TotalCheck integration for NetSuite

We have recently implemented a TotalCheck integration into NetSuite for Green Energy Trading who process data which needs to be submitted correctly to their regulator, and mistakes in addresses would be costly and time consuming.

Our client uses NetSuite for their data processing and required an AMAS certified system for address validation.

See the code in action in a demo environment:

The solution involved creating a server side component which can talk to the NetSuite server. The client side cannot connect directly to another server due to Cross Site Scripting (XSS) limitations of web browsers.

The server side component acts as a proxy which has an unfortunate side effect that it makes the lookups take longer than normal, which is amplified by the fact that NetSuite servers are located in the US, so for Australian users, each lookup has to pass through the US, meaning that if the latency is 0.2 sec, the request will take at least 0.8 sec, on top of the processing time.

Please read the case study by Sensis at Green Energy Trading.

Using Zendesk with your CRM

What is Zendesk?

Zendesk offers organisations a support desk in the cloud for a low subscription fee. It is used by a large variety of customers who seem to have very little in common, except that they have recognised they need to make an effort for their customers and give them the ability to track their own tickets and be more engaging by for example providing a knowledge base, enhancement request forum or product announcements.

Why do I need it if I already have a CRM?

Almost every CRM system has customer support functionality, often called Cases, which are records which represent a customer request or issue. Combined with workflow, Cases can be a great way to track Cases from the moment they come in until they are solved. But where CRMs often focus on the internal process, Zendesk is a system which focuses on the customer experience.

Zendesk does have workflow, which will work fine for most businesses, but for example compared to Salesforce, falls short where it comes to tracking Service Level Agreement (SLA) where the Service Level is expressed in business hours, as opposed to actual hours.

So why use Zendesk as well as CRM?

Zendesk isn’t a CRM, so you still need CRM. But why would you not stick with the CRM’s support functionality? Answer the following questions:

• Does your CRM provide a customer portal, where the customer can always see the status of their issues?
• Do you currently offer a knowledge base?
• Do you accept enhancement requests from your customers?
• Do your customers have online discussions about your product or services?

If you answered no to any of these questions, it’s worth considering Zendesk. CRMs often don’t offer this out of the box. Zendesk, apart from your customers being able to see their ticket status online, offers customer forums as standard which can be used for announcements, FAQs, general discussion and gathering valuable product feedback.

How will CRM and Zendesk work together?

If you were to implement Zendesk if you already have a CRM, the integration between the two systems is very important. When a salesperson wants to get a full picture of their account, they’ll need to see the status of any open issues. So how does this work? Zendesk offers API access to tickets which allows for integrations with any system such as CRMs. Zendesk already ships with integrations for Salesforce, Highrise and Tactile CRM.

What are the alternatives?

Apart from developing your own customer portal, there are many other helpdesk software solutions that offer a customer portal:

• Web Help Desk – offers a free version, otherwise similar but no clear advantage over Zendesk
• Get Satisfaction – more community oriented, sometimes used in conjunction with Zendesk
• Kayako – integrated chat ability
• Mojo Helpdesk – offers client satisfaction ratings, more cost efficient than Zendesk for large number of helpdesk staff

TotalCheck address validation

About TotalCheck

Sensis’ TotalCheck is a suite of APIs that allows developers to build address validation into any application. TotalCheck is essentially a Web Services API which provides a powerful search into the Australian Postal Address File (PAF) and the White Pages directory.

Businesses use TotalCheck to ensure address data can be entered with minimal effort and ensures it is always correct. A TotalCheck search combines the White Pages address database and the Postal Address File.

TotalCheck is AMAS certified and provides the address DPID (unique address identifier) and Australia Post barcode as part the address search, which can make a business eligible to use PreSort, and save on postage.

Search process

An application integrating with TotalCheck needs to go through three steps:

1. Search for a name, which is either a business name or an individual’s last name. TotalCheck provides the suggestNames API which can be used to provide the 20 best matches to the user.
2. Search for an address. TotalCheck offers a comprehensive suggestAddresses API which applications can use to auto-complete an address search field.
3. Select an address. Once a user picks a suggestion from step #2, the address data is fetched from TotalCheck using the selectAddress API. It’s possible that another selection needs to be offered to the user, for example when the selected address is a block of units.

Integration

To integrate with TotalCheck, about the only prerequisite is that your application can connect to the Internet. If your application is a web application, it’s important to know that due to modern browsers’ cross site scripting (XSS) limitations, an integration cannot be achieved using JavaScript, or client side code only. To get around this limitation, connect to TotalCheck from the server-side, or setup a proxy.

Demonstration

Watch the demonstration by TotalCheck:

Every question has a .com

It’s getting to the point that almost no matter what question someone asks, there is a website that is the solution.

Just today I was talking about an issue with network issues to a hosted server, from where was it unavailable? Serviceuptime.com was the answer. Just to find out if it’s a recurring issue first of all.

