element14 (formerly Farnell), the first electronic component distributor that fuses commerce and community, today announced the roll-out of specialist technical support services and technical microsites. This further extends the company’s leadership in customer and technical support as well as value-added services in service offerings, service levels and customer responsiveness in Asia Pacific.
The establishment of the Global Technology Centres in India and China underscores element14’s commitment to the growing electronic components market and electronic design engineering communities in the region. element14’s dedicated team of technical experts are combining proprietary intelligence with the latest relevant information from over 100 of the world’s top electronics suppliers to provide the most comprehensive and appropriate technical knowledge and solutions for engineers.
The technical teams at the Global Technology Centres have created up to three gigabytes of data for each product, including those stocked in element14’s 130,000-strong Asia Pacific inventory. In addition they have developed a comprehensive portfolio of vertical market solutions for alternative energy, transportation, lighting, wireless, instrumentation and measurement.
The technical content and engineering resources developed are uploaded onto element14’s network of global online websites, providing a crucial database of information and valuable technical support that customers can readily access and utilise. Design tools and specialised design resources such as application notes and development kits which are necessary tools for the conceptualisation and evaluation stages of the design cycle, can be easily accessed online. These factors help electronics design engineers to significantly accelerate their design cycles and reduce time-to-market.
All Specialist Technical Support team members are certified in their respective disciplines and have extensive training from leading vendors and manufacturers. These members are well-versed in key technological domains such as embedded design, test and measurement, power, analogue technology, passive components, optoelectronics and electromechanical devices. Regular training is conducted to ensure that element14’s panel of specialists have the most current and comprehensive knowledge base to provide accurate and relevant answers to customers, enabling them to resolve any challenges more efficiently.
Customers are able to contact the support team through various new channels such as the 24-hour web-based ‘’Live Chat’ services, telephone and email, allowing the customers to establish a direct connection with specialists from different fields at anytime. This enables customers to get personalised technical support that can help evaluate and provide the most effective solutions to resolve any challenges more efficiently.
“As technology continues to evolve and become more specialised in each sector, engineers across Asia Pacific require more in-depth and vertical-specific intelligence,” says Umasankar Pingali, Regional Director for Business Development, element14, Asia Pacific. “Both the Global Technology Centres and the Specialist Technical Support solution will serve as an integral part of our business strategy to elevate the quality of the expertise we offer as well as to expand the scope and accessibility of our technical assistance. These unique service propositions will enhance productivity and enable the innovation of product ideas through knowledge and consultation to help design engineers create innovative, best-in-class designs.”
“element14 is committed to delivering the best possible customer experience and the roll-out of our new suite of support services including specialist engineering technical support, further extends our leadership in global customer support for electronic design engineers,” said David Shen, Group Senior Vice President, Global Head of EDE and Technical Marketing at Premier Farnell. “Our customers are now able to get detailed technical support anytime, anywhere, in any language saving them valuable time in knowledge acquisition and troubleshooting problems. ‘Live Chat’ further enhances our ability to aid with productivity improvements for engineers designing with our world-class CadSoft EAGLE.”
About element14
element14 offers 130,000 products, for next-day delivery in most cities in Asia Pacific from its three distribution hubs located in Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. The company offers 24/7 telephone support for customers, 24/5 online technical support and catalogue sales, with a hassle-free return policy.
In India, please visit http://in.element14.com//. This eCommerce site is integrated with the Group’s global online Community portal (http://www.element14.com/).
Worldwide, element14 is the first collaborative community, research portal and eCommerce website for design engineers and electronics enthusiasts. The website provides product data, design tools, technology information and top brand components to seamlessly facilitate the design process; users can consult industry experts and collaborate with peers around the globe. element14 online Community is sponsored by Premier Farnell plc (LSE: pfl).
About Premier Farnell
Premier Farnell plc is leading the way in the high service, multi-channel provision of essential products, information, software and technology solutions to electronic design engineers, maintenance and repair engineers and purchasing professionals globally. Its differentiated proposition includes 29 local language transactional websites, and the critically important element14 ecommunity for design engineers - an industry first (www.element14.com). With sales last year of £990.8m and underlying profits of £93.3m the Group distributes its comprehensive portfolio of products and services throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, supported by a global supply chain of over 3,500 suppliers and an inventory profile developed to anticipate and meet its customers’ needs. Recently awarded Platinum status by the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index the business takes its CSR commitments very seriously.
While global in scope, Premier Farnell recognises the individual needs of each market and has continued to internationalise its model accordingly, trading locally under different brand names. Its primary electronics businesses trade as Farnell in Europe, Newark in the US, Canada and Mexico and Farnell Newark in Brazil. Across Asia Pacific the business trades as element14.
Key facts
* Operations in 35 countries
* 4,100 employees
* Over 2 million customer contacts in 156 industries
* Over 3,500 leading suppliers
* Over 400,000 products stocked with access to over four million more on demand
* Global leader in legislation RoHS, WEEE, REACH
