Network Computingwww.networkcomputing.com

The Net was the simplest way to bring all the Optidose sales sites together. A third-party manufacturer builds the so-called Optidose test kit, and Rohm and Haas already uses a third-party customer-service operation to fill sample requests for various products. Customer service now also handles order entry and invoicing for the Optidose test kits.

"From a systems standpoint, it was simpler to build one new system [via the Internet] to integrate the three entities," says Sheree Revilla Mella, information technology manager and strategist for Formulation Chemicals at Rohm and Haas in Philadelphia. "From a cost perspective, it didn't make sense to tweak our internal systems to handle retail."

The Optidose test kit detects and measures Rohm and Haas' Optidose polymers, chemicals used in industrial water treatment to protect equipment exposed to water, such as boilers and cooling towers.

A water-treatment service provider can either access Rohm and Haas' Web site directly to purchase the test kit with a credit card or call customer service using an 800 number, which in turn enters the orders over the Net. The credit-card order is processed and authorized by CyberCash. The manufacturing site downloads the orders via FTP, fills them, and handles the packaging and shipping, too. The customer-service site downloads the shipped information that requires invoicing. Rohm and Haas plucks accounts receivable, marketing and other financial data off the optidose.com site on the IBM server, which runs IBM's Net.Commerce application. Financial and marketing representatives then incorporate that data into Rohm and Haas' internal marketing and financial reports, says Mella.

Security, of course, is a major concern with regard to Rohm and Haas' e-commerce application. Aside from the obligatory firewalls, Rohm and Haas' site also is digitally certified by Verisign. In the future, the company also will validate customers through Verisign, says Mella.

"This [e-commerce initiative] is a way to get experience in selling on the Internet," says Wayne Carney, vice president and business director, Formulation Chemicals, at Rohm and Haas.