How do I host my domain? Zoneedit.com

Email for me and my employees? Google.com/a (Google Apps!)

Just put a site online and want user feedback? Uservoice.com

Need to put a helpdesk in place? Zendesk.com

Any other questions? Google.com

And best of all, all costs absolutely nothing! In the Web 2.0 era we pretty much have a website for everything… or almost everything? Anything that doesn’t exist yet as a website is a sure business opportunity…

If you are starting a .com right now, what question are you answering?

Student StartupCamp Melbourne (17-19 Apr 2009)

As a guest, I had the pleasure of watching the Saturday night presentations of yet another successful version of the original Startup Camps. This one intended for students at Melbourne Uni.

This particular weekend was an initiative by organiser Amir Nissen from Agents Of Change and enthusiastically moderated by Bart Jellema from Tjoos.com. Bart is a Startup Camp Australia veteran.

Before I arrived I had already seen the great video created by oneoffjobs.net. The video is sure to generate interest, and as a result I also thought the idea was good, which shows the value of good marketing!

When I walked in, the first thing I saw was ratemyguts.com. I was amazed to hear these guys’ story from their overnight endeavours! The team realized that it was a terrible name for yet another diet site and was instead used for a site where you brag about your gutsy moves and rate others’ stories! High ratings to the team to have the guts to go through with this change.

At 9 PM the presentations kicked off. I didn’t expect to be impressed as the mood was best described as subdued after a long night of hard work. Amir needed to pull out Eye Of The Tiger in the hope of providing a bit of punch to otherwise flat presentations. It did become evident that all projects were excellent in getting so much functionality actually working. Clever use of existing content management systems, nice graphics, nice logos, overall very nice jobs done by all. The presentations themselves needed to be as good as — or better than — the actual services but unfortunately they were not. Teams will need to work more on their pitches and carry the marketing message through.

www.oneoffjobs.net

Seek or offer cash in hand jobs.

As mentioned an excellent video to captivate those with short attention span, ie: the average person. Would I use it? Surely I don’t want a random student doing my grocery shopping? Maybe I would… but on the other side, there are the users that will bid on jobs. Will they want to do my jobs? If I need groceries, I need them today or tomorrow, not next week. There needs to be good interaction with both the job advertiser and job seeker to ensure they don’t lose faith in this site.

www.ratemyguts.com

Share your gutsy stories.

Could this one become a Startup Camp cult hit? In the end an excellent domain name for a site that can surely take off. All attendees at the camp agreed video is a requirement for this site, currently you can only enter text, and then there only needs to be one viral video posted here for the business to succeed. The ratemyguts team thought maybe the target audience should be exclusively males, which was vocally rejected by the 50% of the population that was consequently feeling left out. This is fun for the whole family.

www.chorecop.com

Ensure your house mates are doing their chores.

Chorecop attempts to solve a problem anyone experienced in shared living arrangements, which is that inhabitants are not doing their fair share in the house. I was hoping that when the chore was left undone, some ex-army security guard would be sent to house and teach the lazy house mate a lesson. Instead, the offender is being intimidated only via a string of emails.

ibrewit.com

Social site for home brewers.

Although not a distinctly new idea, a problem can always be solved better^(TM). Home brewers are often brewing by themselves and want others to rate their proudly created beers. New brewers need recipes and ideas.  The team at ibrewit.com are active on the site themselves and make new users feel welcome in the community.

www.microjobs.com.au

Seek or offer freelance jobs.

This site is almost identical in approach to oneoffjobs.net but is sleekly designed, positioning it in a more professional space, for more serious jobs. Maybe the presenter just didn’t explain the purpose of the site properly but this idea seems a dime a dozen and it’s hard to see how this site would compete with existing freelancer sites.

www.conversionspace.com

Send your attachments in PDF format.

A compact and useful idea that people can use immediately. How can you go wrong? Anyone wanting to convert a Word document to PDF prior to sending an email will like the convenience of being able to do this in one step. There are a few limitations that users will need to be aware of but basically it just works. The presenter tended to think students were the target market of this but I was assured by Mark and James that business users were absolutely a target market. How could they not be.

And the winner is…

Below are my ratings of the 6 startups:

• In the last place: chorecop.com. Not a convincing idea. Doubtful that their solution will actually be helpful in real life.

• In 5th place: microjobs.com.au. This site would win it on the logo and site design, but there is not much behind it that will make a difference.

• In 4th, and an honourable mention goes to: oneoffjobs.net, market is well defined, but will it ever take off? Great, memorable video!

• 3rd place: ibrewit.com, serving a niche market with a thoughtfully produced website.

• Runner up: ratemyguts.com, a clear marketing message, best domain name and possibility of going viral. The team have a gutsy story of their own: they changed their business completely after registering the domain!

• My winner: conversionspace.com, solves a common problem, small as it may be. The name is memorable and the site explains the service clearly. Anyone that sends emails can use it.