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October 27, 2009
Making the Most of Data from Mobile Retail Devices
It's a mobile world that has impacted how we live as well as how we do business. As consumers, we expect to be able to access information now and brand loyalty largely depends upon how our suppliers serve us. In the business world, things are becoming increasingly automated so that businesses can serve customers competitively. Loyalty goes by the wayside when customers feel like their needs are not being met so it's in a company's best interest to make the user feel appreciated.
Mobility in the retail world means that you can pay for your meal with a debit machine at your table or pay a fare in a taxicab with the same wireless device. Your server can take your order with a wifi device and send the order to the kitchen and get instant notification when it's ready without later having to tally up your check. It means you can top up your cell phone easily and use self-serve checkouts when you buy things at the grocery store or your local big box store. Store clerks often have the ability to answer your queries on the sales floor with their handheld devices and those devices can help that company plan and strategize for the company's future growth.
Companies need to make technology available to their customers to ensure they keep them. But, companies benefit from being more able than ever to use data to their advantage so mobility in retail provides a very symbiotic relationship between consumers and companies. Because of point of sale terminals and wireless devices can be used to help manage the supply chain and help improve the consumer experience, that data can be fed to decision-makers that will fuel discussions and decisions that help the business stay competitive in their industry.
Use Data to Your Advantage
The data gathered from consumer and retail activities can tell companies what brings people to their websites for online purchasing so that they can cater to those specific needs. It can tell executive chefs what needs to be ordered based on a day's list of menu items provided. It can help grocery stores staff their checkout lanes appropriately based on previous trends. It can help a taxicab company's dispatcher plan to have extra cars in an area at a certain time so it can be competitive because of trends based on the previous day or local events. The possibilities are endless for a company when they use data effectively. The more mobile your workforce is, the better they'll be able to service your customers. Mobile devices can help clerks do effective price changes and cycle counts as well, which can reduce operational costs and expenditures for a company.
From a financial perspective, it's important to carefully plan your mobile device deployment. Taking the time to analyze your current needs and your future needs and taking a look at interoperability of various new tools so that you know they'll work well within your existing infrastructure will reduce the total cost of ownership while increasing your return on investment.
There are a lot of business intelligence solutions providers out there who want to help businesses succeed. They can help you manage data from multiple sources and managing who, in an organization, gets access to specific data is not always an easy task. Many companies specialize in this area. Whether you get business intelligence from someone like Business Objects, Cognos, Sybase, or Oco Inc. , gathering data from your mobile and static devices and using it to your advantage will help you manage, plan, and strategize so that you can continue to serve your customers and gain market share in your industry. While it can seem like a big investment to move to a more mobile environment, using the new data you can gather to your advantage can help you recoup costs very quickly!
Posted by Sasha Grebenyuk at October 27, 2009 1:15 PM
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