Using Mobile Devices To Improve Productivity and Customer Relationships

How companies are using mobile
devices to improve productivity

and customer relationships
LG: Increasing channel sales
The Old Way:
Traditionally, whenever an LG customer had a problem with a particular LG product, he/she would
call up the LG call center and file a complaint. Once the complaint was filed, the companys service
engineer visited the customer and examined the product. After figuring out the fault in the parts,
he came back to the authorized service center to check whether the part was available or not. In
case, the part was not available, another 2-3 days were taken to procure that part.

The Mobile Enhancement:
Today, using the customer service app, customer service engineers can check the availability of a
particular part anytime, anywhere. In case the stock for a particular stock is unavailable, the
engineer also has the visibility to check the availability of alternate parts, which can get the things
working till the originally required parts arrive. This app brings down the whole repair turnaround
time manifolds and plays a major role in enhancing customer satisfaction.

Source: Information Week
LG: Improving Customer Relationships
App Summary:
The company has rolled out a mobile sales management app for its sales force, which enables them to guide the
trade partners of their regions on the product models that are high in demand and are fast moving in that
particular territory. This helps the trade partners purchase the right stock. The app enables the sales force to
view any transaction pertaining to sales, inventory management and basic accounting.

The Old Way:
Traditionally, once the purchasing decision was made by the trade partner, the area sales manager had to travel
back to the office, access the ERP, punch in the order and then figure out whether the inventory exists in stock
or not. However, with this mobile app, the area sales manager can instantly check the availability of a particular
stock on-site, as soon as the trade partner places his order.

LG does not want its trade partners to buy inventories that will not sell in that area as this will be a losing
proposition for both LG as well as the trade partner. Today, using the mobile app an area sales manager visiting a
trade partner can see what kind of sales a particular partner has been doing for the last 1-2 years. Based on this
information, the sales manager educates the trade partner and helps him plan the next cycle of products to
stock for a particular timeline. The application has also accelerated the whole process of replenishing the trade
partners inventory in a timely manner. Traditionally, once the purchasing decision was made by the trade
partner, the area sales manager had to travel back to the office, access the ERP, punch in the order and then
figure out whether the inventory exists in stock or not. However, with this mobile app, the area sales manager
can instantly check the availability of a particular stock on-site, as soon as the trade partner places his order.

ICICI Lombard: Quicker response to insurance claims
The Old Way:
For claiming motor insurance, customers had to follow a lengthy and cumbersome process of
taking their damaged vehicle to the garage, calling the toll free number of the insurance company,
and sharing the policy details. Then, they had to arrange the forms and documents required to
support the claim.

To shorten the otherwise lengthy procedure, the company launched an in-house developed
Mobile Claims App called Insure for the customers and transformed the way in which claims were
traditionally intimated. By utilizing the mobile platform to enhance customer experience and
increase employee productivity, the firm has achieved yet another technology milestone. The firm
has innovatively used mobile technology to simplify the process of insurance claim.

ICICI Lombard: More cases surveyed and more satisfied customers
App Summary:
The Insure app empowers customers to intimate a claim of their vehicle through their mobile phones.
Customers can click picture(s) of the damaged parts and send it through the app. The app also allows the
customer to record and upload incident description in his/her voice. This ensures that customers collect
necessary evidence in terms of images and audio record and transmit it instantaneously to the claims office,
thus ensuring faster claim process. The firm has also developed another in-house app called FastTrack for on-
field claim surveyors.

The Old Way:
Earlier, to lodge a customers claim, an ICICI Lombards on-field surveyor had to first visit the site, click images of
the damaged vehicle via digital camera and at the end of the day visit the nearest ICICI Lombard branch office to
sort and upload images and enter data into the claim system. This process generally took 2-3 days and there
were instances of human error(s) while lodging a claim manually. Earlier, surveyors used to attend 4-5 cases in a
day.

With 7600 customers already using this app, Insure application not only helps the customer to intimate a claim
seamlessly but also allows them to view the nearest cashless garage network of ICICI Lombard in time when
he/she experiences a car breakdown. This has further reduced the time taken for lodging the claims by two
days, as data is now synced immediately to the central server. With the introduction of the mobile app, each
surveyor completes 7-8 cases in a day. Also, overall there has been a 35 percent increase in resource efficiency.

Bharti Infratel: Hassle free quality assurance with checklist app
The Old Way:
In a traditional environment, a member from the quality team would go to the site armed with
various items physical checklist for quality check of towers; cameras to collect images of site
condition and equipment placement as per client specifications; and laptop and data card to relay
all the collected data to the concerned teams for review. The process of providing each and every
member of the on-field quality team with these items was an added cost.

