Paris: Educational Testing Service (ETS) Global has announced that the e-business solution that they launched more than a year ago has surpassed all expectations. ETS is the global leader in the educational research and measurement arena, offering educational institutions, language schools, companies, public service organisations, students and professionals internationally recognized assessments like the TOEIC® and TOEFL® tests.

Launched in May 2007, the e-business solution was developed to market and sell ETS Global assessments and services online. The platform comprises multiple e-stores in local languages that offer registration for test sessions, ordering of materials, online payment and invoicing, both for B2B and B2C customers.

The e-business suite of tools function as a common, collaborative platform where all stakeholders (distributors, subsidiaries, Public Test Centres and clients - academic organisations, language schools and organisations) can share information and work together efficiently.

"In one year of operation, the e-business solution has helped us transform leads, increase our growth margin, push cross selling, provide added value to our clients and support e-administration," says Benoit Thao, COO, ETS Global.

Business benefits: The e-business solution has transformed the way ETS Global does business.

The e-business system has emerged as a backbone for a decentralised company like ETS Global, allowing for any number of countries to be included within the solution. Each of these countries can market, sell and administer any number of products and services to their clients, using the solution.

Today, around 123 countries are catered to via seven e-stores in four currencies. Additionally, the system is an ideal combination of flexibility and structure – it comprises a fixed framework, within which flexibility is allowed through the setting of country and local parameters. This system works well, incorporating as it does varied methods of working and different business models. "More business processes and needs across the organisation are common and can be standardised.

The ecosystem of web tools implemented in this project enables us to leverage this fact while mutualising the costs," points out Axel Ronsin, e-business Director.

Since the launch of its e-business solution, ETS Global has seen:
- More than 50,000 orders representing 15 million Euros in revenue
- Over 8000 test sessions
- More than 50,000 B2C and B2B users
- More than 2,700 contracts signed with B2B customers

In 2009, 3 new languages and 3 new e-stores will be added – in Korean, Mandarin and Arabic.

Customer benefits: ETS Global customers benefit from a simple and efficient solution, Digital contracting and digital invoicing, online confirmations – all this has made the system efficient and improved the turnaround time for the client. The solution provides a one-stop shop for the customer, where all the products he needs are available online with easy checkout and customised administration. The e-business solution is entirely based on open-source software, and integrated with ETS Global's SUN ERP system. Payments can be made easily and in a secure manner through credit / debit cards or PayPal via Bibit/WorldPay.

Operations benefits: The internal operations of ETS Global have been streamlined and internally too, the solution has worked wonders by qualitatively improving CRM in the company. E-business helps ETS Global track clients' activity and purchase history, thus providing them with enough data to improve their customers' experience with the company. Says Karah Byrns, Co-ordination Manager of the solution, "The E-business consolidates all the data we have on every action that passes through the system. The daily operational routines of many employees revolve around the platform, and the flow of orders continues to increase, indicating the success of the model."

"Since our competition mostly offers a B2C solution, and not an extensive B2B one like we do, this has proved to be a major differentiator in the market for us," ends Thao.