| |
| Case Study |
| |
Global giant prevents stock-outs through a
mobile field force automation solution |
The world's leading supplier of water process systems, turned to Patni to develop a mobile sales force
solution that helped the client empower its sales force and enhance customer satisfaction.
The Client
The client is a leading worldwide supplier of products and services
related to water and industrial process treatments. With over 5000
employees and $1.4 BN in revenues, the client provides services to a host
of industries ranging from beverages, chemical processing to high-tech
industries including life sciences, microelectronics, and pharmaceuticals.
The Challenge
Spurred by the potential of technology advancements to alter the dynamics of
business, the client was constantly on the lookout for improving the efficiency of its
customer service representatives (CSRs), reduce the cost of service, and enhance
the quality of services to its customers. The client had a field force of more than
2000 customer service representatives, who visited customer sites to provide
service and technical support. The CSRs inspected the water system equipments,
carried out water purification tests, and replenished the chemicals required for
purification. As a part of the process, the CSRs registered sales orders, collected
customer service data, and submitted the same by fax or telephone to the client's
head office. However, this process threw up significant challenges which had a
major impact on customer satisfaction. Some of these challenges included:
 |
Capturing unstructured data from the information submitted through channels
such as telephone and fax |
|
Removing mismatch errors between the quantities booked and the inventoryin-
hand caused due to absence of instant access to inventory status |
|
Reducing delays in order processing caused due to inconsistency in the format
of sales orders. |
Further, probability of errors during manual re-entry of order details into the ERP
system compounded the problems. Additionally, there were instances of stock-outs,
caused due to the lag-time between order booking and order fulfillment. To sum up,
the inefficiency and unpredictability associated with the process of order booking
deterred the client's competitiveness in the marketplace.
The Solution
The client sought Patni's services to develop a solution that eliminated uncertainties and
inefficiencies associated with its existing systems. Patni's responsibilities encompassed a wide
range of activities from business process study to solution development and deployment. After
a detailed business process study, the client agreed to implement a customized mobile field
force automation solution that would enable the CSRs to capture and post order
details accurately.
Patni developed an application with a thick client design using VC++,
eVC++ and Java. The significance of the mobile application to a CSR on
the move is the fact that the CSR can key in information in an offline
mode and post data when he is connected. This is possible due to the low
application footprint which enables the application software and data to
fit on a PDA. A local database ensures that almost all the application
processing takes place on the PDA with little or no processing taking
place at the server end. An application server integrates the thick client
application with SAP the corporate system. The application exploits the
capability of SyncML DB2e framework to facilitate remote data
synchronization with the server. The solution also takes care of
automatic client upgrades. Every time the PDA's synchronize, the new
version of the software is installed.
The Technology
|
Java, J2EE, JSP |
|
WebLogic Application Server |
|
Oracle 9i, VC++, eVC++ |
|
IBM DB2 Everyplace Synchronization Solution. |
| |
 |
The Benefits
The application provided the functionality to determine near-real time
inventory, determine exact sales order quantities, and transmit the sales
order to the sales office for immediate shipment. The solution enabled the
Sales & Service Representatives to confirm order quantities while being on
the move. Similarly, they could create Customer Service Reports and
e-mail it.
Additional benefits include:
|
The new application has improved the sales process leading to
significant efficiencies in sales efforts. An estimated 120 Sales person
months were saved due to this application, with lesser number of sales
representatives required to perform a sales activity |
|
Apart from direct savings, significant value was generated by achieving
a 50% reduction in cycle time for the entire business process. Reduced
errors in order booking, increased accuracy and quick response resulted
in improved customer satisfaction |
|
The system was now totally online in terms of existing inventory &
reserved inventory. Hence there was a high degree of accuracy in stock
availability estimation. This helped the client reorder in time, leading
to fewer stock outs |
|
Field data was now available to the central marketing department for
doing analysis and taking key decisions. |
|