Today, Bharti Infratel uses a Mobile Quality Checklist app that contains all the requisite checklist
criteria needed to do the quality check of towers. They loaded the app on to the GPRS-enabled
Nokia or Android handsets with inbuilt camera that was issued to the quality team. Currently,
about 600 employees use this app.

Bharti Infratel: Reduced Cost and efforts
App Summary:
One of the biggest business needs of Bharti Infratel was ensuring timely quality checks of the tower
infrastructure. Mobile Quality Checklist app contains all the requisite checklist criteria needed to do the quality
check of towers.

The Old Way:
The quality team had to carry cameras, data cards and laptops to he site. It was painful as well as time
consuming for the employees and costly for the company. The quality check personnel can now review two sites
within the same time, which he/she used to take previously to evaluate one site. Not only this, the time to
taken to submit the checklist back to the concerned system has reduced from one day to almost instantly.

Introduction of the app has also resulted in significant savings. The quality check personnel can now review two
sites within the same time, which he/she used to take previously to evaluate one site. Not only this, the time to
taken to submit the checklist back to the concerned system has reduced from one day to almost instantly. The
implementation of the app has helped reduce the OPEX by 60 percent and CAPEX by almost 90 percent. The
company no longer required to equip them with laptops, cameras, data card, etc., which costed around Rs 1
lakh in totality. Instead, they provide Nokia/Android phones that fall in the range of Rs 10,000.

Madras Cements: Improving reporting and analysis
The Old Way:
Earlier at MCL, reporting via the ERP was done using Microsoft Excel sheets, which were quite
complex and time-consuming. It was difficult to trace the progress at various centers and plants.
The company was so widely scattered with huge workforce in rural areas. It was difficult to
interpret ERP reports and access business reports from anywhere.

Today, ERP integrated with Google Maps is used by both the senior employees and field force on
their mobile devices. To simplify the reporting, MCL integrated Google Maps with the Ramco ERP
system and superimposed the ERP data onto the Google maps, which resulted in a rich data
visualization tool that illustrated ERP data at various levels of detail. Madras Cements Limited
(MCL) is yet another company that has leveraged the mobile platform innovatively by mobile-
enabling ERP and integrating it with Google Maps.
Madras Cements: Increasing market share
App Summary:
The iPhones and iPads compatible app is used to access the ERP integrated with Google Maps for rendering
geospatial data and analytics on the device with extensive drill down facilities, while our field force uses GPS
enabled Android devices, which are GPRS/EDGE/3G enabled for accessing the ERP.

The Old Way:
Traditionally, geographically scattered cement plants could not locate their warehouses and customers. The
intermediaries of their supply chain were not well integrated. Despite having an ERP, they could not trace the
reports , manage dealers and stand competitively.

With this app, the on-field sales team now uses their mobile devices armed with ERP integrated with Google
maps to easily view information on the go. The team can locate their cement warehouses and key customers on
Google Maps vis--vis critical operation information, competitor distribution networks in their area, and the
best and worst performing dealers. This in turn empowers them to devise effective supply chain strategies and
enhance customer service. With this solution, MCL was able to reduce penalties, losses and damages arising
during the wagon clearance process by up to 70 percent, and improve consignment clearance time by up to 40
percent. In addition, post integrating Google Maps with ERP, the company has successfully captured 20-30
percent market share.

TVS Motors : Multiple Apps to strengthen management
The Old Way:
TVS motor had no enterprise apps for their internal management. From business intelligence to
decision making to CRM, TVS Motors executives used to rely on their interpersonal skills for
decision making. ERP was installed in their systems but they couldnt make the most out of it until
they introduced various apps.

With mobile-enablement of enterprise apps, managers now have latest information for effective
decision making, which has improved the quality of decisions.
TVS Motors: Improving SCM, DMS and workflows
App Summary:
For the sales team, it has mobile-enabled ERP, CRM and BI. This arms them with much needed data that
contributes greatly to the discussion with the companys sales team. Similarly, for supply chain executives, the
company has mobile-enabled the SCM system. This enables supply chain executives to keep a track of the
location of the consignments. In addition, the company has enabled workflows on mobile devices, which gives
managers the capability to access office apps like leave, travel, CAPEX and give approval from anytime,
anywhere.

The Old Way:
TVS motor had no enterprise apps for their internal management. From business intelligence to decision making
to CRM, TVS Motors executives used to rely on their interpersonal skills for decision making. ERP was installed in
their systems but they couldnt make the most out of it until they introduced various apps.

