Back in 1965 everybody was going to the moon. Remember that song? Okay, maybe not.\u00a0 However, in 2014 and beyond, everybody seems to be going mobile. OEMs, solutions, and services providers are rolling out mobile apps like crazy and it seems as if there isn\u2019t anyone among that group who doesn\u2019t have some sort of mobile strategy.<\/p>\n
Rather than focus on what the OEMs, solutions, and services providers are doing on the mobile front, I thought it would be interesting to learn what the dealer community is witnessing in the marketplace when it comes to mobile applications as well as how they\u2019re leveraging mobile technology and applications within their own dealerships.
\n![\"truth](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/truth-about-mobility-2.jpg\")
![\"truth](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/truth-about-mobility-1.jpg\")
\nMitch Taylor, sales manager with 4 Office Automation in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, is already feeling the impact. \u201cIn the last six to eight months it\u2019s gained a lot of traction. We just did a school board deal where everything had to be AirPrint and wireless. That\u2019s becoming a big thing. I just submitted a tender today for a large university with a mobile print application to charge back printing to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
4 Office Automation has weekly technology meetings every Wednesday morning hosted by their senior systems integrator who educates the dealership\u2019s sales force about new technology and solutions. Topics are often driven by what sales reps are responding to in their tenders and one of the most recent topics focused on mobile printing and secure print release.<\/p>\n
On the internal operations front, 4 Office Automation has equipped its sales team and technicians with tablets. \u201cWe\u2019re getting rid of laptops and notebooks,\u201d states Taylor. \u201cWe\u2019ve been using the mobile print applications on our devices for a couple of years now. If an e-mail comes in and there\u2019s an attachment that needs to be printed, we can print from our iPhones. We\u2019ve been utilizing those features for some time now.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Buffalo, New York, mobility is a key element of Copier Fax Business Technologies\u2019 Documentelligence solutions sales strategy. \u201cThat\u2019s all we\u2019re focusing on when it comes to the bizhubs from Konica Minolta, but also through our document management systems and mobile forms,\u201d reports David Scibetta, EVP\/ CIO. \u201cWe\u2019re focusing on mobility with everything and unchaining people from their desks.\u201d<\/p>\n
This, he says, begins with customer education. \u201cSome customers don\u2019t even have a mobile strategy in place so we\u2019re helping them with that,\u201d says Scibetta. \u201cOne way we\u2019re doing that is teaching them how to manage the BYOD environment, and more importantly the MDM (Mobile Device Management) software so they can manage their devices in the field and know that everything is secure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Customers are responding to this mobile message. It\u2019s not just the organizations that might be considered the most progressive who are embracing this mobile message. \u201cAll types of customers are interested,\u201d states Scibetta.<\/p>\n
One is a landscaping company that has equipped its employees with iPads. They use them to take pictures of the grounds and provide customers with quotes on the fly as well as communicate information back to the server in the office. Construction companies are embracing mobile technology as are Fortune 500 firms and even car washes. \u201cIt makes no difference,\u201d says Scibetta. \u201cPeople want access to their [information].\u201d<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t surprise him. \u201cEveryone has the whole world in their hands so why do we have to block out the business part? Let\u2019s enable that, but make sure it\u2019s secure and managed properly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Has Copier Fax gone mobile?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe eat our own dog food,\u201d responds Scibetta. \u201cWe run everything on mobile. When our reps go out and interface with customers, they all have iPads. They review customer accounts on the iPad, track the number of service calls on a certain machine, volume, and use them for proposing new equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naturally, Scibetta\u2019s IT staff has gone mobile too. \u201cWhen they do a standard connection to a company\u2019s network with a copier they all have iPads and fill in on the iPad what they did, what server they did it on, what drivers they installed, whether or not they added fax capability, and they collect signatures from the customer and it comes back here and goes into our ERP.\u201d<\/p>\n
He contends that it\u2019s important for the dealership to use its own technology. \u201cWe\u2019re pushing it so hard and if we don\u2019t use it the customer might not have confidence in us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ray Belanger, president of Bay Copy in Rockland, MA, is not seeing as much interest in mobile solutions from his customer base as some of the other dealers I spoke with. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen some interest, but frankly it\u2019s not as much as what I\u2019ve been expecting. We were gearing up for that big push a few months back. I\u2019m not saying it doesn\u2019t exist, but for us there\u2019s not a tidal wave yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
