HomePoint.com to Implement PeopleSoft® Enterprise Software to Integrate Critical Systems And Enhance Customer Service

Furniture World Magazine

HomePoint.com, a leading online home furnishings supersite (www.homepoint.com), today announced that it has chosen PeopleSoft® enterprise software to power its back-office system. The implementation of PeopleSoft applications will integrate all aspects of the fast-growing e-business, providing a more seamless customer experience through turnkey account processing, inventory control, order management and more. "This system provides us with the enterprise-wide integration and automated tools we need to better serve each of our customers," said Barbara Jessen-White, chief information officer for HomePoint.com. "We selected PeopleSoft for a number of reasons. Its applications met our range of requirements in terms of both functionality and flexibility. It has a straightforward and easy-to-use, intuitive interface. And we were confident in PeopleSoft's ability to implement a robust system in an aggressive timeframe that would keep pace with our own rapid growth as a company." Customer service was a driving force in the adoption of the new system. "We were looking for information tools that would help us enhance our customer service-from the moment an individual logs onto the site to make a request or place an order, to the moment he or she receives a shipment, and beyond," said Mike West, HomePoint.com chairman, president and CEO. "By effectively automating many of those interdependent central functions like ordering and inventory, we are ensuring that our customers have a better, faster and more convenient shopping experience." PeopleSoft will be implemented across the HomePoint.com organization to support a range of business functions, including order management and fulfillment, inventory control, general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable and customer service. This new system will be fully integrated with the overall HomePoint.com website to create one total e-business solution. The PeopleSoft system is also designed with the flexibility to support all future business initiatives. HomePoint.com is headquartered in Greenville, SC, first debuted in December, 1998, under the FurniturePoint.com brand name. The organization subsequently blossomed into HomePoint.com in June 1999. In August, HomePoint.com secured $16.5 million in equity financing from Catterton Partners and GE Equity, along with New Millennium Partners and Piedmont Venture Partners, to be directed toward building the HomePoint.com brand, operating expenses and developing its home furnishings supersite. HomePoint.com services consumers with a comprehensive selection of home furnishings, free shipping in the continental U.S., design consultation and a 100 percent customer satisfaction guarantee. PeopleSoft (NASDAQ: PSFT) is a world leader in enterprise application software. PeopleSoft provides e-business and analytic applications for human resource management, financials, distribution, manufacturing and supply chain, along with a range of industry-specific solutions. For more than 3,000 customers, PeopleSoft applications offer greater flexibility, rapid implementation, scalability across multiple databases and operating systems, and lower cost of ownership. Customers include some of the largest multi-national organizations in the world, as well as small- to mid size businesses. Headquartered in Pleasanton, CA, PeopleSoft (www.peoplesoft.com) employs more than 6,000 people and in 1998 had revenues of $1.3 billion.