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Distributor Uses Web 2.0 To Beat Volcanic Delays

May 6, 2010
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Volcanic eruption

The recent volcanic eruption in Iceland drastically reduced air travel over most of Europe, and many business are still recovering from the disruption. Premier Farnell plc, though, is keeping its customers informed with up-to-date information via its local language Web sites (www.farnell.com) as well as popular social media like Facebook and Twitter. Through Premier Farnell’s element14 community, engineers also are connecting with each other and working on their designs without any fallout from the eruption.

The company says that it is leveraging its worldwide stockholding and working very closely with its global freight partners to ensure customers receive on-time deliveries and to minimize any disruption, with next-day delivery achieved in most countries. Premier Farnell also says that its investments in key warehouse locations around the world enable it to provide the same high levels of service when other businesses with more centralized warehouses are struggling.

“As the situation is beyond our control, we have focused our energy on communication and continuing to meet customer need to ensure the crisis does not interfere with our commitment to on-time delivery. Such situations reiterate the importance of being able to share detailed information with customers at speed, and our strong Web presence has ensured this has been possible,” said Neil Harrison, president of Farnell Europe.

“We have successfully communicated frequent local updates in all regions and are working round-the-clock to keep our customers informed via our Web sites, Twitter, and Facebook news pages, demonstrating once again the power of these tools to business today,” Harrison said. “We are well equipped to continue business as normal in times of adversity and welcome the news that the disruption is showing signs of improvement. We will continue to communicate frequently until the situation returns completely to normal.”

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