A Tablet for a Salesperson: For and Against - Case Study Example

? A Tablet for a Salesperson-So They Can Take Their Orders Instead Of Writing Them down And Faxing Them Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Abstract 3 2. Brief Company Background 4 3. Discussion of Business Problem(s) 5 4. High Level Solution 7 5. Benefits of Solving the Problem 8 6. Business/Technical Approach 10 7. Business Process Changes 11 8. Technology or Business Practices Used To Augment the Solution 12 9. Conclusions and Overall Recommendations 12 10. High-Level Implementation Plan 13 11. Summary of Project 13 References 15 Appendices 18 1. Abstract Bosch Corporation is regarded to be one of the world leaders in the fields of technology and services. The businesses that are concerned with service sector need to be well updated in terms of the customers’ needs and preferences. In this regard, to manage the customers better, Tablet can be a useful device for the salespersons. This study is mainly concerned with the Bosch’s proposed plan to provide Tablets to its salespersons. There are a number of benefits that can be gained by the use of Tablets in the business. In this regard, technological solutions have been provided to the given problems of ineffective business operations. 2. Brief Company Background The Bosch Group is one of the foremost universal suppliers of technology & services. In the fiscal 2012, its approximately 306,000 associates generated huge sales of US$67.5 billion. In the business region of North America, the Bosch Group has 24,587 associates, and in the business year 2012 it achieved total consolidated sales of US$10.6 billion. Since long time, Bosch has been operating in various business sectors such as automotive technology, industrial technology, consumers goods, energy and building technology and health care [1] (Bosch, 2013). Bosch is well known electronics and engineering technology oriented company which is trusted by global consumers for its software innovations along with system solutions. Bosch has been operating in the business of developing high-end technology since the year 1886, and has had a strong presence in the United States (US) till the time of 1906. Since the initiation of Bosch, American customers persist to positively react to the innovation as well as quality of Bosch. Robert Bosch was the founder of Bosch in Stuttgart, Germany in the year 1886. All through the history of the company, Bosch has been steered by these unique ideals. Bosch continues to be a company dedicated to the innovation and forward movement while being firmly grounded in the energizing culture formed by its founder [2] (Bosch, 2013). Its values can be determined as follows: Future along with Result Focus Responsibility Initiative along with Determination Openness as well as Trust Fairness Cultural Diversity Legality, Credibility and Reliability [3] (Bosch, 2013) With these considerations, the study is mainly associated with Bosch Corporation, one of the premium global suppliers of services & technology. During its operations, it has been witnessing various business problems and as a reason of that a strategy can be taken to provide Tablets to the salespersons to take customers’ orders instead of writing them down & faxing them to the company. Possible audience for this study could be both the senior management and sales department of Bosch. 3. Discussion of Business Problem(s) The use of varied technologies has become a commonplace affair in global business activities of organizations. Without the incorporation of technology, no business can prosper and cannot even survive. Bosch is one of the global leaders attaining huge number of sales worldwide. To define the business problem of Bosch, there is a requirement to explain its operations. Bosch operates in four major segments such as mobility, home products, industry solutions & software solutions. Therefore, there is a requirement to handle a huge customer base (Robert Bosch GmbH, n.d.). Bosch has been witnessing certain problems regarding its customer service operations. Bosch’s customers from around the world at times have suffered various product related problems and have failed to get proper solutions from the customer service department of Bosch. Owing to its global operations, the sales and the customer services departments of the company need to maintain proper collaboration with the production & manufacturing segment. Without prompt action taken by the front end departments such as sales department, it becomes quite difficult for Bosch to render prompt services to the customers at the right time. In this similar context, salespersons operating under the periphery of sales department of a company work towards bringing a lot of sales opportunities to the company. They also bridge the gap between the company and its consumers. After purchasing any product, if the consumers face any problem regarding the operation of the product then they contact the salespersons, from whom they purchased their product. Due to a lack of infrastructural problems, salespersons in the Bosch can feel difficulties in handling their clients. Salespersons mostly face problems on the event of taking orders from their