News and technology insight from software development veteran Ai2. Visit Ai2.com for your free demo.
March 28, 2013 Leave a comment
Here’s the new icon for our smartphone order entry app for Android and iPhone.
We have an exciting announcement coming up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned to the blog and follow us on Twitter!
March 26, 2013 Leave a comment
If you’re a distributor, sales orders are where it all begins. Nothing happens until a retailer or sales rep builds and sends an order to your ERP system. Creating those orders in the fastest and most accurate way possible is crucial to the profitability of your sales operation.
Take a look at a smartphone app for sales order entry in retail.
If your retailers are responsible for placing their own orders, you need to ensure that the cost of doing business is as low as possible but that you’re still providing all the information they need to make it easy to buy from you. That’s where the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) approach comes in. Here are five reasons you should let retailers (especially independents) order from you with their own smartphones:
December 18, 2012 Leave a comment
Your problems with old handheld order entry devices are over.
November 26, 2012 Leave a comment
You have two main options when deciding how your field application will communicate with the central server and disseminate updates to your remote staff. Here are the basic advantages and disadvantages of native applications vs. those that rely on a persistent connection:
November 12, 2012 Leave a comment
Online demos of business software solutions are good. In-person demos are better. The best way to see how a solution works in an everyday environment is to check it out firsthand by riding along with a user.
In our case, that use is likely an outside sales rep using a handheld, laptop or iPad to take sales orders in the field and handle other parts of a sales call like credits, payment collection, and product consultation.
Seeing something work in the field is much more effective than seeing it work in your conference room or at a trade show. If you’re in the continental United States and currently evaluating sales force automation solutions from Ai2, we probably have a client in your area. Next time you talk to your sales rep, ask about the possibility of setting up a ride with a nearby field rep. We can’t guarantee availability since those folks don’t work for us, but we’ll do our best to show you our solutions on the street.
June 4, 2012 Leave a comment
When deciding to implement a sales force automation solution to improve productivity, reduce costly errors and smooth out some of the kinks in your business process, you have a lot of options, especially when it comes to computer hardware. The hardware you select will determine which software programs are available to you.
Some organizations already have laptops in place for their salespeople, so they decide not to explore other hardware options. Others work exclusively in the retail space – perhaps they’d prefer a handheld that can take a drop and handle a few thousand scans per day. A third option is a tablet-based solution that can not only perform order entry, but manage content and display images, videos, multimedia, etc. to assist in sales presentations. In most cases, you want to eliminate fat stacks of paper, hunting for fax machines, and other outdated, unproductive tasks.
Whether your reps need an order entry terminal or a virtual briefcase, the best course of action is to accurately determine all your needs, then present them to a software provider and see how the functionality matches up.
Ask yourself three questions to get started:
1. What is your sales rep’s primary function? Order placement, prospecting, presenting new programs and services, or some combination of those? Are they primarily hunters or farmers?
2. Is bar code scanning a must-have?
3. What content do you need to manage and how will you access it?
There’s a lot more to consider for a project like this, but the better you understand your requirements, the easier an implementation you can expect.
May 15, 2012 1 Comment
With so much riding on any investment your business makes, it’s imperative that you select a software partner who will deliver maximum ROI. Here are five mistakes that your company should avoid when purchasing an enterprise solution.
March 29, 2012 Leave a comment
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