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Follow UsJasmina Khanna
Given the fact that e-commerce
has not taken off the way it was expected to, it is not surprising to see web
sites that have not yet enabled online buying. Most companies who refrain from
this are the ones who sell locally or in limited areas.
Here is a review of and.com,
http://www.mro-tek.com and it.com.
The first two do not offer online ordering facilities or even pricing
information, while the third does. While all three sites are well developed,
with a few changes they can be further enhanced.
Wanland Datacom is a Mumbai-based
company, which distributes datacom products and offers solutions along with
consultancy services. Their main principals are manufacturers like Bin Tec
Communications, DeTeWe, Octal Engenharia de Sistemas, S.A. and DrayTek Corp.
The company's product range
includes analog modems, ISDN terminal adapters, routers and ISDN feature phones.
They also offer consultancy services for data connectivity solutions, especially
using ISDN.
The web site http://www.wanland.com
provides information about the features and configurations of their three major
products: terminal adapter, routers and ISDN feature phones. The site also
offers a datasheet for these products, downloadable in pdf format. For any
technical query concerning their products, one can fill up the form available in
the ‘Technical Support’ section.Â
While all this is helpful, there
is no information on prices or even after-sales service, thus, discouraging many
prospective customers. While in the company profile they mention about
appointing dealers in most major Indian cities, they fail to provide their
contact details. And, finally there is no provision for online ordering. In a
nutshell, a visit to the site leaves much to be desired.
Mro-Tek is yet another
distributor of networking products. Headquartered at Bangalore, they offer
products from companies like Breezecom, Extreme Networks, Expand Networks,
GlobaLoop, Lacom Systems, Radcom, RAD Data Communications, Radguard, Radware and
ZyXEL.
http://www.mro-tek.com
is an informative site and is not cluttered with too many links. It provides a
detailed company profile, information on its alliances and partnerships,
products on offering and their post—sales support. It also has ‘What’s
New’ and a ‘Career’ section. One can even fill up the online form to
request for post-sales support or even send a technical query in the 'Help Desk'
section.
The site also provides an
insight into the future of networking technology in the 'Industry Overview'
section. Profiles of each company whose products Mro-Tek distributes is
mentioned in the ‘Alliances’ section. In the ‘Major Network’ section a
graphical explanation has been provided on the working of networking systems.
Other queries are addressed in the 'FAQ & Help' segment, which appears as a
link in the 'Help Desk' section.
Though the 'Products' section
gives information about the features and configuration of various products and
is well-complimented by images. However it leaves the prospective buyers
clueless over the price of these products.
Overall, a few changes like
inclusion of pricing details and facilitation of online-ordering, could make http://www.mro-tek.com
a perfect web site.
LanBit is one of the top three
networking and data communication companies in India with one of the largest
market share for high speed modems and provides Internet/intranet solutions. The
LanBit product range includes Internet access routers, CD servers, modems,
networking switches, hubs, NIC and ‘Shrink Wrapped’ web enabling software.
They also manufacture products like UPS and video-conferencing tools.
Their web presence at http://www.lanbit.com
is incomplete in few respects. Though the layout is decent, it is not
informative enough. There are many sections, which lack appropriate
corresponding links.
The company's profile can be
found in the ‘About Us’ and ‘E-vision’ segments. ‘Channel Partner’
gives details about their dealers in India, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE and
Uganda, the whereabouts of their head office are missing.Â
One can have a look at the range
of their products and technical specifics using their search machine ‘Product
Search’ and even place an order for the same in the 'Order Online' section.
This web site contains the pricing info which was missing in the first two
sites. The other sections are 'IT News', 'Product of the month' and 'Special
offers'.
The site also provides some good
information on e-commerce solutions. As far as queries are concerned, there is a
form to place the enquiry and also a facility to chat online. Users can also
subscribe to their electronic newsletter.
And at the end, the best section
of the site is 'Drivers'. This section offer downloads of the drivers for
various products of Lanbit. It could be immensely helpful to customers who are
already using the product or have just bought it online.
All in all, this site has useful
and detailed product information. If only the navigational flow of the site
could be improved upon, this would surely become one of the best sites around in
its category.
Jasmina
Khanna is a freelance writer