JP2015228057A - Business support system and business support program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a business support system and business support program that can reduce a burden of administration of an administrator while increasing the number of users.SOLUTION: A business support server 20 for supporting a business of a plurality of dealers who sell a product to a customer comprises function execution means for executing a specific function using customer information that indicates a specific content about a customer (S77), and customer information storage destination administration means for administering a storage destination of the customer information for each dealer (S62 to S64 and S72). When a dealer requests a use of a function (S71), the function execution means executes the function (S77) using the customer information stored in the storage destination administered by the customer information storage destination administration means (S73 or S75) for the dealer who has requested the use of the function.

Description

  The present invention relates to a sales support system and a sales support program for supporting sales of a dealer who sells products to customers.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a sales support system that supports sales of a dealer who sells products to a customer, a sales support system that executes a specific function by using customer information indicating specific contents about the customer is known (for example, a patent) Reference 1-3).

JP 2002-073954 A JP 2003-157390 A JP 2006-323555 A

  As a method of providing a sales support system to a plurality of dealers by a manager of the sales support system, a method of providing a single sales support system to a plurality of dealers can be considered. When a single sales support system is provided for multiple dealers, the dealer customer information can be stored on a server managed by the sales support system administrator or a cloud server on all dealer customers. A method for storing information can be considered.

  Here, the customer information is very important information for the dealer. Therefore, the dealer may be reluctant to store his / her customer information on a server outside his / her on-premises environment, even if it is a part. Therefore, when a method of storing customer information of all dealers on the server managed by the manager of the sales support system or the cloud server is adopted, a dealer who refrains from using the manager's sales support system. It can happen a little.

  In order to increase the number of users, the sales support system is individually introduced in the on-premises environment of all dealers. A way to do this is conceivable. For dealers who are not reluctant to store their own customer information on a server outside the dealer's own on-premises environment, the dealer's own For dealers who are reluctant to store their own customer information on a server outside the on-premises environment, a method of individually introducing a sales support system into the dealer's on-premises environment may be considered.

  However, when the manager of the sales support system provides a plurality of sales support systems, it is necessary for the administrator to manage the sales support systems, so the management burden on the sales support system is heavy. There's a problem.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sales support system and a sales support program that can increase the number of users while suppressing the management burden of the manager.

  The sales support system of the present invention is a sales support system that supports the sales of a plurality of dealers who sell products to customers, and performs a specific function by using customer information indicating specific contents related to the customers. An execution means, and a customer information storage destination management means for managing the storage destination of the customer information for each dealer, and the function execution means, when the use of the function is requested from the dealer, The function is executed using the customer information stored in the storage destination managed by the customer information storage destination management means for the dealer who has requested use.

  With this configuration, the sales support system of the present invention can deal with all dealers with one system, so there is no need to prepare one system for each dealer, The burden can be reduced. In addition, since the sales support system of the present invention switches the storage destination of customer information used for executing functions for each dealer, the customer information of the dealer can be stored in the storage destination desired by the dealer. Therefore, the sales support system of the present invention can increase the number of users by increasing the sense of security of the users.

  In the sales support system of the present invention, the customer information includes information of a plurality of items, and the customer information storage destination management unit manages the storage destination for each dealer and for each item, The function execution means, when the use of the function is requested from the dealer, the customer who has requested the use of the function and the item used to execute the requested function. The function may be executed using the information stored in the storage destination managed by the information storage destination management means.

  With this configuration, the sales support system of the present invention switches the storage destination of customer information used for executing the function for each dealer and for each item, so that the dealer's customer information is stored for each item in the storage destination desired by the dealer. I can keep it. Therefore, the sales support system of the present invention can increase the number of users by increasing the sense of security of the users.

  The sales support program of the present invention is a sales support program that supports sales of a plurality of dealers that sell products to customers, and performs a specific function by using customer information indicating specific contents related to the customer. The computer functions as an execution means and a customer information storage destination management means for managing the storage destination of the customer information for each dealer, and the function execution means is used when the use of the function is requested from the dealer. The function is executed using the customer information stored in the storage destination managed by the customer information storage destination management means for the dealer who has requested the use of the function. To do.

