Archive for August, 2011

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New iQuote feature – Swift for Printers

August 31, 2011

One of the most popular recent additions to iQuote is ‘Swift’. We believe it is the fastest way for IT Sales to generate pricelists for their customers.

Now, due to popular demand, we have launched a new tool called Swift for Printers. As the name suggests, it applies the methodology of iQuote Swift to HP’s Printer portfolio. Simply search for a printer (by part number or description), select the model you’re interested in, and click to view a complete list of compatible options and consumables in seconds – including your Availability and Pricing. It’s only one more click to export the complete list to a CSV (Excel-compatible) file. It includes discontinued printers but for current printers we also provide a Specification Table and the stock/price of the printer.

Give Swift for Printers a try today! As usual let us know what you think; and watch out for more IPG innovations on iQuote soon.

Posted in Channel Business, channelcentral.net, Hewlett Packard, iQuote, iQuote Update | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

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Why iQuote Adverts are Valuable

August 8, 2011

Banner advertising in iQuote is worth taking notice of. We know that online advertisements are often ignored but advertising in iQuote does clever stuff. This is an important distinction from other random banner advertising whether you are an iQuote User or an iQuote Advertiser.

Take this advert as an example….it’s clever:

BANNER_HP_TAPE

Why is it clever? Answers:

  1. It is displaying because it knows you don’t have a Tape Drive installed. So it is prompting you to ask the question and make a larger sale.
  2. If you click it iQuote will direct you to the Tape Drive section. This is easier and quicker than finding it manually.
  3. If you add a Tape Drive it gets replaced by a different Banner Advert or just disappears from view.
  4. For Advertisers we can record how many times it displays and is clicked. And of course iQuote can measure the pitch rate for any options against any system unit.

Other examples: iQuote Adverts can link to PDFs, Applications, Web Sites, Facebook/LinkedIn or even launch a new quote in iQuote.

iQuote is not just about creating a good configuration quickly and easily. Through the iQuote Adverts and the Validation Checklist iQuote is helping you to expand the solution and therefore the sale.

Posted in Channel Business, configurator, Hewlett Packard, iQuote, iQuote Update, Marketing, Product Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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Context-Sensitive Parts Notes now in iQuote

August 8, 2011

Our Parts Notes function has been improved. We use Parts Notes against a few Options where to install the Option requires either a trade off or in some cases an additional “enabling” sub-option. We’ve had feedback from iQuote Users that these could work better if the Parts Notes took into account the System Unit family. Originally our Parts Notes were stored against the part but of course that part could appear as an option for many servers or systems.

In other words you wanted the Parts Notes only to display when needed. So good news as Parts Notes are now aware of the System Unit being quoted and only appear when relevant (i.e. Context-Sensitive).

Example: if a Redundant Power Supply (RPS) is supported by both a ProLiant ML110G7 and a ProLiant ML330G6 BUT when installed in the ProLiant ML110G7 requires an Enablement Kit, iQuote will only show the Parts Note when the RPS is being quoted in the ML110G7 (and not the ML330G6).

So it reduces the number of times Parts Notes are displayed and avoids minor confusion (why am I seeing a ML110G7 warning when in a ML330G6 quote). As a point of detail this iQuote modification has been applied to all of the ways that an option can appear (drill down and search).

Posted in configurator, iQuote, iQuote Update, Product Management | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

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iQuote Memory Slot Count Now Dynamic

August 8, 2011

An improved Memory Slot notification means more clarity for iQuote Users. Not a bug as such, more of a missing feature. iQuote shows the total memory slots and the number of slots occupied as standard. However with some systems the number of memory slots enabled depends on the quantity of processors installed. Users told us that they’d like the Total Memory Slots to update if a second processor is added. That now happens.

With 1 Processor:

Memory 1 CPU

With 2 Processors:

Memory 2 CPU

Posted in configurator, iQuote, iQuote Update, Product Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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iQuote Service Update: Search Function

August 4, 2011

Options Search was only partially working. Searching for parts was working great but text searches were failing. That’s now been fixed. So if you’d experienced an issue and not reported it via Feedback please try another search next time you are quoting.

Options Search is a really quick, easy way to locate the Options you are looking to add. Another shortcut is to click on certain iQuote Smart Ads. We’ll be blogging on these shortly.

More info on Options Search:
https://channelcentral.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/iquote-hints-tips-options-search/

Posted in configurator, iQuote, iQuote Update, Product Management, Quote Software | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »