SEVERAL years’ ago, Optus Business partnered with DBSA — a niche technology company that provides business application software and strategic counsel to link businesses to the information, technology and communications (ITC) revolution. Optus Business recognised that its customers were aware of the need to embrace technological changes and were looking for guidance and recommendations.
Since then, this collaboration has been able to assist manufacturers to adopt the optimum mobility solutions and implement them into their businesses.
Marilyn Conyer, marketing director, Optus Business believes that by select-ing specialist technology partners, customers will receive the highest quality service and the benefit of an agnostic approach to mobility implementation.
“The partnership works by DBSA providing a strategic review of the bus- iness challenges faced and Optus Bus- iness implementing the solution as des-igned and built by DBSA. The partner-ship is effective as both Optus Business and DBSA adhere to a best-of-breed approach to service our clients.”
Case Study-Wine Makers
DBSA and Optus Business partnered to work with a leading wine manufacturer and sales organisation in New South Wales, to implement a mobility solution for their entire workforce.
The customer implemented a mobility solution to monitor its grape yield and crop production to ensure wine supply levels would meet customer orders and forecast requirements.
Added to this, with the sales team managing more than 6,000 customers including bottle shops, pubs, restaurants, clubs and buying groups, it was important for the company to stay across sales targets and closely monitor their stock.
When DBSA and Optus Business began work with the company, the majority of employees, both on the manufacturing and sales side were working from a paper-based solution. This was a time-consuming process and consequently, unproductive.
Employees of the wine manufacturer needed to make decisions on contractual arrangements with their customers. If those arrangements were not met in terms of grape production, they would require immediate access to the relevant data. Additionally, sales teams had to write orders and their customer’s stock by hand and store a variety of documents in their vehicles should they require access to them.
“The employees’ challenge with the old system was that the immediacy of delivering information to the other company employees and planners was inadequate” explains Stephen Buckman, principal, consulting, solutions & strategy at DBSA.
“Our initial suggestion was that from a manufacturing and sales perspective, the company would benefit greatly from a mobility solution such as the BlackBerry which allowed email and data retrieval on a handheld device.”
The benefits of a mobility solution were very apparent for this company and the partnership between Optus Business and DBSA has paved the way for implementation to take place before the grapes are harvested for this year’s vintage. Optus Business believes that its partnership with DBSA has helped optimise the wine manufacturer’s IT and communications spend.
Marilyn Conyer said, “The most noticeable benefit for the customer has been that by planning strategically, they have made quantifiable savings in time. Where employees previously had to go back and forth for the correct information, they now have it with them at the touch of a button. Also, the information can be accessed by anyone at anytime which means that managers can monitor staff, the wine growers and their yield.”
Whilst the implementation is being continually adapted to suit the company’s needs, it has provided tangible benefits in terms of overall productivity.
During the BlackBerry implementation, not only was a solution provided for the customer, but an entire business process was supported through the partnership between Optus Business and DBSA.
Such partnerships provide confi-dence for businesses considering imple-mentation of mobility solutions as they will benefit from the experience gained within their industry.