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Artesian City solves membership services, tradeshow issues for (ISC)²
In 2002, the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, Inc. [
By 2002, their membership, which was composed mainly of those holding their primary certification offering, the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), was half again what it was prior to 9/11. They were on track to reach 12,000 members, and would double again by 2004. These increases were putting increased demands on their membership services staff, and their members were increasingly asking for ways to display their hard-earned certification.
Further, (ISC)²'s ever-increasing prominence in the IT community required that they appear in more and more industry trade shows, seminars, and other events. All of these "good problems to have" taxed the small staff of (ISC)² beyond their internal capabilities, as well as available office space (limited) and warehouse space (none).
We started with a member store
Enter Artesian City Marketing (then known as asestores.com). We were initially asked to quote on a simple "company store" arrangement, which was launched late in 2002 with a handful of products - lapel pins, a shirt available in one color, mousepads, coffee mugs, and some free luggage tags that (ISC)² shipped to us with the instruction to give them away with each order.
The lapel pins are worth mentioning because they were a seemingly small, but critical problem for (ISC)². (ISC)² was sending lapel pins to new members with their certificate, and the lapel pins were getting bent up in the mail and, even worse, sometimes scratched or tore the new member's certificate! But since the (ISC)² store was established, a new member receives a coupon which entitles him or her to go to the (ISC)² Store and receive a lapel pin. If they don't purchase any other items, their lapel pin will be mailed to them anywhere in the world at no charge to them. While (ISC)² pays more per lapel pin redemption than they did per pin purchased, only about 30% of their membership requests their pin, so they are offering a better product to any member who wants one while saving money on the overall cost of the program.
Within hours of launching the site we had our first order - for 5 of the free luggage tags. We mailed the guy his luggage tags and started to work on improving the site. We've been improving it ever since. The store now carries 10 shirt styles for men and women, several imprinted products like mugs, candy jars, leather binders, and other desk accessories, as well as books to help prospective members study for (ISC)² certifications - over 70 SKUs in all.
"It's been really great to have these guys handling the store for us. They've been very flexible about setting up new shirt styles and even special-order items for members who have some of the newer certifications, like our ISSEP concentration. They manage the inventory, interact with the members for us, handle returns and any hassles that come up - we don't have to touch it. They even send us leads from people who find their site instead of ours and want information about training! And we even get a bit of revenue back because our volume with them is so high," said Thompson.
As the certifications offered have expanded to include about half a dozen distinct certifications or "concentrations" which build on the CISSP certification model, the product offerings have expanded with them. The embroidered products on the store are now offered with most of those certification marks. Artesian City's in-house embroidery capabilities allow us to produce custom products in a matter of days.
Unique products tailored to membership requirements
Additionally, what better idea for a store built around certifications than to offer ways to put the certificates on the member's wall? Artesian City now offers replica plaques of the CISSP certificate and a program where any (ISC)² certificate can be laminated and mounted on a base for hanging on the wall - without the member mailing us his or her original! (ISC)² works with us to produce duplicate certificates, which are processed and sent directly to the member.
Phase II - fulfillment services
The second phase of our relationship with (ISC)² came in 2005 when we launched a fulfillment center for them, primarily to solve their trade show and membership services logistics. They send their brochures, trade show properties, and other marketing collatoral (logo products are usually, but not always, purchased directly from us) to our warehouse and we make it available to their employees and key contractors via a web-based ordering interface. Just by pushing a few buttons on the web site, (ISC)² is able to dispatch their materials all over the world. "We had trade show stuff basically piled up in empty cubicles and supply closets in our office near (Washington) DC, and whenever it was time to ship it somewhere, one of our office staff had to draw the short straw and pack up boxes of literature, trade show exhibits, and giveaway items. It was a nightmare sometimes," Thompson said.
The first "I" in (ISC)² stands for International, and our shipments for their membership and for the fulfillment center have lived up to this. With offices in London, Tokyo, and other major international cities, their membership is truly worldwide. We ship international packages by the USPS and by Fedex daily. We've developed a great deal of proficiency in getting packages overseas and through customs on time and as economically as possible. "I feel they've actually saved us money by helping us get further ahead of the curve in sending packages, especially to international destinations. Sending expedited stuff overseas is really expensive, and their ability to fulfill all our orders same-day if we get it to them before noon means lower freight bills for us," said Thompson.
Coming soon to a browser near you
What's next? We're working on a whole new version of the store, which will not only sell goods for (ISC)² but will incorporate some of their membership services - forums, training, and a payment mechanism for some of their instructor-led training offerings. When this website is complete, we'll be able to bring all of our services for them "under one roof" and provide a true portal environment for (ISC)²'s employees, contractors, and members. "We're excited about the idea of having a better presence for our training offerings on the web. We plan for the portal to be one-stop shopping for CISSPs and would-be CISSPs, and Artesian City will be responsible for pulling it all together," said Thompson.
We've been able to do all this for (ISC)² because we bring together several key capabilies which combine to make us the perfect outsourcing partner for your fulfillment services needs:
- Promotional Products expertise - We either produce or buy directly from the imprinters of a vast variety of great products that can light up your employees, members (or customers) and prospects.
- Warehousing capabilities - We can safely and inexpensively store your materials and keep track of them so you always know how much you have on hand. This allows you to save money by ordering what you need, when you need it.
- Shipping capabilities - Not everyone knows how to ship overseas. Avoid costly rush charges and even more costly returned packages by letting us do it!
- E-commerce capabilities - We do e-commerce for the premier IT security organization in the world. We're serious about data security, as well as usability.
- Web design - We provide web design around these other requirements so that everything takes place in an attractive, user-friendly environment.
We can provide the same solutions for your business or organization. Please contact us for a no-obligation proposal.
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