Cincom Releases Australian Mobility Report

Sept. 14, 2012 - PRLog -- Extract:
Since the release of the iPad in April 2010, 67 million Apple tablets have been sold to date. In addition to this, over 10 million non-Apple tablets such as Windows and Android as well as smartphones have made their way into consumers’ hands.

People look to their mobile devices to inform, entertain, educate, discover, socialise, organise and much more. Mobile technologies are the social infrastructure of our era. So much so, that academics and social commentators are even voicing concerns about addiction.  FOMO (fear of missing out) is one name for this addiction that refers to the mere possibility that a person may fall behind if they are not “online.”

This idea of being constantly online is nothing new for the business environment. Employees have long enjoyed the pleasure of remote access, taking laptops home in the evenings and even checking emails on the weekends.

So, what is next?

According to Lou Washington of Cincom Systems, mobile will impact the enterprise in ways we can only imagine. “Mobile is already in ERP. Mobile smartphones are already connecting field sales to assorted back-office apps and people via email. Pads or tablets are also well established in field service to help with diagnostics, part inventory and even current schematics for complex in-service products,” he says. Mobile is a natural for the field, but what about on the shop floor?

Ray Wang, Principal Analyst and CEO of Constellation Research, Inc. cites three specific areas where mobility delivers potential advantage.
• Safety, Quality or Compliance – In some process based industries such as food or pharma, traceability and in-process checking could be greatly enhanced with mobility.
• Information Delivery – No longer can people just scribble reference notes on nvelopes as they move around their physical facility. Managers now often need access to vast amounts of data in order to get to the distilled information they require.
• Approvals and Routings – We have already seen the great benefit of barcode readers, and these apps are now being built into smartphones. Tablets also may well offer some advantages in this area too. This is just a taste of the potential efficiencies mobility could contribute to in the workplace. More and more, workers are being asked to perform multiple duties that require multiple applications and wide-ranging data access. We know mobility is here to stay, and with ERP, its uses will only grow as people imagine better ways to put mobility to use in their jobs. Mobility will maximise the effectiveness of the employee and consequently the entire manufacturing operation.

To download a free copy of “Cincom’s Australian Mobility Report: An in depth Analysis of the use of mobile computing in Australian Businesses”, please visit http://forms.cincom.com/CMAU1204045.

ABOUT CINCOM CBS Mobility
Cincom recognises that to remain competitive in the current economic climate businesses must be responsive, dynamic and accurate. To help you achieve these goals Cincom can offer the Complete Business Suite (CBS). CBS brings together over 40 years of ERP expertise, cutting edge technologies and a thorough understanding of optimisation and business efficiency.

What makes CBS unique is the fact that each application (available individually and collaboratively) is web –enabled and mobile allowing for firstly, full integration with your existing business systems such as, MYOB, SAP and Salesforce.com and secondly, real time access to your business data such as inventory flows, the status of a sales or service calls or changes to budgetary forecasts.

CBS includes;
• Mobile Field Sales – An application that brings the travelling sales team accurate information and support, on the go! Mobile Field Sales gives you access to key customer and order data at the point of engagement.  Slashing processing time, Mobile Field Sales improves customer relationships and increases productivity. This application will also integrate with your mobile device and trigger the native applications such as GPS, phone and email.
• Mobile Field Service – This application allows you to remotely handle customer service calls and quotes with ease. With Mobile Field Service, you can access key customer and service-call history at the point of engagement, manage inventory in the field and utilise native device applications such as email, GPS, phone and camera whilst in the application.
• Paperless Warehousing (WMS) – Optimises your warehouse with decreased inventory costs, economic picking, replenishment and Put-away tasks and accurate inventory reporting in real time.
• Delivery Tracking – Tracks the delivery of customer shipments and invoices for given dates and runs. With this mobile application, you can take customer signatures on delivery, including time and location stamp records, to process in real time. Delivery tracking also integrates with your device’s existing applications and can instantly access GPS, phone, camera and email.
• Cincom Acquire® Guided Selling – Brings complex, specific, customised sales information to your team’s fingertips in seconds!
• Cincom Guru™ Product Configuration – An initiative knowledge-based system that automates the quote to- order process, slashing wait times from weeks to hours.
• Cincom’s Priority™ – The ERP backbone that brings all of your essential business data together in real time.