We’ll be exhibiting – add us to your show agenda here – and displaying our sales automation order entry app for iPad – ProSel.  ProSel is used by Bulova, the famed 135-year old producer of watches and clocks.  Their outside salespeople use ProSel to place orders, organize multimedia content for client presentations, and browse their catalog.

If you have an outside sales force, you can save time, money, paper and manpower by using ProSel for iPad.  It sends orders directly into your current ERP solution and can be customized for your company’s unique needs.   As Bulova says:

“[With ProSel] we can build orders from history, we’ve improved our efficiency and we have more interactive conversations with customers, which means increased sales.”

Got an iPad?  Download the free version of ProSel today.

Other quick takeaways:

The global market for tablets jumped 142.4% in 1Q 2013.

In terms of operating system, Android has 56.5% of the tablet market.

The Windows 8 and Windows RT platforms combine 3.7% of the tablet market.  More about the Windows 8 conundrum here.

Competition breeds excellence, and we’ll continue to follow what happens as several Davids battle the Goliath that is Apple.

You’re going to get a great look at OrderShark, our Android and iPhone smart order entry application for retailers.  It’s a great BYOD approach that saves retailers and distributors a lot of time and money during the ordering and fulfillment process.

See us at booth 212 – we’re exhibiting with our friends at PROCAT and Building Better Brands.

See you in Dallas!

Most of the reviews we’ve read cite price concerns as the main deterrent to widespread adoption of the new Windows tablets.  Other drawbacks include the learning curve that comes with adjusting to the Metro interface.  It looks like Microsoft is addressing those concerns head on.

Learn about sales force automation for Windows Surface Pro tablets here.

As Windows 8 begins to pick up steam on laptops and tablets, many companies in wholesale distribution are deciding if they want to stay with the operating system they’ve known for so many years.  The laptop vs. tablet question is also a big debate for companies with a mobile sales force: which solution provides the best ROI, portability, security and functionality?

Let’s explore Windows 8 through the eyes of a company with an outside sales staff:

Basic Differences

Windows 8 removed the “Start” button we’ve all depended on for more than a decade.  It’s been replaced with a Start screen and the Metro interface.  This is a touch interface which most laptops do not support because of the manufacturing cost.  In terms of switching your sales force, companies often find varying levels of tech expertise among the sales staff.  Some embrace change, others resist it.  Switching from a familiar and comfortable interface is one factor that contributes to a steeper learning curve.

Top Benefits of Windows 8 for Sales Force Automation

• Improved security over previous iterations of Windows – protecting your proprietary data is always critical to the operation.
• It runs on a wider range of hardware – you have more choices when deciding what to give your sales force.
• Faster boot-up – when you want to build a sales order or quote, you don’t want to sit there for 5 minutes in front of a busy customer
• Online storage is built in – there are cloud backup options similar to iCloud.
• Windows 8 Pro Tablets support a wide array of hardware that has USB ports and SD card slots – these are advantageous when adding peripherals like scanners.

Main Drawbacks

• Interface is primarily touch-centric, meaning there is often a steep learning curve especially for non-touch enabled devices and users familiar with Windows 7.  It’s a brand new ballgame.
• Hardware cost- To have the full Windows 8 experience, you need more expensive hardware that supports touch.
• Windows 8 on a tablet is new and immature.

I say all this not to bash Windows 8 or disparage the possibilities that the new tablets will bring – at Ai2 we’re very eager to see what the OS can do and how the business world will respond.  If you’d like to talk more about the right path for your sales order entry project, contact Ai2 here.

To all attendees and sponsors of Ai2′s InSight2013 Users’ Conference, a big thank you for your collaboration and innovation.  We couldn’t have done it without you and we hope you had a great time.  Feel free to look us up if your business travels take you to Chicago, and keep in touch on Twitter.  We’ll see you soon!

We’re looking forward to having you in Chicago!

We have an exciting announcement coming up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned to the blog and follow us on Twitter!

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:

1. Hardware cost – Whether you’re still dependent on older devices for bar code scanning and retail order entry or you’re making the investment in newer handheld terminals, the cost of purchasing and maintaining the hardware is a significant one.  A simple scanner with no screen starts at around $200 and may not tell you anything about what you scanned.  A Wi-Fi enabled, ruggedized handheld terminal can run upwards of $1,000 per unit.  With BYOD, retailers order from you using devices they already have.  No purchase, no service plan, no data plan, and broken units are not your responsibility.

2. Ease of use – The user interface for smartphones is more intuitive than ever, and most smartphone users get hours of practice using apps on their phone to work, bank, shop, email, and play games.

3. Ubiquity – Almost half of the mobile phones in the United States are smartphones.  As any smartphone owner will tell you, there’s no going back to something that’s not web-enabled.  It’s too convenient to return to a simpler device.  This is an advantage for distributors since the phones are already there.

4. Availability of great apps – OrderShark is an app for retail sales order entry.  It lets a user scan bar codes, build and send orders, copy previous orders, enter item numbers and quantities, and more.  These types of apps were not available a few years ago.

5. Web-enabled functions – OrderShark gives the user the ability to look up an item in the universal UPC database without leaving the app.  That means if they scan something that they didn’t know you carried, they could end up buying it from you instead of a competitor.  Older devices that have clunky web connections (or none at all) will leave your retailers in the dark.

The devices are already there.  It’s up to you, the distributor, to put easy order entry on the devices your customers use most.  Learn more and schedule a demo here.