A New York-based soft drink distributor has joined the Palm Generation. Pepsi Cola Buffalo Bottling Corp. recently upgraded its route sales application with low-cost, Palm OS-based hand-held devices. Not only has the company managed to eliminate paper and increase sales productivity, it has also slashed its total cost of hardware ownership and armed its sales team with valuable data and presentation tools that keep them ahead of the competition.

According to the company, the implementation has been relatively painless-the new hardware easily accommodates new applications, and the first users went live with only a few hours of training.

In business since 1955, Pepsi Cola Buffalo distributes Pepsi products throughout western New York and also distributes a full line of products from Sobe, Dr. Pepper/7UP, Squirt, Crush and others. Mobile computing was already a fixture within the company's sales team, as well as in the warehouse and on the delivery trucks, but it was time for an upgrade. According to Dan Tantalo, Jr., IT manager at Pepsi Cola Buffalo, the company also wanted to make more data available to its sales team in the field.

Fortuitously, the current AS/400-based route accounting software vendor, Informed Beverage Management (IBMI), had just come out with a suite of Palm-based mobile sales and inventory management applications.

Tantalo took a demo unit home to Buffalo after IBMI's user conference in May 2001, and the new system was up and running by that fall. Unlike many beverage distributors, Pepsi Cola Buffalo has a well-staffed IT department, allowing them to handle the installation and training internally, with assistance from IBMI. Tantalo's team also developed some additional functionality for the hand helds. So far, the company has rolled out some 60 devices to sales reps and managers.

"The Palm solution gives them more intelligence in the field without having to go to a full-blown, several-thousand-dollar-per-salesman solution," says Chad Everett, network administrator for IBMI.

The new solution has also provided significant cost savings in hardware and support. "We've doubled the amount of hand helds in the field and still cut costs by 50%," Tantalo says. "When I explained that in the management meeting, they looked at me like I was crazy."

Paper Is History

Previously, salespeople carried paper route books to look up customer histories, and spent a lot of time keying in order information. "We wanted to give as much information as we could to our people in the field, as well as speed up the whole process of taking an order," Tantalo says.

Now, armed with Palm m505 hand-held computers, sales reps can access up to two years of customer history, enter new orders, view current inventory status and manage their contact lists. Because customers often repeat similar orders, sometimes with minor modifications, reps can also call up these old orders and modify them for re-use. New reps can easily work an existing route armed with an abundance of historical data.

Sales reps also use Kodak PalmPix digital cameras to photograph product displays. These photos are then either uploaded to the corporate server or beamed between devices so that other reps can use the photos during their sales presentations. Reps can show customers photos of new products, and display designs and cooler set-ups. Because the colour Palm devices can also run slide shows and PowerPoint presentations, the reps have found them to be more effective sales tools than the paper diagrams of the past.

"When our salesmen are out there, they have these big smiles on their faces because they're way ahead of everybody else," Tantalo says. "We already have a fantastic sales force. This just makes them more efficient."

Three ways to synch your data

The Palm devices sync up with Pepsi Cola Buffalo's network via one of three options: a HotSync with a PC at the home office, a wireline modem from home or a cell phone from the field. According to Tantalo, most of the users opt for the HotSync or wireline modem methods, as there is not an overriding need for real-time communication. Remote connectivity was especially helpful this winter, when reps were able to connect to the system despite much of the region being buried under 8 feet of snow.

In addition to route and inventory data, reps can download company newsletters, contact information and even software upgrades during synchronization. They can also download updated product sheets, to help keep track of the more than 500 different items the company stocks.

Tantalo managed the training program for the new system. Reps first learned the basic functions of the device, and then were trained on the sales application. Tantalo says it was the easiest implementation he's ever been involved in.

"We told them to take it out, try to do one or two orders on it, then come back and we'd look it over," Tantalo says. "It was about 4:00, and we were sitting there thinking, 'Gee, we haven't seen anybody yet.' Well, three of the guys went ahead and did their whole routes, transferred all their orders and were checking them already. We were waiting for problems to come in, but nothing happened."

According to Tantalo, the company realized a 15% productivity increase in the first three months, and sales reps have been able to cut 1.5 hours off their routes, which gives them more time to interact with customers.

Palm gains a fan

Tantalo admits he was unsure of the switch from Windows CE devices to Palm but says he has found the platform to be user-friendly and more reliable, from a support standpoint, even as additional applications were added. The m505 models are also faster, have more memory and offer a sharp colour screen.

While IBMI will eventually offer a Windows CE version of its software, Everett says the Microsoft platform seemed too volatile for the initial development. "It seems at this point the tools available for the Palm are a little bit more stable. Right now, if you develop for Palm, it's available on any Palm device. With CE, we'd have to get into whether the device had enough memory, etc."

Having previously used ruggedized terminals, employees were wary of the consumer-oriented Palm m505s. However, the hardware is only one-quarter the cost of the old units, and since the system went live, only two units have been replaced.

"[With the Palm units] we can really get down to business," Tantalo says. "You're not spending time trying to fix an operating system that doesn't work. We've shown we can do a major upgrade with very little cost and have the whole thing work."

Tantalo and his team do see the value of ruggedization-where it's necessary. The warehouse staff is now using Palm-based SPT 1550 devices from Symbol Technologies for inventory counts (real-time inventory tracking will eventually be added), and delivery drivers use rugged terminals from Intermec Technologies.

The sales reps now have cases with swivel clips purchased through Cyberguys.com for their hand helds, which Tantalo says protect the devices from wear and tear.

Expansions to come

Next up for Pepsi Cola Buffalo is an upgrade to its inventory management system in the warehouse. The current homegrown system, which updates inventory availability on the server throughout the day, will be integrated with IBMI's inventory software using the ruggedized Symbol hand helds for inventory counts. Tantalo says eventually a wireless LAN-based system will facilitate real-time tracking as stock moves in and out of the warehouse.

The company is also testing Palm devices for its merchandisers, the workers who build the in-store displays once stock is delivered.