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Active Synch

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Sales rely on cell phones and laptop connections during the evenings ... Initial effort was to deliver News, Customer Summary, Pricing and the Phone Directory ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Active Synch


1
MES910 Case Study Best Practices for Deploying
Mobile Solutions to the Sales Force
Jim Piavis Sr Systems Manager jim.piavis_at_sybase.co
m August 15-19, 2004
2
The Enterprise. Unwired.
3
The Enterprise. Unwired.
Industry and Cross Platform Solutions
Unwire People
Unwire Information
Manage Information
  • Adaptive Server Enterprise
  • Adaptive Server Anywhere
  • Sybase IQ
  • Dynamic Archive
  • Dynamic ODS
  • Replication Server
  • OpenSwitch
  • Mirror Activator
  • PowerDesigner
  • Connectivity Options
  • EAServer
  • Industry Warehouse Studio
  • Unwired Accelerator
  • Unwired Orchestrator
  • Unwired Toolkit
  • Enterprise Portal
  • Real Time Data Services
  • SQL Anywhere Studio
  • M-Business Anywhere
  • Pylon Family (Mobile Email)
  • Mobile Sales
  • XcelleNet Frontline Solutions
  • PocketBuilder
  • PowerBuilder Family
  • AvantGo

Sybase Workspace
4
MAST Overview Agenda
  • A Little History
  • Standards
  • What is MAST?
  • Usage Stats
  • The Demo
  • System Environment
  • A Sybase Solution
  • What Did This Take?
  • Some Considerations
  • Lessons Learned
  • Support Issues
  • Beyond Phase 2

5
The Information Dark Ages.
  • Mobile Sales Forces have been disconnected from
    corporate information systems for too long
  • PDAs and Pocket Computers have been with us for
    years, but are just now reaching a state to be
    useful in an enterprise environment
  • Many sales systems serve Sales Management, not
    necessarily the sales force in the field
  • Sales had to rely on inadequate connections at
    the hotel after a long day of travel and
    meetings, to reply to e-mail and other
    communications

6
Our Solution
  • Develop a mobile solution that extends critical
    information to the mobile sales force
  • Provide anywhere, anytime secure information
    capability
  • Use the latest business-quality handheld devices
  • Build this all on Sybase products

7
Mobile Accessible Sales Tool (MAST)
  • MAST is a mobile, wireless solution designed to
    provide R4
  • The right information,
  • At the right time,
  • To the right people,
  • In the right place.
  • MAST provides Sybase Sales with critical customer
    and corporate information regardless of location
  • Leverage
  • Sybase corporate data integration
  • iAnywhere Mobile data solutions
  • HP PDA devices
  • iAnywhere PIM management
  • This is a live solution, not demo-ware

8
Landscape - Summer 2003
  • NA Sales had not implemented a wireless
    application system
  • Some PDAs in the field of all types (Palm/ MS CE/
    RIM)
  • Sales rely on cell phones and laptop connections
    during the evenings
  • Update of Sales info is slow due to inability to
    access data.
  • Initial effort was to deliver News, Customer
    Summary, Pricing and the Phone Directory
  • Quick hits
  • Easily developed
  • Delivered base-line functionality in Nov 03
    including revised Pricing
  • IT was also developing mobile standards around
    HP/Microsoft CE platforms

9
Landscape Winter 2004
  • Rollout of devices to NA WWFO Sales (120)
  • Over 350 users on system
  • Extended core functionality for Sales Reps and
    provided for 2-way data update capability
  • Basic credit info on Subscribed Customers
  • Subscribe customers in Customer View from PDA
  • Marketing Events Calendar
  • Customer Success Stories
  • ClosePlans Worksheet (update capability)
  • Completed Phase 2 by end of May 04

10
PDA Standards
  • IT Standardized on the HP iPaq PDA
  • 4350 for reps
  • 5550 for Sales Consultants
  • Some senior managers using Treo 600s
  • 128 MB SD card is standard
  • Software template is provided on SD card
  • Erikson T616i is standard mobile phone
  • Currently use ATTW
  • GSM/GPRS
  • Coverage sometimes limited

11
Reasons for WinCE Standard
  • Ability to multi-thread
  • BlueTooth and 802.11b compatibility
  • Display resolutions better
  • Data restoration away from desktop is possible
    without 3rd party backup/restoration software

12
Although..We Also Use Treo 600s
  • Senior Management has adopted Treo 600s
  • HP iPaq 6000 series not yet available
  • Treo is very easy to connect and sync mail via
    GSM/GPRS
  • Provides an always-on functionality with
    reasonable power consumption
  • Enabling Push or ReadySync will drain battery
    over night
  • Down-side is the lack of computing resources to
    adequately run the Mobile Sales-based
    applications.
  • Treo 610 may solve resolution issues but were
    not sure about memory resources needed to drive
    the applications.

