REDMOND, Wash., March 21, 2002 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that Dimension Data, a global provider of infrastructure and multichannel e-business solutions, has completed a premium franchise network on Microsoft® Commerce Server 2000 for International Dairy Queen Inc. (IDQ), a leading quickserve restaurant franchiser that develops, licenses and services a system of more than 5,700Dairy Queen® restaurants, 326Orange Julius® stores and 26 Karmelkorn ® Shoppes . In an effort to differentiate itself from other franchises, IDQ enlisted Dimension Data to develop an extranet portal that would provide a full range of franchisee services, support corporate brand standards and reduce administrative costs.
“IDQ had two requirements when it came to us to develop its corporate extranet site,”
said Tim Clark, senior vice president of the Product and Service Industry Group at Dimension Data.
“The first was that the site had to support employees of more than 6,000 franchises worldwide who would log in for the most current information; the second was that it had to be developed in time for the company’s annual convention 12 weeks later. Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 was our answer to those demands.”
“Ninety-nine percent of our franchisees are independently owned and operated. Our ability to support and communicate with these owners is critical to the success and growth of our business,”
said Dean Peters, director of Communications for IDQ.
“The corporate extranet Dimension Data developed with Commerce Server 2000 is key to our ability to be agile as our marketing strategy responds to consumer demands, competitive pressure and new franchise requirements.”
To gain franchise awareness and support, IDQ needed to launch its new extranet site during its annual corporate convention. Despite the tight turnaround, Dimension Data was able to build and deploy the extranet ahead of schedule due to the flexibility of Commerce Server 2000 and its ability to extend the functionality of back-office enterprise systems; the Microsoft solution also enables IDQ to avert an expensive replacement of those systems in the future.
IDQ, a company that primarily depended on paper-based communication, is now able to better support and communicate with more than 6,000 franchisees via the new, feature-rich corporate extranet.
“Microsoft prides itself on developing software that is easy to use, rapid to deploy and able to ultimately reduce costs for our customers,”
said L.J. Germinario, technical product manager for Commerce Server at Microsoft.
“We’re delighted that IDQ is able to simplify franchise operations with Commerce Server 2000.”
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