customers and later on faxing them to the sales department of the company. This process is quite time consuming and complex. Salespersons are not only responsible for taking orders, but they also need to answer certain customer queries. Continuous faxing by the salespersons not only increases organizational expenditures but also it wastes valuable working time of the sales personnel (Robert Bosch GmbH, n.d.). In this regard, it can be said that companies failing to integrate appropriate technologies can suffer from a lack of profitability and/or competiveness. Manual order taking is quite an inefficient process. With the continuation of manual order taking, companies at times might not be well aware about a customer’s choices and preferences which can significantly affect organizations such as Bosch’s endeavor to ensure continued product development based on altering customer preferences. On the other hand, the absence of high-end electronic gadgets can hinder the growth of the business in terms of maintaining proper internal corporate communication. 4. High Level Solution In order to manage the customers with more efficiency, business problems need to be solved with greater urgency and accuracy. As far as high level of solution is concerned, the introduction of Tablets for the operations of the salespersons of Bosch can serve the purpose. With the help of the information technology (IT) enabled Tablets salespersons can take the orders from their customers and instead of faxing them to the sales department of the company. The introduction of Tablet can actually facilitate to accomplish Business-to-Business (B2B) contracts. Tablet can be a comprehensive device for the salespersons to increase the sales through marketing. With the help of Tablet, salespersons would not be required to use fax machines to send the sales orders anymore. Tablet will allow field sales & service personnel to sell more professionally, along with reducing print & distribution costs for the sales material. According to Gartner, the apex commercial business application for Tablets incorporates the sales force automation for sales presentations and sales ordering systems among others. This new era of sales automation systems is rising both in the B2B and the Business-To-Consumer (B2C) industries. Owing to the above mentioned reasons, Bosch also needs to deliver Tablets to its sales personnel. In this regard by using Tablet, apart from taking sales orders, consumer products’ sales team can position its new products, make the customers aware about the upcoming promotional campaigns along with the providence of category analyses to the retail customers. Tablet serves the business in numerous ways such as auto sales associates can help the company by sending customers’ design, order along with financing an automobile directly from the showroom floor which attracts the customers towards the company (Oracle, n.d.). There are various B2B organizations all around the globe that have successfully integrated Tablets within their sales strategy. A few of these companies include Culligan International Company, SCA Tissue and Medtronic, Inc. (American Marketing Association, 2013). 5. Benefits of Solving the Problem Tablets can offer B2B sales teams a number of multiple benefits that can help drive superior sales results. However, a strategy of using Tablets also requires that B2B companies take step to make sure that Tablets are effectively used by their sales force. In this regard, Bosch also needs to make sure that its website is Tablet-friendly & Tablet ready. Most importantly, sales team must have Tablet-friendly marketing materials and contents. Buyers of the present times look ahead for robust multimedia experiences. It’s essential that Bosch creates multimedia contents & marketing materials that provide engaging customer experiences (American Marketing Association, 2013). If the salespersons of Bosch start using Tablets in the process of taking their orders then the chances of making mistakes can be lowered. Salespersons will be quite motivated towards using Tablets. There are multiple business applications in a Tablet which can help salespersons to focus on their targets along with attaining their business goals. Tablets make it easy for the sales personnel to view, track and manipulate business data on the go. Owing to the use of Tablets, it can eliminate the need for salespersons to return to the office floor to update the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, reevaluate multiple sales opportunities and create presentations or perform other tasks. Instead of doing these tasks salespersons can highly dedicate their time to the facet of making customer interactions. Apart from this, at the time of taking orders from the customers, information regarding track shipping and inventory can be easily available with the help of Tablets (Snyder, 2012). In addition, with the help of Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G connections, salespersons can take orders from their customers in a faster way along with mailing the order lists to the company in a more convenient way. Tablets are light weight and easy to carry, thus the salespersons of Bosch need not to move