Mobile technology can potentially offer SMEs advantages to gain competitive edge over larger players. Find out how.
The world is advancing so rapidly that everything and everyone has to battle to keep pace. Being mobile has taken on a new meaning - we have to be connected to everything everywhere. Even on a flight, the connection is not lost, as airlines begin to offer Internet access and mobile phone calls.
Mobile devices now have greater processing power, combined with faster mobile networks that make data availability possible in real time anywhere. There is a lot more potential in using mobile devices, including mobile phones and PDAs, than one could have dreamt of just a few years ago.
Businesses today have the potential to use mobile devices for many applications. And mobility presents greater opportunities to companies with the following characteristics:
- Where real time stock/inventory information provides a competitive edge;
- Where a large sales force manages different customers; and
- Where dynamic pricing is practised for many different types of goods/services.
A wide choice of comparable products, with different brands at different price points, has resulted in customers who are less brand loyal and more willing to pick up a competitor's product when their preferred item is not in stock.
Suppliers like distributors and wholesalers gain a competitive edge if they equip their sales staff with PDAs that network wirelessly with inventory at other outlets and warehouses, providing real-time information on stock availability and allowing for immediate stock replenishment. This not only ensures ample stock supply of many different products at different channels, it also reduces the need to maintain high levels of stock, thereby conserving cash for other investments.
Such suppliers can then focus on their relationship with their customers and the retail outlets that are the channels for their products. Mobile devices can also be used to conduct customer surveys, to help gauge future demand.
Ability to access product cost and stock levels has also allowed sales staff to match or better competitors' promotions on the spot.
In fact, with today's technology, business owners need not even invest in mobile devices to enjoy some of the benefits of mobility. Two and three dimensional barcodes allow employees to use their mobile phones to capture a barcode and use normal messaging functions to access information about a product without the use of a scanner. The barcodes allow employees to access product specifications and stock levels, and even manage stock for expiry and batch control.
Some industries require a large sales force, and they face unique challenges - like how to maintain information flow, accurately represent their products and pricing and maintain consistent customer care. Mobile solutions allow a large sales force to access a large amount of information on products and customer information, so all employees can function optimally - even if they are new.
Insurance companies and financial services companies benefit from their employees being mobile yet able to access customers' case histories and the specifications of the different products they are selling.
Dynamic pricing is often practised for commodities that have fluctuating costs and where competition does not allow the pricing to be fixed for long periods. Companies that deal with raw or processed foods and agricultural produce find mobile solutions useful as they free sales staff from having to remember what price the customer last bought the goods at and what the current price is.
With mobile access to pricing and costing information, employees can respond more readily and accurately to customer requests to change product configurations, quantities and pricing. Where timing is crucial - for example, with perishables - employees with the right information can negotiate for promotions of their products and confirm the quantity increases via mobile solutions.
Mobility presents a great opportunity for the smaller businesses to level up to bigger competitors by applying technology and taking advantage of the low-cost Internet network. As more applications for mobile technology become commonplace, more businesses will realise that they have to embrace mobile applications to stay competitive.
- This article is contributed by Y3 Technologies, a supply chain solutions provider and a member of the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF).
- This article first appeared in The Business Times on 20 May 2008 and information is correct at the time of publication.
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