OnWeb Steers Bentley Motors onto the Web in Record Time

At Bentley Motors, unrivaled levels of craftsmanship, power and performance come together to create one of the world’s premier automobile lines. Throughout its long history, Bentley Motors has gained an international reputation for creating luxurious and powerful automobiles to the exacting specifications and needs of its highly discerning owners.

Recently, Bentley Motors migrated its AS/400-based dealer warranty, parts, and service history legacy application onto the Web quickly and cost-effectively by deploying a zero-footprint NetManage OnWeb Host Publishing solution.

Now, 150 Bentley dealers around the world have instant access to the warranty and service applications right from their Web browsers, eliminating the need for the dial-up connections previously used. The new Web-based solution saves time and money, raises productivity, and increases dealer satisfaction.

As Bentley discovered, OnWeb Host Publishing instantly transforms traditional host applications into Web-based solutions, without the high cost of rewriting applications or changing back-end systems. With OnWeb, companies such as Bentley can deliver business information to users anywhere, on any device, from any source.

Streamlining the Dealer Warranty Process

A central IBM AS/400 host at Bentley headquarters runs the dealer warranty, parts, and service history applications. The host is attached to a Windows NT network.

Prior to the OnWeb implementation, dealers had to perform a multi-step process to access the AS/400 applications. First, they had to connect to the Internet using dial-up connections to one of a limited number of service providers, regardless of any existing Internet connection already existing at the dealership. After that, there were several sign-on and authentication steps in order to access the Windows NT environment and the AS/400 applications. These procedures added costs and increased the time needed to perform transactions.

"By listening carefully to dealer feedback, we determined that a simpler, streamlined process would allow our dealers to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time selling," said Mike Mayer, Technical Support Manager at Bentley Motors. "Providing fast, Internet-based access seemed like the smart way to go."

Dealers are Customers, Too

As an astute marketer in the automotive industry, Bentley understands it really has two sets of customers. Not only must Bentley convince customers to buy its cars, but it also has to keep its dealers productive and motivated to sell cars. Bentley dealers are independent businesses.

When a customer comes in for warranty repair work on a car, the dealer must perform the multi-step log-on process to the AS/400 applications, and then fill in the appropriate forms to request reimbursement for the warranty repairs from Bentley Motors headquarters.

"Any delay in submitting claims and receiving reimbursements can be frustrating for our dealer partners, who are key to our success," noted Mayer. Therefore, the company needed to implement a simple solution that could be rolled-out quickly and cost-effectively.

A Zero-Footprint Solution

OnWeb Host Publishing is a zero-footprint implementation that provides on-the-fly, green screen-to-HTML conversion for an instant solution to the Bentley dealer access issues.

"After evaluating the alternatives, we decided to go with NetManage and OnWeb," said Mayer. "NetManage’s demonstrated experience in solving similar problems for other customers was an important factor. And we were delighted at how quickly we were able to deploy the solution to all 150 dealerships around the world."

"In today’s uncertain market conditions, it’s more important than ever to choose a business vendor and partner that you can trust," Mayer continued. "Based on their long-standing experience and demonstrated expertise, we feel very confident and secure in our selection of NetManage and their OnWeb solution."

The Bottom Line – Satisfied Dealers

Thanks to OnWeb, Bentley dealers can now use the Internet connections that already exist at the dealerships, rather than dedicated dial-up connections.

Furthermore, OnWeb has eliminated the Citrix front-end requirements, providing easy, fast access for the dealers and less equipment for Bentley’s IT personnel to maintain.

And last, but not least, being a Web browser-based solution, OnWeb is easy to use and reduces the need for specialized dealer training and support.

Headquartered in Crewe, England, Bentley Motors is a premier manufacturer of luxury performance automobiles known the world over for quality, performance, and craftsmanship.

The new OnWeb solution provides rapid results for Bentley Motors:

• Dealers are no longer limited to dial-up access via a limited number of providers. They can use their LAN-based Internet connections without having to address firewall configuration issues.
• The streamlined approach improves dealer satisfaction by removing complexities and leveraging existing dealer infrastructure at lower costs.
• The flexibility of the zero-footprint solution allows anytime, anywhere access while reducing support costs.