Atomz announced that Bowe Bell & Howell Scanners recently completed a redesign of its global Web site, during which the company deployed both Atomz Publish, Atomz's Web content management solution, and Atomz Search, its enterprise site search engine. The process of updating and navigating the site, which provides product information about dozens of scanners to third party service organizations, authorized resellers and end users worldwide, has been significantly improved. Thousands of dollars will be saved this year alone by enabling staff members worldwide to update and add content to the site, rather than relying on a slow, manual process that once required outside programming expertise to make even the simplest change.
According to Phil Quinn, president of Quinn Interactive, the design agency responsible for the site redesign, the company's goal was three-fold: to provide greater control over its Web content so product literature could be easily added and updated; to add a search engine to the site enabling technicians to quickly find the product or technical information they need; and to create a cohesive look and feel throughout its global site.
One of the most significant results of the redesign is an increased level of efficiency for the Webmaster, as well as site visitors. "With Atomz Publish, content updates that once took seven to ten days can now be done in five minutes from any corner of the globe," explained Wendy Bentley, Webmaster. "And Atomz Search, our site's new search functionality, brings order to a vast library of product manuals, drivers and warranty information that was simply frustrating and chaotic in the past."
The first step in the redesign process was to create a series of templates within Atomz Publish to provide the framework for Web pages and forms that would appear throughout the site. Whereas every Web page was formatted differently on the old site, Quinn was able to automate the way content would be presented in the site's new design. If modifications are needed, a single change made to the template can be dynamically updated across all the pages that depend on that design element, making changes quick and easy. "Redesigning the site was made simpler using Atomz Publish," Quinn said.
The Atomz Publish browser-based content authoring interfaces were customized and optimized for ease-of-use, with formatting controls put in place to streamline content entry by non-technical content contributors. Uploading PDF documents, images and even video clips to the content management system, along with data entry, took hours instead of weeks to complete. In addition, utilizing the powerful link management feature in Atomz Publish, each time a new document is posted, the index page – which contains links to individual documents throughout the site -- is automatically updated to reflect the changes.
"The interface for Atomz Publish is quite intuitive and sets the standard for WCM usability in creating templates, managing users, setting up tasks and workflow and editing and managing Web content," said Steve Kusmer, chief executive officer at Atomz. "As a result, our customers require very little training, if any, and can begin using the software almost immediately. Deployment is fast, navigation is easy and they have the ability to extend and grow their company's Web site over time."
Atomz Search, the company's site search engine, was also added to provide the technicians who visit the site with the robust functionality and high performance necessary to find the technical detail they came looking for. The rich feature set in Atomz Search enables the company to easily control every aspect of site search, including indexing, search results and metadata. Insightful and flexible reporting rank and graph search terms so site managers know what visitors are searching for, and can respond accordingly.
Quinn Interactive, an Atomz's professional services partner, has been working with Atomz Publish since its inception. Specializing in the marriage of design and information technology, they've been designing and building effective on-line publications, e-commerce systems, and other data-driven web sites since 1994.