What he\u2019s found with some mid-size and larger customers with IT departments managed by old-school IT people, which is the majority, are that those individuals are still resistant to let users near their network. \u201cThey put up barriers, and a couple of executives we\u2019ve met with have been insistent about workarounds for specific people,\u201d notes Belanger. \u201cThey\u2019re still protective of their turf.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expects that to change as younger IT personnel become more involved in decision-making processes focused on mobility and the cloud.<\/p>\n
For the few customers that are interested in going mobile, Bay Copy offers various apps and solutions through the vendors they represent\u2014Konica Minolta, Lexmark, Toshiba, Muratec, and HP.<\/p>\n
Internally at Bay Copy, they\u2019re still evaluating opportunities to take advantage of mobility. Most of Belanger\u2019s employees have iPads, but at this point it\u2019s a mixed bag among its sales reps and services techs who are using it as a business tool. \u201cFor us it\u2019s not a mandatory thing,\u201d states Belanger.<\/p>\n
Cobb Technologies, with headquarters in Richmond, VA and offices throughout the state, is still in its infancy when it comes to selling mobile technology. As a successful dealership, they have the luxury of taking their time and figuring out how to do it right. That said, customers are driving them in that direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a hot button and everybody is interested in that,\u201d states Toni Gorveatt, president. \u201cWe have been Windows based in our offering and as you know a lot of those mobility offerings are not Windows based. We\u2019re working through that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Cobb hasn\u2019t equipped its reps with tablets, most seem to find this technology useful in the field. \u201cThe majority of my reps have an iPad and they use it for work,\u201d states Gorveatt. \u201cWe\u2019ve been looking at putting all of our forms on the iPad or some sort of tablet device so when the reps go out they can fill in all their forms and paperwork on the tablet instead of using paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tony Nami, owner, Prior & Nami in Hamilton, NJ, is just now starting to see the issue of mobility come up with his customers although the numbers are modest at best. \u201cWe have been putting on the Bluetooth wireless kit on some of the Konica Minoltas,\u201d he says. \u201cIf there\u2019s a wireless hot spot in the building we use the Konica Minolta app.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Nami\u2019s reps are starting to talk to customers about mobility and the awareness level is high, what interest there is seems to have been driven by what customers are reading on the Internet in the press. \u201cClients have become aware of what their tablets or handheld devices can do and they want their machines to do it too. Fortunately the manufacturers are responding by providing that capability.\u201d<\/p>\n
As far as his reps, they all use Salesforce and everybody has a tablet. \u201cWhen they go out on a call they grab customer data and pop it into Salesforce,\u201d notes Nami. \u201cIn addition, our brochures and price lists can be accessed on the tablet unlike in the old days when you only had the brochures you remembered to bring along.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chad Alban, sales manager, Stratix Systems, Wyomissing, PA, has noticed that mobility is becoming more and more a topic of conversation with customers. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously out there; everybody has a smart phone. We\u2019ve educated the reps that during demonstrations and when they\u2019re out talking to people to talk more about that,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s how I\u2019ve been selling the PaperCut solution, which enables mobile printing.\u201d<\/p>\n
PaperCut has been good to Stratix. \u201cSome of the other software dabbles in it,\u201d explains Alban. \u201cWhen people hear about the ability of printing from devices that\u2019s number one, but being able to track it is one of their bigger concerns and it opens up a conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a personal level Alban uses a smart phone and an iPad. \u201cI wish they would make it so you can use a mouse with it,\u201d he says about the iPad. \u201cI do mobile printing demos using that or my smart phone. Seeing is believing; just talking about mobile printing isn\u2019t cool unless you can show them a specific application that they would use on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though he seems to think that mobile technology is a positive development from a sales perspective, he still wonders about the price one pays for always being connected. \u201cI use it daily. Unfortunately, smart phones have sometimes made us too accessible, constantly checking e-mail, sending out reminders and calendar invites. It\u2019s changed society and the business world.\u201d<\/p>\n
It sure has.<\/p>\n
And will continue to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Back in 1965 everybody was going to the moon. Remember that song? Okay, maybe not.\u00a0 However, in 2014 and beyond, everybody seems to be going mobile. OEMs, solutions, and services providers are rolling out mobile apps like crazy and it seems as if there isn\u2019t anyone among that group who doesn\u2019t have some sort of mobile strategy. Rather than focus on what the OEMs, solutions, and services providers are doing on the mobile front, I thought it would be interesting to learn what the dealer community is witnessing in the marketplace when it comes to mobile applications as well as how they\u2019re leveraging mobile technology and applications within their own dealerships. Mitch Taylor, sales manager with 4 Office Automation in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, is already feeling the impact. \u201cIn the last six to eight months it\u2019s gained a lot of traction. We just did a school board deal where everything had to be AirPrint and wireless. That\u2019s becoming a big thing. I just submitted a tender today for a large university with a mobile print application to charge back printing to everybody.