  With this configuration, the sales support program of the present invention can deal with all dealers with one system that is realized, so there is no need to prepare one system for each dealer. Management burden can be reduced. In addition, since the sales support program of the present invention switches the storage destination of customer information used for executing the function for each dealer, the customer information of the dealer can be stored in the storage destination desired by the dealer. Therefore, the sales support program of the present invention can increase the number of users by increasing the sense of security of the users.

  The sales support system and the sales support program of the present invention can increase the number of users while suppressing the management burden on the administrator.

1 is a block diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the manager of the sales support server shown in FIG. 1, and a dealer. It is a block diagram of the sales support server shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the customer information storage location information shown in FIG. It is a block diagram of the user terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram of the operation of the system shown in FIG. 1 when a dealer requests use of a function from a sales support server. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram of the operation of the system shown in FIG. 1 when a dealer different from the dealer requesting the use of the function from the sales support server in the sequence diagram shown in FIG. 6 requests the use of the function from the sales support server.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the configuration of the system 10 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 10 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a system 10 includes a sales support server 20 as a sales support system that supports sales of a plurality of dealers that sell products to customers, and a database server that stores customer information indicating specific contents related to the customers. 29, a user terminal 30 used by the dealer, a database server 38 for storing customer information, a firewall 39 for maintaining the safety of a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) to which the user terminal 30 belongs, A user terminal 40 used by a dealer and a firewall 49 for maintaining the safety of a network such as a LAN to which the user terminal 40 belongs are provided.

  The sales support server 20, the database server 29, the user terminal 30, the database server 38, and the user terminal 40 are connected to be communicable with each other via the network 11 such as the Internet.

  In addition to the user terminal 30 and the firewall 39, and the user terminal 40 and the firewall 49, the system 10 can include many user terminals and firewalls similar to the user terminal 30 and the firewall 39. is there.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the manager 52 of the sales support server 20 (see FIG. 1) and the dealer.

  As shown in FIG. 2, as a user of the system 10 (see FIG. 1), there are an administrator 52 of the sales support server 20, a dealer 53 and a dealer 54 who sell products to customers.

  In addition to the dealer 53 and the dealer 54, there can be many dealers as users of the sales support server 20.

  The manager 52 has authority to manage dealers in the sales support server 20 (see FIG. 1), and maintains and operates the sales support server 20. The manager 52 is, for example, a sales company of a manufacturer of a product sold by a dealer to a customer. For example, the support service provided by the sales support server 20 is provided to the dealer in order to support the sales management of the product by the dealer and the operation of the product by the dealer for the purpose of promoting the use of the product of the manufacturer. It is a service to be provided. The manufacturer's sales company has an RHQ (Regional Headquarter) that supervises a plurality of countries, and an SC (Second Level) that performs operations limited to a unit of granularity below the country.

  Here, the product may include, for example, an electronic device. For example, office equipment may be included in the electronic equipment. The office equipment may include, for example, an image forming apparatus such as an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral) or a printer dedicated machine. For example, the sales support server 20 may provide a support service for sales management of the image forming apparatus by the dealer and operation of the image forming apparatus by the dealer, such as MPS (Managed Print Service).

  The dealer is a person managed by the manager 52 in the sales support server 20. However, the dealer is a separate corporation independent of the manager 52 and can handle not only the product of the manager 52 but also any product such as a competitive product of the product of the manager 52.

  The sales support server 20 and the database server 29 shown in FIG. 1 exist on the on-premises environment or cloud of the administrator 52 (see FIG. 2).

  The database server 29 is configured by a computer such as a PC (Personal Computer). The database server 29 stores customer information for each dealer. The customer information includes information on a plurality of items. For example, a customer name exists as an item of customer information. In addition, as items of customer information, there are various attributes for products owned by the customer, such as model names, settings, states, and usage histories of the products owned by the customers.

  The database server 38 is configured by a computer such as a PC. The database server 38 stores only customer information of the dealer 53.

  User terminals included in the system 10 are used by different dealers. For example, the users of the user terminals 30 and 40 are dealers 53 and 54 (see FIG. 2), respectively.

