News

From the pages of Industrial Distribution, September 29, 2003

Personal digital assistants, those handheld electronic devices that for many people have taken the place of personal planners, have come a long way since they were first introduced nearly a decade ago. Today, these palm-sized computers can automate many of your manual processes to help run your business more effectively.

By turning your PDA from an electronic address book, calendar and notepad into a powerful business tool, you'll not only drive revenue to your business, but build customer loyalty through value-added services. To do so, you must first think of the PDA as a means to extend information beyond your business system and a way to capture information from outside of your business.

The Technology

There are several types of PDAs on the market today, including Palm, the market leader. Most of these devices use one of two primary operating systems - Windows CE or Palm OS. These operating systems contribute to the popularity of PDAs, giving them a short learning curve and adoption rate by users.

PDAs are also affordable, with prices ranging from $100 to $500, and can be integrated directly with your business system.

In the warehouse

We all know that the cost of picking the wrong product for a customer goes beyond the direct cost, labor, freight and lost productivity. How do you measure the cost of customer dissatisfaction? How much more will it cost you if the customer takes his business elsewhere because you didn't deliver the correct product?

As products get more and more complex and product lines change, the chance of making an error when picking a customer's order increases. Regardless of how much training you do, errors still occur.

To combat this, some distributors have invested in sophisticated warehouse automation systems, but those systems are expensive and not every distributor can afford one. Fortunately, PDAs offer an alternative.

What if you print item bar codes on pick tickets and place bar codes either on the product or the appropriate bin? When the warehouse person picks an item he uses a PDA to scan the bar code on the pick ticket and then scan the item or bin to make sure he is picking the correct item. If he scans the correct item the system will allow him to proceed to the next item. If the item or bin is incorrect, the system will ask him to try again. This same process can be used for stocking products to ensure accurate put-away.

On the truck

PDAs also can assist in the delivery process and getting proof of delivery information. While most distributors have moved to logistic companies such as FedEx and UPS to deliver their products, many continue to do at least some of their own deliveries.

The usual process entails the delivery person asking the customer to sign a paper copy of a shipping document upon delivery. That piece of paper is then returned to the office with all the other signed pieces of paper from that delivery trip and then filed, scanned electronically or lost. This process works well until you need to prove to a customer that you delivered the product so you can get paid. Locating that piece of paper can become like searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack.

What if you replaced all those paper delivery tickets with a PDA? Your driver then simply uploads all the shipping documents needed for that day's deliveries, in the correct route sequence, from your business system. As he makes deliveries, the driver can use the PDA to make any necessary adjustments to the orders and have the customers sign and print their names right on the PDA.

When the driver returns to the warehouse, he simply places the PDA in the cradle and downloads all the delivery information, including signatures, to the appropriate customers' files in your business system. Now your customers can see, on their invoices, exactly who signed for their orders.

This process lowers your costs by eliminating the shuffling of papers. And, since proof of delivery is always with the invoice, your cash collection process is streamlined and your accounts receivables days will drop.

In addition, you get a complete report on the delivery route, showing exactly how long your driver spent at each customer location, which you can use to help improve your drivers' productivity.

With the customer

Perhaps the place PDAs can be most effective is in the field with your outside salespeople.

What happens when your salesperson visits a customer who starts asking questions about product and price? They want to know how much they paid last time, what's in stock and whether or not they can get a price break for buying more. Your salesperson either calls your customer service person to get the answers, or, more likely, pulls out his price book, which is four years old and has a lot of notes in the margins, and tries to figure out the answers.

Once your salesperson gets the order, he writes it down and faxes it to your customer service person, who must re-key the order. Once the order is processed, the customer gets the product and is annoyed to find that it is the wrong item or price because the customer service person could not read the fax.

With a PDA, your salesperson can upload all of the key customer information into his PDA. Now, when the customer starts asking questions, the salesperson will have all the answers - including part numbers and specific pricing for specific items, including quantity breaks - in the palm of his hand.

He can even enter the quote or order in his PDA and later download it to your business system for processing. No more bothering your customer service people or dealing with fulfillment errors from keying mistakes. The customer is much happier and your salespeople are much more productive.

For a small investment, you can derive great value from PDAs. In addition to increased productivity, the positive impact of loyal customers on your bottom line will give you a return on your investment many times over.

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