Schwarz Supply Source built the IVR they needed with Twilio

Finding an offline solution for ecommerce

Schwarz Supply Source is a leading provider of customized supply chain management solutions. Their client list includes Fortune 500 companies and some of the top retail brands in the world.

Some of Schwarz’s customers are retailers who need to place offline orders from locations that don’t have Internet access. Because their e-commerce platform has numerous real time integration points with ERP systems (i.e. inventory levels, budgeting, per-store capping restrictions) – maintaining a top notch customer experience required finding an offline solution that could take advantage of these existing IT investments.

Schwarz decided to build an IVR system, allowing customer to place orders over the telephone. They needed a system that could integrate and leverage all capabilities of their existing e-commerce and ERP systems. Streamlining call workflow to ensure a perfect balance of call length, usability and functionality was also important.

Schwarz chose Twilio to address these needs for the following reasons:

Speed to Production
The web team built a quick IVR demo on Twilio in about eight hours , using free trial credits. After demoing it to several sales and team members internally, they iterated quickly adding a few more features for customer demos. The production IVR solution will now be used across thousands of stores.

Flexibility
Schwarz is able to leverage the Twilio API’s to control every aspect of the call flow and how it interacts with their existing systems and databases.

Reliability
System uptime is a key metric for Schwarz and their customers, especially during periods of peak demand during holiday season. Twilio’s proven track record of uptime and scalability were important factors in the decision.

Ease of Use
The API and documentation made it very easy to get started, allowing their development team to build an IVR with familiar web frameworks. Schwarz used the .Net helper libraries in their solution.