13
  • A little bit about the application

14
MAST What Does It Provide
  • Basic PIM capabilities
  • Core Information
  • Sybase Phone Directory
  • Company News (External releases)
  • Internal News (HR, Virus info)
  • Product Division News
  • Enterprise Unwired Channel
  • Events Calendar
  • Sales Specific Information
  • Customer Summary
  • - Contacts
  • - Shipped Products
  • - Open Cases
  • - Revenue
  • - Credit Info
  • Pricing
  • Close Plans Worksheet
  • - Only for NA Sales

15
MAST PIM Capabilities
  • Pylon Anywhere provides basic Personal
    Information Management synchronization to the PDA
  • Contacts
  • Calendar appointments
  • E-Mail
  • Ready-Sync and Push are enabled
  • Uses native PPC Pocket Outlook or Palm SyncMail

16
  • The Live Demo
  • (Not Vaporware)

17
  • How was MAST received?

18
Usage
  • 800 1300 individual syncs per week
  • Over 300 registered users
  • 130-160 distinct users weekly
  • 5-8 new users a week
  • Max concurrent users is 3
  • Average download is 2Mb

19
Survey Results - Productivity
Question May 04
Jan 04 Diff.
20
Survey Results - Applications
Question May 04
Jan 04 Diff.
21
Survey Results - Hardware
Question May 04 Jan
04 Diff.
22
Feedback
  • when I am on the road (which is most of the
    time), I find the BlueTooth combo to be a
    life-saver - I can be functional just about
    anywhere. (Bill Wing Princ Systems Consultant)
  • I am using a wireless PDA provided by Orange (SPV
    M1000) Very powerful. (Philippe Mendil
    Territory Acct Mgr, Paris)
  • My interest in the project is to have a better
    understanding of what we do and what we provide
    to our customers. With the people I meet and
    interact with outside of work often ask what does
    Sybase do and wanted the opportunity to show them
    versus just telling. I am very involved in
    community services and interact with all
    different types of people and you never know who
    you are going to meet. VERY COOL STUFF! (Denise
    Jin Tax Specialist)
  • Overall, the ability the MAST pilot gave me to
    view and reply to email in the field had a major
    impact in closing revenue in Q4 - I had a CTO
    that would email me at the most random times of
    day, and the fact I was aware of when he was
    emailing me gave me the chance to communicate
    with him at what proved to be the only times of
    the day he was available - this was huge (David
    Becker Strategic Account Mgr, Atlanta)

23
Feedback - Continued
  • I'm not a sales rep. I use my iPaq when I'm out
    of the office. It's a great tool to keep in
    touch with my manager and staff.
  • I've loaded PowerPoint for the handheld on to my
    IPAQ. I see this as a great way to carry
    presentations with me on the road without the
    hassle of carrying PC around - would make it
    feasible to actually bring up a presentation
    during a casual meeting with a client. (Cathy
    Balzano Area Lead Architect, NY)
  • Use of the MAST, and mobile technology gives me
    much more credibility at customers when I try to
    convince them for going into the mobile project
    space. (Johan Vanfroyenhoven Area Lead
    Architect, Brussels)
  • I was at a conference and an executive from one
    of my clients came up to introduce himself. He
    started off by saying "You probably don't know
    me..." I was able to pull out my IPAQ and let him
    know that I know exactly who the client was and
    what volume they did with us and how important
    they were to us. Blew him out of the water!
    (Bruce Leyton Channel Acct Mgr, Atlanta)

24
  • MAST Physical Environment

25
Hardware
  • M-Business Server Rack mounted Dell PowerEdge
    2650
  • Dual Xeon 2.4Ghz,
  • 4 GB Memory 4x1Gb DIMMs
  • Win2K OS
  • On-Board RAID 1/ RAID 5, Split Backplane, 5
    drives connected to RAID
  • 5x 36GB 15K RPM Ultra 320 SCSI Hard Drive
  • Mobile Sales (x2) Rack Mount Dell PowerEdge 1750
  • PowerEdge 1750, Intel Xeon 2.4GHz w/512K Cache,
    533MHz Front Side Bus
  • Single Processor for 533FSB
  • 1GB DDR,266MHz,2X512MB DIMMS
  • On-Board RAID 5, 3 drives connected to on-board
    RAID36GB,
  • 3x 10K RPM, 1in (Ultra 320) SCSI Hot Plug Hard
    Drive