  The user terminal 30, the database server 38, and the firewall 39 exist in the on-premises environment of the dealer 53.

  The user terminal 40 and the firewall 49 exist in the on-premises environment of the dealer 54. Note that a database server similar to the database server 38 may also exist in the on-premises environment of the dealer 54.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the sales support server 20.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the sales support server 20 includes an operation unit 21 that is an input device such as a mouse and a keyboard for inputting various operations, and a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) that displays various information. A display unit 22, a communication unit 23 that is a network communication device that communicates with an external device via the network 11 (see FIG. 1), and an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) that stores programs and various data. The storage unit 24, which is a storage device such as, and the control unit 25 that controls the entire sales support server 20 are provided. The sales support server 20 is configured by a computer such as a PC.

  The storage unit 24 stores a sales support program 24a that supports sales of a dealer who is a user of the user terminal. The sales support program 24a may be installed in the sales support server 20 at the manufacturing stage of the sales support server 20, or is added to the sales support server 20 from a storage medium such as a CD (Compact Disk) or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk). May be installed on the sales support server 20 from the network 11.

  The storage unit 24 can store dealer information 24b indicating various contents related to the dealer. For example, the dealer information 24b includes a dealer login ID and password, and a dealer name.

  Moreover, the memory | storage part 24 can memorize | store customer information storage destination information 24c which shows the memory | storage destination of customer information.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the customer information storage destination information 24c.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the customer information storage destination information 24c is information that combines a dealer, an item of customer information, and a storage destination. According to the customer information storage destination information 24 c shown in FIG. 4, for example, information of the item “customer name” in the customer information of the dealer 53 is stored in the database server 29. Information of items other than “customer name” in the customer information of the dealer 53 is stored in the database server 38 existing in the on-premises environment of the dealer 53. All customer information of the dealer 54 is stored in the database server 29.

  The control unit 25 shown in FIG. 3 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) storing programs and various data, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) used as a work area of the CPU. And. The CPU can execute a program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 24.

  The control unit 25 executes the sales support program 24a stored in the storage unit 24, thereby executing function execution means 25a for executing a specific function using customer information, and the storage destination of customer information for each dealer. Functions as customer information storage destination management means 25b.

  As a function executed by the function execution unit 25a, a function for supporting sales of a product by a dealer can be considered. For example, a function of generating a proposal for selling a new product that can improve the current state of the customer based on the use history of the product owned by the dealer's customer in the dealer's customer information can be considered.

  Further, as a function executed by the function execution unit 25a, a function for supporting the operation of a product by a dealer can be considered. For example, a function of automatically ordering consumables for a product based on the usage status of consumables in a product owned by the dealer's customer in the dealer's customer information can be considered. Further, a function of remotely changing the setting in the product based on the state of the product owned by the dealer's customer in the dealer's customer information can be considered. Also, based on the status of the product owned by the dealer's customer in the dealer's customer information, it is determined whether or not the product is malfunctioning. A function for notifying can be considered.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the user terminal 30.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the user terminal 30 includes an operation unit 31 that is an input device such as a mouse and a keyboard to which various operations are input, and a display unit 32 that is a display device such as an LCD that displays various information. A communication unit 33 that is a network communication device that communicates with an external device via the network 11 (see FIG. 1), and a storage unit 34 that is a storage device such as an HDD that stores programs and various data. And a control unit 35 that controls the entire user terminal 30. The user terminal 30 is configured by a computer such as a PC or a tablet terminal.

  The control unit 35 includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM that stores programs and various data, and a RAM that is used as a work area of the CPU. The CPU can execute a program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 34.

  The configuration of the user terminal included in the system 10 (see FIG. 1) such as the user terminal 40 (see FIG. 1) is the same as the configuration of the user terminal 30.

  Next, the operation of the sales support server 20 will be described.

  First, the operation of the sales support server 20 when the use of the function is requested from the dealer 53 will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram of the operation of the system 10 when the dealer 53 requests the sales support server 20 to use the function.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the dealer 53 instructs the user terminal 30 to log in to the sales support server 20 via the operation unit 31, the control unit 35 of the user terminal 30 instructs the dealer 53 to log in the communication unit 33. Through the sales support server 20 (S61). Here, the control unit 35 transmits the dealer 53 login ID and password input via the operation unit 31 to the sales support server 20 via the communication unit 33, so that the sales support server 20 receives the dealer 53. Require login for.

