When someone refers to PunchOut in the B2B world, they usually talk about a software application that connects the customer procurement system with the supplier ecommerce platform.  This integrated solution means businesses can leverage the customer experience provided by the supplier’s ecommerce site while transferring the customer’s shopping cart and transactional details back into the appropriate procurement systems. The PunchOut connection between the systems happens behind the scenes for a smooth and fast customer experience.

Insite Software has built-in platform support for PunchOut with three industry leading integration partners providing connections between InsiteCommerce and a large number of procurement and ERP systems, such as SAP, Ariba, Oracle, PeopleSoft and many more. 

For InsiteCommerce customer Thule, global provider of premium vehicle accessories, integration with their Oracle ERP system was key in order to cater for their distribution, manufacturing and retail customers around the world. Tight integration meant that product catalogues with over 10,000 unique products and 5 million price records were accessible to individual Thule customers upon site login. Call volume dropped 7% and customer service representatives were able to improve their response time to dealer calls by 32%. With a streamlined online system and more time for high-value sales activities, sales increased by 20%.

The B2B InsiteCommerce PunchOut solution in action allows customers to “punch out” from their procurement system into the ecommerce platform to browse product catalogues, add items to their shopping cart and complete the checkout. User identity is passed from the procurement system to ensure the customer is presented with relevant product catalogues, pricing and payment methods. When the checkout process is completed, transactional data is sent back into the procurement system to create a sales order for review and approval. When the order is approved, an update is sent from the procurement system to the ecommerce site for processing. 

This automated process reduces operational costs, as it eliminates manual order entry, and provides customers with a user-friendly online buying experience with customised content, and an easy checkout process.

Want to find out more about InsiteCommerce PunchOut solutions? Get in touch with us today.