Data General Corp has moved to a mixed distributor model across Europe with the launch of DG Plus. Aimed firstly at its installed customer base, DG Plus, run from the UK, promises a one-stop shop for customers in 14 countries for Data General computers, including Eclipse MV minicomputers and upgrades, AV open system servers and workstations and personal computers, third party hardware, software and communications products sourced from Computer 2000 AG. DG Plus is the supply channel for the personal computer business and comprises a UK-based multi-lingual pan-European telesales team and nationally-based field sales teams developing and managing Data General value-added reseller channels and its European customer database and multi-lingual product catalogues. It seeks to fulfil customer demands for someone knowledgeable and responsive at the end of a toll-free telephone, 10 hours a day, who knows the customer’s installed computers and can give information and supply rich documentation in native languages. DG Plus is confident that people want to buy over the phone and in the first six weeks has received 11,200 calls, with the capacity to deal with three times that number. So far operators have been able to deal with around 60% of queries, and with on-going training, this should reach 90% of calls. The deduplication, purge and merge of Data General’s distribution has enabled DG Plus to cut prices by 15% and promise delivery within three days, on average. The move will also free up the Enterprise sales force, which accounts for 70% of Data General’s European revenues, to focus on the top 500 accounts..pl 64