  When login is requested in S61, the customer information storage destination management means 25b of the sales support server 20 confirms that the dealer information 24b includes the combination of ID and password transmitted from the user terminal 30 in S61. After confirmation, the storage location of the customer information of the dealer 53 is determined based on the customer information storage location information 24c (S62). Note that the customer information storage destination management unit 25b cannot confirm that the dealer information 24b includes the combination of the ID and password transmitted from the user terminal 30 in S61. The operation shown in FIG. 6 is terminated without executing the process.

  When the customer information storage destination information 24c is the information shown in FIG. 4, the customer information storage destination management unit 25b sets the storage destination of the information of the item “customer name” in the customer information of the dealer 53 in S62 in the database server 29. And the storage destination of information of items other than the “customer name” in the customer information of the dealer 53 is determined as the database server 38.

  After the process of S62, the customer information storage destination management unit 25b stores the storage destination determined in S62 as session information in the in-memory database (cache) (S63). As a cache realizing method for storing session information, there are an SQL server, a KVS (Key-Value Store), a session management service provided by a cloud service provider, and the like.

  After the process of S63, the customer information storage destination management unit 25b notifies the user terminal 30 of the session key generated in S63 via the communication unit 23 (S64). Then, the control unit 35 of the user terminal 30 receives the session key notified from the sales support server 20 in S <b> 64 via the communication unit 33.

  After the user terminal 30 receives the session key notified from the sales support server 20 in S64, the dealer 53 instructs the user terminal 30 to use the function provided by the sales support server 20 via the operation unit 31. Then, the control unit 35 of the user terminal 30 requests the sales support server 20 to use the function via the communication unit 33 (S71). Here, the control unit 35 transmits the session key notified from the sales support server 20 in S64 to the sales support server 20 via the communication unit 33 together with a request for use of the function.

  When the use of the function is requested in S71, the customer information storage destination management unit 25b of the sales support server 20 stores the information in the cache as session information based on the session key transmitted from the user terminal 30 in S71. The storage destination is read (S72).

  The function execution unit 25a of the sales support server 20 stores the information read in S72 when the information of the item “customer name” is used in the customer information of the dealer 53 in executing the function requested to be used in S71. Based on the previous information, information on the item “customer name” in the customer information of the dealer 53 is requested to the database server 29 via the communication unit 23 (S73). Then, the database server 29 transmits information on the item “customer name” in the customer information of the dealer 53 to the sales support server 20 (S74).

  The function execution means 25a stores information on the storage destination read in S72 when information of items other than “customer name” is used in the customer information of the dealer 53 in executing the function requested to be used in S71. Based on the above, information of items other than “customer name” in the customer information of the dealer 53 is requested to the database server 38 via the communication unit 23 (S75). Then, the database server 38 transmits information requested by the sales support server 20 to the sales support server 20 that is information on items other than “customer name” in the customer information of the dealer 53 (S76).

  In the communication in S75 and S76, the sales support server 20 and the database server 38 are connected to each other by a virtual network such as SSL-VPN (Secure Socket Layer Private Network).

  The function execution unit 25a executes the function using the information transmitted by the process of S74 or the process of S76 (S77).

  The function execution unit 25a notifies the user terminal 30 of the result of the function execution in S77 via the communication unit 23 (S78). And the control part 35 of the user terminal 30 will display the received result on the display part 32, if the result notified from the sales support server 20 in S78 is received via the communication part 33. FIG. Therefore, the dealer 53 can recognize the execution result of the function instructed to use via the display unit 32.

  Next, the operation of the sales support server 20 when the use of the function is requested from the dealer 54 will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram of the operation of the system 10 when the dealer 54 requests the sales support server 20 to use the function.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when the dealer 54 instructs the user terminal 40 to log in to the sales support server 20 via the operation unit of the user terminal 40, the system 10 performs the processes of S <b> 61 to S <b> 64 shown in FIG. 6. The same processing of S81 to S84 is executed.

