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To enter new markets, reduce costs and grow revenue, many manufacturers are embarking on joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and outsourcing. As a result, some companies have as many assets in foreign countries as they do in their own country.

Field sales, field service, asset management, shop floor management, business intelligence, and supply chain management are the ones who have received huge attention. Use of wireless solutions on the shop floor and for business intelligence is only just emerging, but already looks very promising.

During the last decade, an explosion of sales force automation (SFA) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems were introduced in the market. Despite enormous investments in these systems, user adoption is very limited. Extending SFA and CRM functionality to accessible, easy-to-use wireless devices, puts these high value systems into the hands of mobile workers when they need them most, dramatically increasing user adoption rates.

Before Wireless
Take this scenario. A regional sales representative spends an average of three days per week making face-to-face calls on prospects and customers. When he is in the office, he dedicates a morning a week to give feedback to his sales pipeline. Recently, his company has extended its SFA to his laptop to try and end late reporting at the last moment. While he finds the system easy to use in the office, it is not the case when he is away. As a result, he stores up his updates until he can get back to the office.

He begins a three-day road trip by car. Arriving at his first appointment, he discovers his appointee had sent an email explaining he would not be available, and had arranged for him to meet instead with one of his technical staff. In addition, he had some specific questions that were also in his email. The sales representative has never met this member of the technical staff, so he has no background on his role in the company or the sales process. In the meeting, he asks about the boss's questions and seems annoyed that he is not prepared to address them. He promises to provide a technical brief by email and makes a mental note to follow up. On his way to the next appointment, he gets a voice mail on his cell phone regarding a customer looking for a quote. If he can submit the quote that day, they will approve the purchase immediately. Taking a detour, he stops at two different hotels looking for a wireless hotspot, so that he can connect to the office.

He logs on, prepares a quote and emails it to the customer. He calls ahead to his second appointment, saying he is running late. The receptionist puts him on hold for several minutes, and when he comes back on the line tells him the appointee has asked to rebook for a later date.

Realizing she now has some unexpected free time, she wonders if he should do his call report. Since he finds the reporting system inconvenient and annoying, however, he decides to make a call on another customer instead. He searches his contact list and locates a couple of customers close by. One agrees to the short notice visit, if he can advise them on the new upgrade. He calls product marketing, which sent a brief status report by email. Then the office calls saying the customer she referred earlier was asking what the price would be if they increase their order. He hurries to a hotel equipped with Wi-Fi to log on to the ERP order history to get price break information and his email. Using the hotel's business center, he prints the upgrade information for his next appointment, and sends a revised quote with the better volume pricing. All the extra time has eaten into his schedule, so despite the extra effort the additional customer site visit turns into a brief handshake and exchange of literature in the lobby.

Later, his afternoon appointments completed, he checks into a hotel. He logs on and downloads his email. An email from his manager reminds him to update the pipeline report. He also sees an email from his first appointee, who is not happy, as they are still waiting for the technical summary he promised. He logs on to the SFA system and begins his call updates. Despite having an SFA application on his laptop, he still feels disconnected from the information he needs to do his job, and views the SFA system as a hindrance.

After Wireless
Now, imagine this scenario. A regional sales representative prepares for a road trip. Recently, his company has extended its SFA to the mobile application. Using a dashboard display of icons, the mobile application gives the sales representative access to critical SFA and PIM (personal information management) functions.

Armed with his mobile application and a bluetooth-enabled printer, the sales representative begins a three-day road trip. On the way to his first appointment, he receives an email from the appointee, explaining he will not be available and has arranged for her to meet instead with one of his technical staff. Furthermore, he has some specific questions. He replies, confirming he will make the appointment, and requesting background information on the new contact. After reading the response and the technical questions, he selects the 'Technical Specifications' icon to access the knowledgebase directory. Using a wireless printer he prints the appropriate document. He also sends an instant message to tee up an internal consultant should he need one during the meeting. His contingency meeting goes well, and the technical staff member is pleased with the information provided. Using her mobile application, he selects the prospect from his contact list and then the 'Call Update' icon. Scrolling through the milestones in the associated sales strategy, he selects the "technical review complete" step to immediately update the pipeline and call reporting functions at head office.

He notices an email advising him that one of his customers is looking for a quote. He selects the customer contact link embedded in the email and accesses the 'Customer History' function to review past orders. He then accesses 'Product Catalog' to view products and services required for the quote. Since the 'Quote' function is tied to pricing and order history, he is automatically alerted to the next price break, assuming he can bump up the order. He prepares two quotes and emails them to the customer. A short while later, he places a follow-up call and learns the customer is very pleased with the second option, and promises to place the order for the larger amount that day.

He realizes he is running ahead of schedule and decides to make an additional call. Since his customer contact list has map proximity and auto routing, he easily locates a couple of customers close by and calls them. One customer agrees to the short notice visit, providing he can update them on the progress of the new upgrade. He agrees and accesses the 'Product Updates' function, retrieves the required information and prints it on her bluetooth-enabled printer. The customer is very pleased with the update information and responsiveness and promises to give the upgrade serious consideration. He accesses the 'Opportunity' icon to instantly add the potential new business to the pipeline, including potential deal size, related products, and sales process milestones.

After making all his other appointments prepared on time, he checks into a hotel. Since he has been updating his call status reports in virtual real-time on his mobile application and has responded to his email throughout the day, he can focus on his to-do list, also located on his mobile application, and create his sales strategy for the following day. With the reduction in non-selling time and activities, he is confident he will exceed his aggressive quota and feels he is able to communicate effectively with his customers and manager.

Ravi Subramanyam
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in
The author is director, mobileOne Infocom

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