26
Hardware (Proxy)
  • M-Business reverse Proxy Rack mounted Dell
    PowerEdge 1750 1 x 3.2GHz 1Gb RAM 3 x 36Gb
    RAID5
  • Linux Redhat Advanced Server 2.1

27
MAST Mobile Architecture within Sybase
Legacy IT Applications
Portals
Business Intelligence
MAST Wireless Solution
Executive Dashboard
Sybase Data Warehouse
IWS Sybase IQ
COSMOS
RepServer PowerDesigner
Sybase EP
Smart Stream
Transaction Applications
M-Business Anywhere SQL Anywhere, Mobile
Sales
Web Applications
ClaSS (Clarify)
Customer View
WiFi GPRS
Others
FRC, PriceBase, PeopleSoft HR
Mobile Device
EA Server ASE
EA Server ASE
28
MAST Architecture
29
MAST, a Sybase Solution
PDA
Desktop/Laptop
Everything between the Operating systems can run
on Sybase
30
  • What did this take?

31
The Team
  • Project Manager IT
  • Project Lead - Business
  • Business Analyst - IT
  • Technical Lead
  • PDA Technical Support
  • Lotus Notes Tech Support
  • Developer - J2EE (x2)
  • Developer - Mobile Sales (x2)
  • SME Sales Applications
  • SME iAnywhere Tools
  • Business Testers
  • IT Call Center Support
  • Note All team members were part time

32
Development Effort
  • Phase 1 (August Dec 2003 Pilot Phase)
    Infrastructure and Channels
  • Infrastructure Ongoing
  • Pricing 9/8 -11/10
  • Customer Summary 8/25 10/10
  • Phone Directory 9/8 10/21
  • News Channel 8/25 9/8
  • Phase 2 (Dec 03 June 04 Rollout to NA Sales)
    Channels
  • Customer Summary Enhancements 12/15 1/29
  • Events Calendar 1/28 2/19
  • Customer Success Stories 12/8 3/19
  • Close Plan Summary 12/8 4/15
  • Close Plan Worksheet 1/28 5/20
  • Global Customer (WIP)

33
Phase 1
Note Costs are internal. No external consulting
headcount.
34
Phase 2
Note Costs are internal. No external consulting
headcount.
35
Infrastructure/ hardware
  • 1 M-Business Server
  • 2 Mobile Sales Servers
  • 1 Proxy Server

Note Costs are internal. No external consulting
headcount.
36
Total
Note Costs are internal. No external consulting
headcount.
37
Wireless Charges
  • We use ATT for corporate accounts
  • Data usage is generally too low to require a
    formalized plan
  • Covered on a pay-as-you go basis
  • Slightly higher on a Kb/minute basis than a plan
    basis
  • Migrate to a plan when usage exceeds 2.99/ month
  • Data quantities as of Jan 04 (in MBs)
  • used greater than 40 MBs 1
  • greater than 20 less than 40 1
  • greater than 10 less than 20 2
  • greater than 8 less than 10 3
  • greater than 4 less than 8 3
  • greater than 1 less than 4 27
  • less than 1 76

38
  • Some Considerations and Lessons Learned?

39
Consider These Tools When.
  • HTML
  • Suitable for flat content or pre-existing
    web-based content
  • J2EE/ EJB
  • Used for simple on-device data manipulation
  • Skills exist in organization
  • Easily converts pre-existing J2EE application to
    mobile application
  • Mobile Sales
  • On-device data requires minimal manipulation
  • Data storage is required on-device
  • Occasionally connected mode is necessary
  • Data is relational or nested
  • Can leverage a 3rd party adaptor (i.e. Sales
    Force.com)
  • Pocket Power Builder
  • Existing application is built on Power Builder
  • Extensive on-device data manipulation
  • Need for extensive or relational on-device data
    storage (ASA or other RDBMS)
  • Need to talk to other devices for data collection
    (i.e. fingerprint or bar code scanning)

40
Design Considerations
41
Lessons Learned Devices
  • Battery life is dismal
  • Requires backup and restore capabilities
  • MS working persistent memory and better power
    management for future release
  • Expanded battery packs are very useful
  • BlueTooth connectivity is most difficult for
    users to grasp
  • No built-in VPN with PPC 2003 were
    experimenting with Movian
  • Weve experienced memory management issues
    device will not close out an application even
    with a Stop All command
  • WiFi auto detect does not work reliably soft
    reboot sometimes necessary to detect new access
    point
  • Had problems with 5450s locking up seems to be
    generally resolved with 5550s
  • Users tend to like the 4350 with built-in
    keyboard and slim form factor
  • 64MB devices are adequate for most of our
    applications now on the device
  • Video will choke a 64 Mb device