  However, when the customer information storage destination information 24c is the information shown in FIG. 4, the customer information storage destination management unit 25b determines all the storage destinations of the customer information of the dealer 54 as the database server 29 in S82.

  After the user terminal 40 receives the session key notified from the sales support server 20 in S <b> 84, the dealer 54 informs the user terminal 40 of the use of the function provided by the sales support server 20. In the system 10, the processing of S91 and S92 similar to the processing of S71 and S72 shown in FIG.

  Next, the function execution unit 25a of the sales support server 20 requests customer information of the dealer 54 from the database server 29 via the communication unit 23 based on the storage destination information read in S92 (S93). Then, the database server 29 transmits the information requested from the sales support server 20 among the customer information of the dealer 54 to the sales support server 20 (S94).

  When the process of S94 ends, the system 10 executes the processes of S97 and S98 similar to the processes of S77 and S78 shown in FIG.

  As described above, since the sales support server 20 and the sales support program 24a can handle all dealers with one system, there is no need to prepare one system for each dealer. The management burden on the administrator 52 can be reduced. Further, since the sales support server 20 and the sales support program 24a can handle all dealers with one system, it is not necessary to develop one system for each dealer, and the development burden is reduced. It can also be suppressed.

  The sales support server 20 stores the information stored in the storage destination managed in the customer information storage destination information 24c for the dealer who has requested the use of the function and the item used to execute the requested function. Is used (S73, S75 or S93) to execute the function (S77 or S97). That is, the sales support server 20 switches the storage destination of customer information used for executing functions for each dealer and each item. Therefore, the sales support server 20 can store the customer information of the dealer for each item in a storage destination desired by the dealer. Therefore, the sales support server 20 can increase the number of users by increasing the sense of security of the users.

  If the dealer is reluctant to store his / her customer information in the database server 29 outside his / her on-premises environment, even if it is a part of the information, he / she can send it to the database server 38 existing in his / her on-premises environment. The manager 52 can be requested to make the sales support server 20 use the stored customer information. Then, the administrator 52 can make the sales support server 20 use the customer information stored in the database server 38 only by setting the customer information storage destination information 24c in response to a request from the dealer.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in a multi-tenant fleet management application, cooperation with an on-premises environment can be realized on a dealer basis.

  In the present embodiment, the sales support server 20 is configured to switch the storage destination of customer information used for executing functions for each dealer and for each item, but the storage destination of customer information used for executing functions is changed. Depending on the item, it may be configured to switch only by the dealer without switching.

  The database server 29 is hardware different from the sales support server 20 in the present embodiment. However, the sales support server 20 may also serve as the database server 29.

  The database server 38 is hardware different from the user terminal 30 in the present embodiment. However, the user terminal 30 may also serve as the database server 38.

20 Sales support server (Sales support system, computer)
24a Sales support program 25a Function execution means 25b Customer information storage destination management means 29 Database server (storage destination)
38 Database server (storage destination)
53, 54 Dealer

Claims (3)

A sales support system that supports the sales of multiple dealers selling products to customers,
Function execution means for executing a specific function by using customer information indicating specific contents regarding the customer;
Customer information storage destination management means for managing the storage destination of the customer information for each dealer,
The function execution means stores the storage destination managed by the customer information storage destination management means for the dealer who has requested the use of the function when the dealer requests the use of the function. The sales support system, wherein the function is executed using the customer information. The customer information includes information of a plurality of items,
The customer information storage destination management means manages the storage destination for each dealer and for each item,
The function execution means, when the use of the function is requested from the dealer, for the dealer that has requested the use of the function and the item used to execute the requested function 2. The business support system according to claim 1, wherein the function is executed by using the information stored in the storage destination managed by the customer information storage destination management means. A sales support program that supports the sales of multiple dealers selling products to customers.
Function execution means for executing a specific function by using customer information indicating specific contents regarding the customer; and
Causing the computer to function as customer information storage destination management means for managing the storage destination of the customer information for each dealer;
The function execution means stores the storage destination managed by the customer information storage destination management means for the dealer who has requested the use of the function when the dealer requests the use of the function. A sales support program for executing the function by using the customer information.

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