Please help.

8.       Enable real-time messaging to the sales team for on-the-spot communication, Q&A, price quotes, customer care and more. WebEx would be fantastic. Get with the 21^st Century ladies & gentlemen.

9.       Integrate priority direct connection to Customer Service and Tech Support for Premier users. Simplify the CS management system. Take a look at how Amazon does it for their Gold & Platinum merchants. Amazon is the VERY BEST I have ever seen anywhere.  The Premier site has been buggy over the last few months and a direct link to Tech Support would be a real benefit. Amazon uses eStara to have their support people call you right back which is something Dell should definitely implement for Premier support across the board.

10.   Extend the login time out to hours, not minutes. Another colossal NUISANCE when it times out in the middle of an active session.

11.   Integrate tax exemptions for multiple jurisdictions so that the correct tax or exemption shows during the checkout process. Too many errors are occurring with the back-end system now in place.

12.   Enable sales tax form and exemption management online via Premier. IBM and Lenovo both have much better systems for this. Dell’s is positively archaic and very error prone. It delays order processing to the extent that it has lost me business or jeopardized my customer relations with my clients. Took me over a year to get it well-oiled and we still have issues due to the most recent system changes that actually made things much worse, not better.

This is one of my pet peeves with the Dell site.... I can't tell the stock status, or potential shipping date of an item until AFTER I've ordered it. If I knew it was weeks out from shipping, I might expedite the shipping a bit. or if I knew it was immediately available, I might save a few dimes and ship ground. Even after I've placed the order, I have to dig around the product description to find a potential ship date....

The instock status should be listed on each product's description. Many times I'll do a search and it would help me better decide, if I knew which item I was able to recieve faster...  and I need this information BEFORE I place anything in my cart.

In fact, as a part of me giving good customer service to MY customer, I like to be able to tell them when they can expect to recieve their product... I can't do that if my vendor doesn't make that information easy to find.  help me out here...