\u201d 4 Office Automation has weekly technology meetings every Wednesday morning hosted by their senior systems integrator who educates the dealership\u2019s sales force about new technology and solutions. Topics are often driven by what sales reps are responding to in their tenders and one of the most recent topics focused on mobile printing and secure print release. On the internal operations front, 4 Office Automation has equipped its sales team and technicians with tablets. \u201cWe\u2019re getting rid of laptops and notebooks,\u201d states Taylor. \u201cWe\u2019ve been using the mobile print applications on our devices for a couple of years now. If an e-mail comes in and there\u2019s an attachment that needs to be printed, we can print from our iPhones. We\u2019ve been utilizing those features for some time now.\u201d In Buffalo, New York, mobility is a key element of Copier Fax Business Technologies\u2019 Documentelligence solutions sales strategy. \u201cThat\u2019s all we\u2019re focusing on when it comes to the bizhubs from Konica Minolta, but also through our document management systems and mobile forms,\u201d reports David Scibetta, EVP\/ CIO. \u201cWe\u2019re focusing on mobility with everything and unchaining people from their desks.\u201d This, he says, begins with customer education. \u201cSome customers don\u2019t even have a mobile strategy in place so we\u2019re helping them with that,\u201d says Scibetta. \u201cOne way we\u2019re doing that is teaching them how to manage the BYOD environment, and more importantly the MDM (Mobile Device Management) software so they can manage their devices in the field and know that everything is secure.\u201d Customers are responding to this mobile message. It\u2019s not just the organizations that might be considered the most progressive who are embracing this mobile message. \u201cAll types of customers are interested,\u201d states Scibetta. One is a landscaping company that has equipped its employees with iPads. They use them to take pictures of the grounds and provide customers with quotes on the fly as well as communicate information back to the server in the office. Construction companies are embracing mobile technology as are Fortune 500 firms and even car washes. \u201cIt makes no difference,\u201d says Scibetta. \u201cPeople want access to their [information].\u201d That doesn\u2019t surprise him. \u201cEveryone has the whole world in their hands so why do we have to block out the business part? Let\u2019s enable that, but make sure it\u2019s secure and managed properly.\u201d Has Copier Fax gone mobile? \u201cWe eat our own dog food,\u201d responds Scibetta. \u201cWe run everything on mobile. When our reps go out and interface with customers, they all have iPads. They review customer accounts on the iPad, track the number of service calls on a certain machine, volume, and use them for proposing new equipment.\u201d Naturally, Scibetta\u2019s IT staff has gone mobile too. \u201cWhen they do a standard connection to a company\u2019s network with a copier they all have iPads and fill in on the iPad what they did, what server they did it on, what drivers they installed, whether or not they added fax capability, and they collect signatures from the customer and it comes back here and goes into our ERP.\u201d He contends that it\u2019s important for the dealership to use its own technology. \u201cWe\u2019re pushing it so hard and if we don\u2019t use it the customer might not have confidence in us.\u201d Ray Belanger, president of Bay Copy in Rockland, MA, is not seeing as much interest in mobile solutions from his customer base as some of the other dealers I spoke with. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen some interest, but frankly it\u2019s not as much as what I\u2019ve been expecting. We were gearing up for that big push a few months back. I\u2019m not saying it doesn\u2019t exist, but for us there\u2019s not a tidal wave yet.\u201d What he\u2019s found with some mid-size and larger customers with IT departments managed by old-school IT people, which is the majority, are that those individuals are still resistant to let users near their network. \u201cThey put up barriers, and a couple of executives we\u2019ve met with have been insistent about workarounds for specific people,\u201d notes Belanger. \u201cThey\u2019re still protective of their turf.\u201d He expects that to change as younger IT personnel become more involved in decision-making processes focused on mobility and the cloud. For the few customers that are interested in going mobile, Bay Copy offers various apps and solutions through the vendors they represent\u2014Konica Minolta, Lexmark, Toshiba, Muratec, and HP. Internally at Bay Copy, they\u2019re still evaluating opportunities to take advantage of mobility. Most of Belanger\u2019s employees have iPads, but at this point it\u2019s a mixed bag among its sales reps and services techs who are using it as a business tool. \u201cFor us it\u2019s not a mandatory thing,\u201d states Belanger. Cobb Technologies, with headquarters in Richmond, VA and offices throughout the state, is still in its infancy when it comes to selling mobile technology. As a successful dealership, they have the luxury of taking their time and figuring out how to do it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1649,1814,1641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8372"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8374,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions\/8374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}