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  • Mobile Auditing Solution by Melbourne-based Sync International Streamlines Operations, Reduces Costs.

    Creative Field Marketing (CFM) is one of Australia's largest marketing and communications agencies, representing clients such as Optus, Siemens Mobiles and Virgin Blue. The 150 members of CFM's Field Sales and Marketing Division armed with Palm® IIIxe and Palm® m505 handhelds, visit retail outlets around Australia where they undertake in-store audits of how each client is represented. Ensuring that stock levels are high and clients' products are well displayed on shelves, staff utilise their Palm handhelds and mobile phones to communicate wirelessly and in real time with clients. CFM has been improving operations at store level since January 1998 and now has more than 400 Palm handhelds deployed throughout the organisation.

  • "CFM staff needed something small and lightweight that could be relied upon when on the road. Being the most developed handheld system available, Palm was the obvious choice."

    Gabrielle Small
    Account Director
    Creative Field Marketing

    The Challenge
    CFM has up to 1,500 field staff working on a large number of client-specific programs and a single method of communicating among staff and clients is crucial. The paper-based reporting system previously used was time-consuming and complicated; a more cost effective, streamlined process that gave consistent results was needed.

    "Creative Field Marketing needed to ensure all sales staff used the same audit evaluation processes when in-store so that clients could have a clearer and more accurate understanding of how they were positioned in the market," said Gabrielle

    Small, account director, Creative Field Marketing. "Retail is an aggressive market and the client needs to know immediately what is happening in the field. With the previous paper-based system, clients couldn't have access to market trends until the end of each month."

    Because each program CFM conducts is unique to that client, CFM needed a versatile method of data delivery and analysis that would cater to individual client needs.

    "Creative Field Marketing is a leader in providing information about client representation in retail outlets. We had to ensure our mobile solution would enable us to maintain a competitive advantage in a growing market," Small stated.

    The Solution
    "CFM staff needed something small and lightweight that could be relied upon when on the road. Being the most developed handheld system available, Palm was the obvious choice," said Small.

    CFM, working closely with Sync International, developed a software solution that would enable them to tailor the program for each client. By customising the interface, CFM sales staff could follow checks and balances specialised to each client to produce consistent results.

    According to Steven Prior, director, Sync International: "Sync's sales Merchant was developed with CFM to give staff wireless access to a central database in real time. The combination of the software and Palm handhelds allowed them to easily source and relay critical information back to central databases and the client"

    The Outcome
    CFM is now communicating more effectively with clients, producing more consistent results than ever before and delivering information to clients on a daily basis.

    "The Palm handhelds have effectively become the client's eyes and ears in the field, allowing them to access our results in real time. By using handhelds, our field staff can now deliver clients' expectations at store level, by conducting on-the-spot in-store audits, controlling stock levels and analysing competitor activity. Staff then communicate that information to the client, giving them greater control over decisions and how they are positioned in the market," Small said.