NIST wants to consolidate its e-commerce in a Salesforce cloud
The National Institute of Standards and Technology wants a single Salesforce-based e-commerce system to handle sales of everything from bovine liver samples to instrument calibration services.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology plans to modernize its legacy e-commerce solutions on the Salesforce platform.
NIST sells a variety of products, including standard reference materials -- from canisters of southern oceanic air to bovine liver to zirconium alloys -- as well as instruments that measure voltage, laser radiation and time and GPS. It also offers calibration services help the makers and users of precision instruments ensure measurement quality.
The agency has several e-commerce systems, each of which has a unique customer database and custom-built processes for order execution, fulfillment and billing. Some of the solutions generate invoices directly, while others pass the information to NIST’s customized Oracle enterprise resource planning system, the Commerce Business System, for invoicing. Similarly, there are multiple interfaces with CBS that manage payment processing.
NIST recently implemented Salesforce Service Cloud and wants a single Salesforce solution that would eliminate redundant solutions, streamline business processes and improve the overall customer experience. It's looking for a NIST-branded storefront that would provide secure and authenticated access to a portal or community that featured searchable product listings, shopping cart functionality, invoicing and refund and return processes.
The system should also provide workflows for sales order and quote generation, draw on data in Salesforce account/contact records to limit payment options and seamlessly connect with existing Salesforce case/customer service queues. The solution would have to integrate with CBS, Pay.Gov, SRM’s Business System and NIST Shipping solutions. NIST also wants information on an e-signature solution.
NIST said it anticipates issuing a request for quotations in the third quarter of fiscal year 2018 and awarding a contract no later than the fourth quarter of FY18.
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