Novel service offers online access to free samples

A "quickie" survey of engineers at the recent Embedded Systems Conference highlighted shortcomings in the way designers access component samples to complete their design projects.

A "quickie" survey of engineers at the recent Embedded Systems Conference in San Francisco gives the industry quantified information not previously available about how designers access component samples to complete their design projects.

Visitors to the Beganto booth at ESC were asked several key questions about their sampling activities, including how often, how many, how they go about it, and how they feel about paying for the components they need.

Far and away the predominant starting point for sampling is the website of the manufacturer of the needed component, selected by 55% of the respondents.

And in clear second place, 32% of the respondents turn first to the local sales rep (but 25% of those have first to search for contact information).

Based on aided recall, 11% reported going to one of the three major US catalogue distributors - DigiKey, Mouser or Newark-InOne - and 2% to other distributors.

Just as half the respondents start their sample request process on the web, so too do more than half expect not to pay for the requested components.

58% pay for component samples rarely or never, 27% do so about half the time, 12% pay often and 3% pay always.

Getting component samples free is a factor in the choice of where to order samples for 41%, but not for the other 59%.

For almost two-thirds the surveyed engineers, ordering samples happens once or twice a month.

Three to five times a month, report another 20%.

7% order more than five times a month, and the rest don't order at all on a regular basis.

When samples are needed, 40% order three to five components, 30% order just one or two, 24% order five to 10, and 6% order between 10 and 50.

The most important sampling problem for engineers is the need to navigate multiple websites to make their requests, followed by getting real-time feedback on sample availability and difficulty in finding product information.

Other problems, but of lesser importance, are difficulty in receiving budgetary pricing, having to submit the same request repeatedly, and for a small percentage, not having the budget to pay for samples.

In addition to getting a free teeshirt as a reward for participating in the survey, the preponderance of survey-takers got what they considered a bonus - they were made aware of Beganto's website, www.needasample.com.

Learning of its capability of batch processing of multiple line item samples, and its letting one order record be shared among customer, rep and fulfillment, typical responses were: "This sounds like a great service", and "You need to let engineers know that you exist".

Other appreciated features were keeping everyone simultaneously updated and eliminating confusion over whose court the ball is in, automatic involvement of the field sales rep, and the ability to include a favoured distributor in the sampling process.

Over 90% of the people Beganto surveyed said they would be telling their engineering colleagues about NeedASample.

Using www.needasample.com is free to engineers and buyers who register as members of the BeON programme (Beganto Open Network), and agree to report project progress.

Despite its newness, over 20,000 people have used the programme.

Samples from over 1000 companies can currently be supplied.

For a product to be processed and a request fulfilled, the component must either be produced by a BeON member manufacturer, or stocked by a member distributor.

Engineers don't have to worry about sending the sample request to the right person, nor about following up - all steps are handled automatically.

The fully automated program starts when the BeON member engineer evaluating components clicks a NeedaSample button, in any of a variety of places: the Beganto website (www.beganto.com) or the NeedaSample site (www.needasample.com), or on that of a participating rep, distributor, component manufacturer, or a co-operating publication.

Participation is also free to reps and distributors; costs are borne by component manufacturers, who feel they are more than repaid by the ability to manage their sampling system better, leading to more design wins.

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