42
Lessons Learned (Other)
  • Content is the most difficult aspect
  • Web content needs to be formatted for the PDA
  • Theres only a certain amount of usable visual
    space on the screens
  • Smart Phones dont make this easier due to
    smaller screens
  • No horizontal scrolling was the guideline
  • Space considerations on the device should be
    taken into account
  • Applications need to be kept as simple as
    possible
  • Application operation should be intuitive
  • Break complex applications into smaller
    deliverables. Easier for developers and users
  • Support
  • Expect high support needs at the onset steep
    learning curve for user community
  • Users may not be familiar with PDAs or wireless
    environments
  • There are many moving parts dont
    underestimate complexity
  • Rollout handled through 3rd party and tracked by
    Business owners
  • IT avoids hands-on support with devices
  • Be flexible. Devices and technology change rapidly

43
Lessons Learned - Continued
  • Training
  • Training materials can not be too detailed
  • Developed PowerPoint presentations for each
    module
  • Leveraged recorded PlaceWare sessions for remote
    workers
  • Core group of technical consultants available to
    assist in-person

44
Top Support Issues
  • BlueTooth connectivity
  • Connecting to BT-enabled phones
  • Locating access codes for non-ATTW phones
  • Backups and Restores
  • Battery life drives frequent backup and
    restorations
  • If a user hasnt had to perform a restoration, it
    can be tricky not difficult but tricky
  • A Guest partnership will be required and user
    will need to search for correct backup file
  • Connection Management
  • When switching from different wireless networks,
    a soft reboot is sometimes necessary to acquire
    new network. System doesnt want to release prior
    network.

45
Whats Next?
  • Expand current functionality to Europe and AP
  • Leverage EP in the new version 6.1
  • Extend critical or time-sensitive ELT dashboard
    information
  • Explore non-sales uses
  • Adoption of new converged devices when available

46
International Pricing
  • Large response for additional pricing conversions
  • Support all international currencies
  • Applies conversion and uplifts
  • Back-end pricing engine API work underway

47
MAST Wrap-up
  • IT and Sales have developed this data delivery
    method to get the right data to the right people
    at the right time, in the right place
  • This project mitigates issues with user adoption
    when company moves to a mobile CRM solution
  • Project is highly successful with good user
    adoption

48
Contact
  • Jim Piavis
  • Sr. Systems Manager
  • Sybase IT
  • Dublin, CA
  • E-mail jpiavis_at_sybase.com
  • Phone 925-236-8812

49
Demo
  • Demo CD Slides

50
MAST Phone Directory
  • The directory is based on AvantGo Mobile Sales
    Technology and uses XML to bring data to the PDA
  • Pulls a static data file from PeopleSoft HR
  • You can tap the e-mail address to launch the PDA
    e-mail client and automatically populate the
    To field

51
MAST News
  • MAST provides company news
  • General company news
  • Internal News generally only applicable
    internally such as HR info or recently, virus
    updates
  • Product Division News that updates activities
    with products and company divisions
  • The new Enterprise Unwired channel is the the
    marketing website for the wireless initiative

52
MAST Customer Summary
  • Customer Summary provides customer specific
    information such as contacts, products, cases and
    revenue
  • Data is consolidated from transactional systems
    by a centralized Customer View system.
  • This application is built on EJB and J2EE
  • Incorporates 3rd party tool J-Chart for
    charting graphics
  • Password for legacy system is cached on
    M-Business Anywhere. No need to login repeatedly
    unless password has been changed or cache deleted

53
MAST -Subscribing by Wireless
  • Adding a customer is possible when working
    online.

54
MAST - Pricing
  • Provide basic ballpark product pricing for
    sales team.
  • Not designed for formal quote building
  • MAST Pricing takes its data from a complex query
    running against our internal Price Base, the very
    same data that generates a massive pricing
    document
  • This is built on Mobile Sales technology and does
    not require an active connection to run. Data is
    contained within the PDA
  • Since data does not change often, source data is
    pulled to staging then converted to XML

55
Close Plans
  • This is key to Phase 2 and provides the first
    wireless transactional update capability
  • Close Plans is based on Field Resource Center
    data base and used by NA WWFO Sales for targeted
    named accounts opportunity management
  • Generally Close Plans is a management tool
  • MAST Architecture is Mobile Sales with SQL
    Adaptor
  • Almost 100 out of the box

56
ClosePlan Worksheet
  • Incorporates
  • Role based access
  • Search on any and multiple fields
  • Database driven
  • Pre-defined date formats
  • Conflict management
  • Only Active Records

57
MAST Success Stories
  • Over 100 case studies available on the PDA
  • Only takes lt1/4 Mb of on-device memory
  • Relatively static data but utilizes Mobile Sales
    SQL Adaptor
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