Northeast Sales Distributing is a beverage distributor with corporate headquarters in Winder, GA. Northeast distributes beer, wine, liquor and water in Georgia and the Carolinas.
Challenge
Northeast Sales route salespeople were using a dated and increasingly unreliable handheld device and application for order entry. Sales personnel were using an order sheet in the field to handwrite orders during customer visits. Upon completion of the route, the salespeople entered handwritten orders into a handheld unit. Then a telephone line and modem were used to transfer data to the Corporate System for order fulfillment.
Northeast was looking for a Mobile Order Entry Solution that would alleviate the following challenges:
- The ability to provide accurate pricing during a client visit – currently being hand calculated.
- Improved accuracy of order quantities – currently being keyed at end of route from handwritten orders.
- Increased window of time for loading orders – orders being loaded at the end of day as data when orders quantities are available.
- Improved data transfer reliability – incomplete orders may be transmitted, confirmation of order not provided.
Solution
Stratapult provided Northeast a Mobile Order Entry Solution which includes a handheld application for Pocket PC, recommendation of peripherals and the tools to manage the devices once deployed. The application allows the route salesperson to quickly record inventory and orders during a customer visit. Functionality to calculate accurate promotional pricing, taxes and order totals allow the salesperson to communicate the order details to the customer before the delivery.
The mobile order entry handheld application was developed using the Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework, Windows Mobile 2003, OpenNETCF and SQL Server CE.
The application makes use of several peripherals including a printer for keg sales personnel to print invoices at the time of delivery and a wireless barcode scanner that is used to quickly look up products by UPC. A Bluetooth-enabled, cell phone and dial-up network connection was integrated with the application to transmit orders to Northeast Sales throughout the day.
Stratapult implemented iAnywhere's Afaria to manage the connection session which guarantees the full, error-free delivery of data to and from the handheld. Afaria is also used to remotely deploy any software updates that are needed for the handheld and installed applications. Northeast Sales was able to use Stratapult's expertise in developing a turnkey Mobile Order Entry Solution which includes consulting on device and peripheral selection, application development and Afaria integration.
Impact
The rollout of the Mobile Order Entry Solution provides Northeast Sales with the following benefits:
- Delivery trucks are loaded sooner using less overtime hours because route salespeople transmit orders throughout the day rather than when the route is complete.
- Devices failure recovery is no longer an issue with the use of Afaria reducing potential down time and improving efficiency as sales representatives no longer have to bring the device into the corporate office for recovery.
- More efficient sales have resulted as sales can be digitally recorded on-site eliminating the need to record the order a second time at the end of the day.
- Improved accuracy of orders has resulted as data is keyed at the client site and reviewed by the client.
- Customer service has been improved because customers are more informed about the cost associated with upcoming accurate deliveries.
