Feature

Business at the speed of handhelds

Companies in pharma, retail and other industries are using handhelds to empower their sales force and capture data in near real-time, finds Shivani Shinde

Increasing competition and the urge to retain customers and expand marketshare have made companies adopt ways and means to deploy devices that allow them to have real-time information about their product’s performance in the market and at the same time cast off the age-old chains of paper.

These initiatives have helped organisations become more dynamic and responsive. One of the critical functions in a company is sales. Sales force automation is getting more crucial day-by-day as companies feel the need to know the requirement of their customers in hours, and not days or months. Handheld devices are one of the ways by which companies are achieving this.

Although Indian companies have been slow to adopt handhelds, many which have already deployed them swear by their advantages. Those who have been using such gadgets agree that use of mobile devices cuts cost, saves time and makes it possible for the companies to have real-time information for better analysis. Handheld devices are being now used in verticals like pharma, FMCG, retail and banking.

Updates in real time

Before Sun Pharmaceutical’s PSRs (Professional Service Representatives) began using handheld devices, they spent at least an hour filing reports every single day. Now the time has come down to a far more efficient 20-25 minutes. Amit Sheth, IT Head at Sun says, “Prior to giving the sales force mobile devices, we had three to four employees working exclusively on compiling data. Now these people have been shifted to more useful functions like analysing the data collected for making better business decisions.”

At times, product samples sent to doctors would either go missing or would reach late and delay the process of ordering. The reasons could be postal delays or lack of communication between the outstation PSR and the HO. With mobile devices in use, such details can be accessed immediately at Sun’s head office.

With a sales force of 1,800 across India, the company’s been able to reduce its expenditure through this deployment. “We have yet to provide mobile devices for our sales force all over India. As of now they have been provided to only the sales force in Maharashtra,” discloses Sheth. Though it has been just a year, Sheth believes that the use of Nokia 3530 and 3100 handsets for this purpose has helped the company save Rs 50 lakh to 60 lakh every year.

This system allows employees to scan goods while the customer is in the queue; once he reaches the counter, data gets downloaded within seconds Chinar Deshpande Chief Information Officer Pantaloon

In this system handheld devices are used to capture three levels of information—details regarding the samples dispatched, when the PSR received the samples, and when the samples were provided to a doctor. Other than this, the representative can download the automation application and other data (list of doctors, gifts, etc) from the company’s central server. He can store it on his mobile, select desired fields as part of his daily report, make changes, and send the same back to the server.

Dr Reddy’s has also automated its sales force. Says Ranga Reddy, Senior Director, IS, at the pharma company, “When a representative is visiting a doctor, since he has a mobile device he can use the waiting period of 15-20 minutes to fill in details rather than wait till the end of the day.” Reddy expects savings to be about 33 percent.

At Dr Reddy’s, the mobile devices—Acer n50 series and Palm Zire 71s— provide information such as expenses, calls and doctor-related reports. Updates take place in near real-time; data collected on handhelds is transferred to a central server. Ranga Reddy is of the view that it has also helped the company improve its decision-making. Since the information is available online, it can be accessed from anywhere.

For Parryware, a division of EID Parry (India) and one of the largest manufacturers of sanitaryware, automating their sales force was part of the company policy regarding the introduction of new and improved technology to offer customers better service; their Nokia 3530s have helped the company track sales and goods. Earlier, Parryware’s sales force would also take days to know the status of an order or determine the availability of a product. The company went in for wireless system from Air2WeB. This technology integrates with the company’s SAP system, ensuring that information is available online to everyone.

The system’s push service sends out information such as the monthly plan, order inflow and actual sales figure to the sales force, area manager and regional manager. Top management gets information like all-India sales performance and factory performance. While sales data is pushed to the sales force and management once each morning, the pull service lets employees pull data any time they want, which will be useful at the end of the month to get an idea of whether sales performance is as per plan. Meanwhile, data on the company’s server is updated on an hourly basis.

As of now, mobile devices have been provided only to our sales force in Maharashtra. We have yet to provide them to our sales team in other states Amit Sheth Head Of IT Sun Pharmaceuticals

Another feature of Parryware’s system is for dealers, who get an order acknowledgement as soon as they place one. A thank-you message is sent immediately after a dealer places an order on the site. Through auto updation, the order is injected into the SAP system. The dispatch status is then sent across with the invoice number, value and receipt status to the relevant parties.

“Before the use of mobile phones we did not have any sort of records. Today we are continuously updating the availability of products. The system also lets the top management access sales reports and other details on a daily basis, giving them access to information in real-time,” explains Nagu S, Head of IT at Parryware. The information is sent via SMS.

Different strokes

Customising handheld devices as per a company’s needs is something that is much sought after. At Sun Pharma, handheld devices (provided by Base Information Systems) are Java-based. Sheth is of the view that since Java applications are lightweight, they permit higher storage since the application requires 1 MB of memory to run. The company has provided its sales team handsets with a memory of 32 MB.

Other companies have used the mobility advantage in different ways. Take Torrent Pharmaceuticals. It developed a Web-based solution for its 2,000-strong force which can be accessed from any place. The solution uses ASP as its development tool, Internet Explorer as the front end, and .NET as the back end. The way this works is as follows: the PSR chalks out his work plan a month in advance. The plan contains details of activities that will be carried out during the next month (number of doctors to be visited, type of doctors, seminars, meetings, camps, etc.) This is then sent to the head office for approval. Any deviation in the approved plan is conveyed to the office and immediately worked upon.

Company representatives can log on to the system from any cyber café. Jyoti Bandopadhyay, Torrent’s VP for IT is of the view that this system is much better than using mobile devices. “Mobile devices have their limitations. For example, they cannot display a comprehensive portal as they have space constraints.” He points out that providing handhelds to 2,000 employees would have resulted in his company incurring huge costs. “It’s not just the device…you have to think of the software that comes with it as well as the communication systems.”

Though his is not a typical mobile force automation solution, Bandopadhyay insists that at any time of the day his company has at least 200 sales representatives online, and that updates take place daily. According to him, the average time spent by a PSR on filing reports is just about 11 hours per month. The system allows the company to track progress on primary as well as secondary sales. “As far as savings are concerned, it’s at least 50 percent.”

Advantages aplenty

The system lets the top management access sales reports and other details on a daily basis, giving them access to information in real-time Nagu S Head Of IT Parryware

Other than saving on time and resources, many feel that it helps business process as information can be conveyed easily. For instance, since all the PSRs at Sun have handheld devices, those within the same geographical area can join a closed user group. “If a representative has important information or wants specific information about anything, he can easily communicate with others since they are within the same state,” explains Sheth.

Though automating the sales force is the first function that’s benefitted from the use of handhelds, these devices are being used innovatively at some retail outlets. A case in point is Big Bazaar. In some of its outlets, employees have been provided with handheld Metrologic MS 7120 and Symbol LS 2208 scanners to reduce the time taken at the checkout counter. “We found that during special offers and busy months the queue at the cash counter is long, and many a time people leave behind a trolley full of goods due to the delay, which is business lost. This system allows employees to scan the goods while the customer is in the queue; once he reaches the counter the scanner is connected to the computer, the data gets downloaded within seconds, and he checks out quickly,” explains Chinar Deshpande, CIO of Pantaloon. The system is being used in 22 outlets; according to Deshpande, it has resulted in time saved as queues are avoided.

Along with pharmaceutical companies which have been in the forefront of handheld usage due to business compulsions, retail and FMCG are following suit. These deployments help managers stay on top of numbers concerning their area of business; they also help the PSRs learn about their company’s latest offerings.

shivani@expresscomputeronline.com