Case Studies

Industry Case Studies

The below case studies provide additional information on what's going on in the wireless world today and show how companies are utilizing wireless technology to better attain their business goals. These case studies were not written by IDC Global Networks. Though the highlighted companies and situations detailed are real, these are not customers of IDC Global.

Ace Beverage Wireless

Most businesses can easily envision how real-time route communications could improve operations and create competitive advantages. The traditional barriers to implementing wireless communication systems have been cost and coverage. Developments in WWAN, wireless LAN and mobile computing technology are rapidly removing these barriers. As the example below demonstrates, the benefits and business justification for end-to-end communications are not limited to large companies.

Ace Beverage, a beer distributor in California, provides an excellent example of how “Back-end Operations” can also benefit from real-time updates of route activity. Like most distributors, Ace Beverage used to plan route operations and build the next day’s loads after receiving order information from its pre-sales staff at the end of each day. Salespeople were required to have their orders in by 6 pm, which left warehouse workers and dispatchers 11 hours to plan the routes and load the trucks. Operations frequently ran behind schedule if business was heavy or orders were received late, which led to overtime pay for distribution center workers and late deliveries for drivers.

Ace Beverage issued mobile computers with wide-area wireless data access to its pre-sales staff. Orders are now transmitted to the distribution center throughout the day, instead of being received en masse at deadline. Ace Beverage can now begin building loads by 2 pm and has eliminated 15-20 hours of driver and distribution center overtime per week. Improvements to warehouse efficiency also saved an estimated $50,000 in capital equipment costs. New applications and simplified communications enabled by the mobile computers save each pre-sales representative an estimated 60 to 90 minutes daily, which frees up more time for selling and interacting with customers.

AAA Cooper Transportation Wireless Case Study

AAA Cooper Transportation, a less than truckload (LTL) carrier headquartered in Alabama primarily serving the southeastern U.S., previously used voice radios to dispatch its drivers for additional pickups and deliveries. AAA Cooper conducted a mobile computing and WWAN communication trial at its Dallas terminal, which typically processes 700 to 800 pickups and 400 to 500 deliveries a day with 50 drivers. Now, daily delivery and pickup manifests are loaded onto the mobile computers that are kept in the truck. Drivers use the computers to record their arrival and activity performed at each customer site by entering a few keys. When each pickup or delivery is completed the transaction record is sent to the terminal over a WWAN connection. The information provides a real-time view of driver activity and produces information that enables AAA Cooper to answer customer inquiries quickly.

When wide-area wireless data communications were used to support mobile operations the company increased productivity by approximately one hour per driver per day. By transmitting pickup and delivery information throughout the day, AAA Cooper’s planning systems could calculate the most efficient way to dispatch additional pickup requests and manage drivers in the field.

HP Proves the Power and ROI of Wireless WAN

Just like many of its customers, HP has thousands of customer support engineers whose productivity during onsite service calls depends on rapid access to public and private information sources available on the Web and via corporate intranet and e-mail. Until recently, cell phones and pagers were the information lifeline for those engineers who could not get access to dial-out lines at customer locations to connect to the HP corporate network.

Wireless WAN is changing all that. Equipped with an HP notebook personal computer, wireless card and wireless service, HP customer engineers will be able to take their online connection with them. The results: faster service for customers, greater productivity and time savings for engineers, lower support costs for HP and increased customer satisfaction.

HP’s Challenge

• Help improve customer satisfaction.
• Help HP customer engineers be more effective.
• Reduce costs of providing customer support Potential Savings.

Solution
Equip 3,000 HP CEs with HP notebooks, wireless cards and wireless service.

Potential Savings

• 15 minutes' repair time for each service call, which will significantly enhance customer satisfaction
• 68,250 work hours total, including overtime hours
• 60,000 back-end hours for inbound calls for technical support and parts
• $6,480 in overtime per customer engineer
• $720 in toll-call fees per customer engineer

The potential return on investment is based on an average cost of $100 each for wireless cards and $70 monthly mobile service fees per user.

HP Pilot Proves the Wireless WAN Theory

A recent month-long pilot project with nearly 100 HP customer support engineers in the U.S., Canada and Latin America proved the power of wireless WAN and its return on investment. HP engineers using Compaq Evo notebook PCs, wireless cards and mobile service got on-the-spot access to information they needed to help customers. Before the wireless WAN pilot, some engineers were skeptical about the need for wireless connectivity in the field.

"When I was offered wireless WAN, I didn't think I had a need for it," says Mike Vogel, HP customer engineer. "Now I say, 'how did I ever live and do my job without it.' With wireless WAN, as soon as I receive a call for support, I use my notebook computer from wherever I am to research the problem, review case notes and request parts." The 20-year HP veteran discovered something else to like about wireless WAN. "Now I can keep up with all of my e-mail during the day, and it doesn't have to wait until after dinner. I'm not going home and spending two hours on the computer just trying to close out my day."

Customers are noticing the difference, too. "Our HP customer engineer, Mark Morris, is solving problems faster," says Ryan Meldrum, UNIX administrator at Acxiom, an HP Services customer. "With wireless access, Mark can get parts ordered and delivered within minutes. I would like to see other vendors use wireless WAN, too."

HP support engineer Lee Wolfe caught the attention of customer Intel by being able to update a storage area network (SAN) switch within minutes by downloading new firmware without returning to the office. Intel's firewall protection prevented the download of the firmware file located behind the HP firewall.

Wolfe says wireless WAN has made data collection easier and eliminated disadvantages caused by location. Previously, he scribbled notes while talking on his cell phone with the service center representative who took a customer call. Now he can get those notes and log files in an e-mail and even input data directly into applications, eliminating phone calls and dictation errors.

Wolfe has another favorite example of wireless productivity. "I was driving when I got a call that I needed to update an HP Web site immediately," he recalls. "I pulled the car over and fired up the laptop, which was in hibernation mode. I tunneled into the Web server, identified the issue and was able to publish the update to the server and bring production application back in less than 10 minutes. This whole event was totally Star Trek cool."

Power outage, no problem : On August 15, 2003, the largest power outage in the history of North America showed that wireless WAN can also be a great tool for emergencies.

"When the power went out at my house, I was still able to get online to HP with my notebook," says Gerry Bullock, HP engineer in Ottawa, Ontario. "The next day, still without power at my house, I used my car battery with a power inverter to keep the notebook battery charged so I could login and get my e-mail. It was unbelievable. I stayed connected with my customers throughout the blackout and was able to make them feel like it was business as usual at HP."

Back-end benefits :By giving customer support engineers access to information and parts ordering online, calls to HP service centers and parts departments have declined substantially, says HP Services' Don Thompson, who supervises 20 customer support engineers participating in the pilot. "What used to require a phone call to the service center for product information and second call to the logistics help desk to locate the required part can now be done online by the customer support engineer. We've gone from two phone calls to zero phone calls."

Right hardware, fast access : Some HP engineers expressed frustration with earlier versions of wireless cards and mobile service. No longer. "The card is simple to install and I'm getting near-LAN speeds," Bullock says.