Cdiscount.com is the leading French online retail company, with
a wide range of offerings including DVD, music, PC, cameras, apparel, travel and
of course wine.
New Regulations Enforce A Tight Deadline
In January 2008, France passed the “Chatel” law obligating French companies to offer
free to consumer access to client services. Previously, Cdiscount was able to offset
the cost of client services with a pay-per-call system. Given the number and complexity
of customer inquiries, an automated method was needed to cope with the volume of
queries and minimize cost. The Chatel law came into effect on June 1, 2008, enforcing
a strict deadline on Cdiscount’s efforts to automate client services.
InRule Addresses Complexity
Cdiscount chose to offer a ‘FAQ’ based service online under their web site’s ‘Espace
Client’ or Customer Zone. However, it soon became clear that developing and maintaining
an online FAQ service would be very complex, due to the number of combinations and
variations of customer queries. Given the very tight timeframe and their commitment
to the .NET platform, Cdiscount chose InRule, the premier business rule engine for
.NET, to automate the complex logic. Cdiscount used InRule Technology’s ROAD (Rules
Oriented Architecture and Application Development) Services team to develop a prototype,
and then to expand the FAQ system to cover all their needs.
Successful Implementation – Ahead of Schedule
The ‘Espace Client’ was modified to offer customers a range of FAQs that would link
back to their order and provide them with context-specific options displayed in
the web browser. Implementation was completed 2 days early after rigorous function
and performance testing. After 2 weeks of uninterrupted live running, the system
is working perfectly with many thousands of inquiries being handled per hour.
For More Information
Kate McGowan
Director of Marketing
kmcgowan@inrule.com