to the customer site with heavy brochures and catalogues (American Marketing Association, 2013). Profitability, revenue generation and product costs are strongly related with the sales of the organization. Sales can be maximized by interacting more with the customers. Product cost can be reduced by maximizing sales which will proportionately increase the company revenues and earning capacities. Tablets can also help Bosch to increase its competitiveness by the process of using more and more sales and forecasting Tablet applications. In this regard, Bosch can implement the theory of market positioning with the online surveys that can be conducted by the online Tablet applications. Moreover, once the company gets the knowledge of customers’ tastes and preferences, new products can be developed as per the customers’ requirements. After using the Bosch’s products, if the customers feel unsatisfied then they can register their complaints to the sales personnel online which will help Bosch to ascertain further improvement in terms of product development. Regarding the aspect of benefits, it can be said that with better forecasting applications, salespersons can be well prepared for the future growth. 6. Business/Technical Approach With regard to the aspects of technicality, while using Tablets, salesperson can download various business applications to keep themselves updated about the market demands. Contextually, establishing enhanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can really help the sales force. Currently, there are numerous CRM service providers who build applications for the sales team. Apart from this, there are also Sales Force Automation & contact management tools that have Tablet users offering organization’s sales team complete admittance to customer data while they are out trying to close their next deal. For example, Motorola ET1 enterprise Tablet has functions from retail to field sales and services. This Tablet provides various business class supports. Reading or viewing documents, presentations or spreadsheets can also be done with the help of Tablet. Tablets are often used for the purpose of analytics and modeling as well as to access multiple web meetings along with videoconferences. ET1 help the businesses through increasing sales opportunities (Motorola Solutions, Inc, 2013; Cisco, n.d.) Bosch also engages in B2B business, in this regard by using Tablets salespersons can demonstrate their clients the display of the offered products. By this process, customers can easily place their orders. This process reduces the chances of sales return from the customers as they will be buying products after viewing it. Salespersons can get various advantages by using supply chain management applications in their Tablets. In order to meet the growing need for mobile supply chain solutions, McKesson Supply Chain Management can be fruitfully utilized with mobile solutions such as Tablets and phones (American Marketing Association, 2013). 7. Business Process Changes With the providence of Tablets to the salespersons, the company can also trace its sales-force. Moreover, certain Tablet based sales applications are there which allow company headquarters to aggregate & analyze sales data. Through this process, the company will be able to identify the most effective and active salespersons and consequently it can work for the improvement of the inefficient salespersons (Showcase Software Limited, 2012). Inubit Suite for Business Process Management Inubit Suite is a central platform for the holistic Business Process Management (BPM) supporting the full BPM life cycle. Business processes can be graphically explained, simulated, technically implemented and monitored in real time -with the objective to optimize business processes in a sustainable method (Robert Bosch GmbH, n.d.). The functions of the BPM can be summarized as below: Bringing business departments and IT together Using powerful technologies Entailing the broadest variety of applications Progressing methodically (Robert Bosch GmbH, n.d.) BPM can be better managed by the use of Tablets. One of the primary goals of the BPM is to bring the business department and IT together. As Tablet is a light weight, high tech and easy to carry device so providence of Tablet to the salesperson can really boost the businesses of Bosch. 8. Technology or Business Practices Used To Augment the Solution Tablets can serve Bosch is numerous ways through its technologies. With the help of Tablets, salespersons get the facility of B2B and B2C, mailing, CRM, SCM, ERP, video conferencing, database management and office suit directly from the Tablet. Tablet is high-tech and need only a tough to get all the relevant internal and external information of the company. 9. Conclusions and Overall Recommendations Salespersons can be viewed as one of the main human resources in the sales department of a company. They bring customers to the company. Thus, a company always needs to focus on the latest business requirements of them. In this regard, to deal with the market competition, Bosch needs to provide a high-end device such as Tablets to its salesperson. This is because with the help of Tablet, the company can track its employees and their respective level of efficiency. According to this study, the company can incorporate any personal sales application developed by the software developers or with the help of the CRM software Bosch can maintain strong relationship with its various stakeholders especially its customers. 