The Sales apps for the sales team helps them to have authentic information at their fingertips, enabling them
to have an effective discussion with dealers. With mobile-enablement of enterprise apps, managers now have
latest information for effective decision making, which has improved the quality of decisions. While office app
improves hygiene, ERP and BI apps help in controlling cost and reduce loss, and strategic apps like CRM and PLM
help in understanding and exploiting the business opportunities. The mobile-enabled the dealer management
system (DMS) enables dealers to actually review the dashboards before attending the office.

ICICI Bank: Bridging the gap between service delivery timelines and
customer expectation
The Old Way:
Traditionally, at ICICI Bank the document-centric customer on-boarding process like account
opening or availing other services offered by the bank was done on paper by the agent. The agent
then transferred the document to the back-office from where the actual process of delivering the
required service to the customer began.

The bank decided to arm about 5,000 of its mobile equipped on-field staff with ZapIn, a mobile
capture enterprise app developed by Newgen Software.
ICICI Bank: Minimum use of paper for data entry
App Summary:
This app enabled the agent on move to feed in all customer-related information be it filled in app forms or
verification documents through the app instantaneously from the client location and submit it immediately to
the back office through the GPRS/3G network, thus speeding up the entire customer on-boarding process.

The Old Way:
Agents used to carry the account opening forms, value added services forms and fill the information on site and
then submit the documents to the back office. Data entry was manual and on paper.

ICICI Bank was awarded the Asian Leadership Award 2012 for the Best use of Mobile Technology in Financial
Services in the BFSI Award segment. The bank decision to go for a mobile equipped on-field staff with ZapIn, a
mobile capture enterprise app developed by Newgen Software.

ESSAR: Pioneering BYOD
The Old Way:
Traditionally, whenever an LG customer had a problem with a particular LG product, he/she would
call up the LG call center and file a complaint. Once the complaint was filed, the companys service
engineer visited the customer and examined the product. After figuring out the fault in the parts,
he came back to the authorized service center to check whether the part was available or not. In
case, the part was not available, another 2-3 days were taken to procure that part.

The group is cashing in on the increasing trend of Smartphone equipped workforce by mobile-
enabling some of their business applications on the employee smart devices.
ESSAR: Enabling video sharing to train the sales team
App Summary:
Apart from mobile-enabling official e-mails for managerial employees, the company has mobile-enabled
Microsoft Lync Collaboration Solution and PolycomRealpresence for video conferencing, which is integrated to
corporate bridge for the senior management employees and sales teams. The group has also mobile-enabled
business apps for sales team of its two retail outlets,

The Old Way:
Traditionally, there was no way to keep the sales team in close interaction with the senior management. There
was no way to keep the sales team updated of the latest tactics and leadership training. There was no MVS
installed for senior employees to help them receive calls from anywhere around the world without being
charged on roaming calls.

Essar used mobility to address a business need felt by the sales team and senior management to access certain
specific corporate videos during business meetings with clients and management level training and leadership
videos respectively. Essar deployed Drona mobile solution from Deltecs which enables them to push various
required videos to the mobile devices of sales team and senior management. In fact, Essar has tied up with
Bizpunditz, a company providing a digital library of video clips of 3-7 minutes, for pushing leadership
development and corporate training videos to the mobile phones of senior management employees using this
technology. It has also taken another initiative to cut call roaming charges for the senior management
employees, who travel extensively. About 6-8 months back, Essar implemented the BlackBerry Mobile Voice
System (MVS) and integrated it with Corporate PBX Avaya solution. This enables widely travelling senior
management employees to make and receive calls from anywhere using Wi-Fi and route it through the
organizations phone system with a single number, enabling the group to save on roaming costs.

Manipal Hospitals: Fetal monitoring made possible
The Old Way:
Fetal monitoring is a critical process that needs to be undertaken regularly by expectant mothers
to enable their consultant gynecologist to monitor the babys heart rate using ultrasound and ECG.
As per the traditional process, a medical staff constantly monitored the fetal heart rate by standing
near the fetal monitor and then this report was relayed to the concerned gynecologist for review.

By leveraging the mobile platform for fetal monitoring, Manipal Hospital, has set an example of
how mobility can transform the delivery of healthcare services. Manipal Hospital recently
implemented a remote fetal monitoring system using which the concerned gynecologist can
review the reports directly on their mobile devices.
Manipal Hospitals: Decreasing the time lag between fetal
monitoring and review by the doctors
App Summary:
The app provides instant readings on requisite parameters, like recordings of maternal and fetal heart rate and
uterine activity from the expectant mother.

The Old Way:
A medical staff constantly monitored the fetal heart rate by standing near the fetal monitor and then this report
was relayed to the concerned gynecologist for review. Earlier, the radiology department used to store the
reports as hard outputs and had traditional filing system to retrieve them.

All the gynecology consultants have fetal monitoring solution enabled on their smart devices. With wireless fetal
monitoring, doctors can view all the requisite parameters, like recordings of maternal and fetal heart rate and
uterine activity from the expectant mother with their smart devices and take the right decisions without
jeopardizing baby or the mother. Manipal Hospital also has a Picture Archival Communication System (PACS),
which is a computer network system for the storage, retrieval and display of radiology images, which can be
accessed using smart mobile devices. The PACS system enables the doctors and radiologist to actually look at X-
rays from any location using their laptops and smart devices.

Thermax: Leveraging desktop virtualization technology
The Old Way:
There was no desktop virtualization technology, the company restricted employees to bring their
own tablets to access their virtual desktops and work on various non-engineering apps from
anywhere, anytime.

Thermax is a Pune-based company that provides a range of engineering solutions to the energy
and environment sectors. Last year, in August the company implemented desktop virtualization
and by October rolled it out to about 750 users who initially started accessing the XenDesktop
through traditional thin clients, desktops or laptops.
Thermax: Encouraging the BYOD
App Summary:
Thermax made most of the non-engineering apps available through Citrix XenDesktop. This includes Thermaxs
two ERP apps Oracle ERP and Baan ERP from Infor Global Solutions, taxation software, Project Lifecycle
Management app, HRMS and attendance management system. Today, there are about 20 tablet users within the
company who are using Citrix receiver to access their desktops on their own tablets.

The Old Way:
Employees were not allowed to work on their personal devices . There was threat to data security. A lot of time
and efficiency of employees were bargained due to restriction on BYOD.

With the success of their XenDesktops project, Thermax refused to give desktops or laptops to their employees .
They are allowed to bring their own computers and tablets to work. Company is not worried about the security
issues now because at the end of the day, their data is protected, as it is only the image which gets transmitted
on to the network and the device.

Hero MotoCorp : Simplifying business operations
The Old Way:
The senior management at Hero MotoCorp did not have apps on their mobile devices to stay
connected with company emails, video conferencing on their tablets, dashboarding and decision
making .

HeroMotoCorp sensed the emerging needs amongst the employees to mobile-enable certain
specific business apps, which were essential for smooth functioning of the business operations.
This included e-mails, apps for leave approvals, material gate pass approvals, approvals for vendor
master creation, purchase order approvals, etc.
Hero MotoCorp: Improving decision making and avoiding
delays
App Summary:
These were workflow apps and Lotus-notes based apps on the mobile devices of employees. They provided e-
mails (Lotus Notes) on a variety of phones to employees and Hero MotoCorp are the first one in India who
provided this on Nokia phones.

The Old Way:
Traditionally employees were deprived of mobile-enabled certain specific business apps, which were essential
for smooth functioning of the business operations. This included emails, apps for leave approvals, material gate
pass approvals, approvals for vendor master creation, purchase order approvals, etc.

The result is that employees do not have to wait for approvals/decisions when their seniors are not in office or
are travelling. Time delays are weeded out of the system, and both employees and business heads have chanced
upon a win-win. Apart from this, Hero Motocorp also leveraged a video conferencing solution for senior
management employees to aid collaboration and quicker decision-making even while on the move. They
leveraged a third-party video conferencing solution to enable laptop, tablet users and some of the latest
smartphone users to perform multi-party video conferencing with each other. Their system is compliant with all
legacy video conferencing tools already used across the enterprise. Hero Motocorp also spearheaded a project
that has enabled reporting of business-critical data through dashboards for the C level employees to drill and
dig into.

Futures group: Mastering inventory management
The Old Way:
Traditionally, the inventory at the store level was recorded in the ERP which was used to be
available only on desktops and laptops. The sales team at the front end for the sales and stock
audit teams were unable to review, while on the move within the store.

Today, the group created a mobile app, which was integrated with the back-end ERP system for
inventory, price and stock checks. The group also set up a secure Wi-Fi store infrastructure that
consisted of Cisco access points at the store and a back-end Cisco wireless controller.
Future Group: Improving efficiency of its stores
App Summary:
The app provides instant readings on requisite parameters, like stock, sales, price of products within the store,
while on the move.

The Old Way:
There was no way to physically verify the stocks and count the stock in the store during audits from within the
store.

Today, the Group has improved the efficiency of its stores. For example, employees have quick access to
information related to stocks and sales, which in turn has helped in immediately resolving price and EAN
discrepancies. After introducing the app, the group has registered 20 percent increase in inventory availability
and management, 10 percent reduction in travel costs and 5 percent reduction in new employee training costs.

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