10. High-Level Implementation Plan Changes to Technology With the introduction of Tablet, salespersons can be upgraded with the advancement of technology. Salespersons can get access to the spreadsheet applications such as MS Excel and database applications such as MS Access. For example, HP ElitePad can be said to be a business Tablet with several business features (Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., 2013) Changes to Personnel For the better implementation of plans, there are certain changes which need to be made such as changes in the personnel. Training needs to be provided to the sales team so that Tablets can turn out to be handy and useful devices to them. 11. Summary of Project With the rapid expansion in the trade and commerce industry, there is a crucial necessity that emerges for the companies to integrate their business operations with the technologies. Now all companies have realized that the involvement of technology helps them to reduce the time consumption for their business operations, which can increase their profit levels. Bosch is multinational company having diverse business segments. Bosch’s presence can be seen in various kinds of businesses. Bigger presence tends generally to render bigger sales opportunities. To meet the sales targets, sales team needs to always remain updated about the latest business trends of the market. Along with this, they also need to motivate the employees so that the customers get attracted towards the products of Bosch. On the basis of the above mentioned explanation of the study, it can be stated that the salespersons of Bosch need to be offered with the use of Tablets which can help them while taking orders from the customers. Along with this, instead faxing sales orders to the company, salespersons can easily mail them to the company at a very cheap rate. Bosch’s concerned authority needs to take initiatives regarding upgrading its sales personnel with the latest high-tech mobile devices that can connect sales team with the customers. Integration of the businesses with the technology is a prerequisite condition for the smooth running and survival of a company. Changes in the business environment cannot be stopped. To adopt the Tablet policy, it needs to train its employees as well in terms of efficient and comprehensive use of the device. Technology should not be separated from the businesses as it can certainly render to long-term competitive advantage to them. References American Marketing Association. (2013). How tablets are revolutionizing sales for the road warrior. Retrieved from http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrary/Documents/newsletters/b2b/2012/10/how-tablets-are-revolutionizing-sales-for-road-warrior.pdf [1] Bosch. (2013). About Bosch in the USA. Retrieved from http://www.bosch.us/content/language1/html/867.htm [2] Bosch. (2013). History. Retrieved from http://www.bosch.us/content/language1/html/2706.htm [3] Bosch. (2013). Attitude. Retrieved from http://www.bosch.us/content/language1/html/5535.htm Cisco. (n.d.). The expanding role of mobility in the workplace. Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/web/solutions/trends/unified_workspace/docs/Expanding_Role_of_Mobility_in_the_Workplace.pdf Dimensional Research. (2011). Enterprise ipad and tablet adoption: a survey. Retrieved from http://www.modelmetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/iPadSurvey-May10.pdf Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (2013). HP ElitePad the true tablet for business. Retrieved from http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/html/pdfs/ElitePad_900.pdf Motorola Solutions, Inc. (2013). The Motorola ET1 enterprise tablet. Retrieved from http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Business/Products/Tablets/ET1/_Documents/_StaticFiles/Motorola-ET1-Enterprise-Tablet_Spec_Sheet.pdf Oracle. (n.d.). How tablets can mobilize sales. Retrieved from http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/profit/opinion/031612-ssink-1559273.html Robert Bosch GmbH. (n.d.). Bosch in India. Retrieved from http://www.boschindia.com/en/in/startpage_5/country-landingpage.php Robert Bosch GmbH. (n.d.). Business process management. Retrieved from http://www.bosch.com/en/com/products_services/software_solutions/business_process_management/business_rules_management_3.html Snyder, M. (2012). Four ways tablets can help the modern sales rep. Retrieved from http://tabtimes.com/analysis/sales/2012/11/20/four-ways-tablets-can-help-modern-sales-rep Showcase Software Limited. (2012). How to nail the sale using a tablet. Retrieved from http://www.showcaseworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/How-to-Nail-the-Sale-Using-a-Tablet.pdf Appendices Management of Processes Using Inubit Suite Source: (Robert Bosch GmbH, n.d.) Existing Use of Tablets in the Enterprises Source: (Dimensional Research, 2011) Read More