Forbes has a great article about how Nordstrom and Home Depot have adopted mobile POS devices enabling employees to check out customers anywhere in the store. Employees at Apple’s retail stores have been armed with mobile iTouch devices for several years that enable employees to scan a barcode and check out a customer immediately.  Companies like Nordstrom and Home Depot are seeing increased sales because they can expedite purchases as the customer is trying on clothes, makeup, cordless drills or circular saws. No more waiting in line “thinking” about your purchase. Using Mobile POS employees can capture the buying moment and reap the benefits for the retailers.

Some interesting tidbits

• Nordstrom’s first quarter sales increased 15.3% since implementing Mobile POS devices.
• The average number of items sold per sale increased
• The average sales price per sale increased

We are seeing similar trends in the adoption of mobile work order systems like ZenTouch in the service Industry.

Driving service business with mobile work orders

With a mobile work order system on an iPhone, Android or Rugged PDA service technicians have full access to services, parts and prices to quickly create an estimate or service ticket for a customer. One customer reported he has seen a 17% increase in service techs availability to take additional service calls just by implementing a mobile work order system. Spread that across 8 technicians – that’s a big impact on our business.

Another customer reports, “Customers seem to trust a digital system that breaks down costs for services and parts rather than watching me rifle through a stack of papers. I can present a complete service ticket, review the recommended services, add or delete items and allow them to approve service immediately.” In the event a customer decides to wait to initiate a service call to talk with their wife/husband, review finances, check their calendar, etc. a technician or estimator can save the estimate and schedule a call back with the customer. Now all estimates and work orders are accessible via a mobile device with a simple search.  Technicians can access past estimates and immediately revisit the estimate, email it to the customer or convert it to a work order on the spot.

Clearly efficiency gains are being recognized on both ends of the spectrum by implementing Mobile POS or Mobile Work Order Systems.  These efficiencies are enabling retailers like Nordstrom and Home Depot to drive business at the point of interaction.  Service industry leaders are experiencing identical results.  By improving the customer experience the decision to buy is expedited and mobile enabled businesses are reaping the benefits.

Jody Sedrick

Google has started to unveil a new/old thing.  This week I saw a video showing what Google Glass might or could look like at: http://www.intomobile.com/2012/04/04/google-project-glass-could-androidpowered-augmented-reality-glasses/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The idea of glasses with built in augmented reality technology has been around for years. But it seems more like the next wave of reality is on the verge of hitting the consumer market.  As we become a more and more tech savvy society we are less likely to reject new ideas like “smart glasses”  or wearable devices. We have all seen the si-fi movies that have predicted our current technologies like tablets and cell phones and then said “that makes sense”.  The use of glasses is just the next wave of UI to keep us not only enamored with tech but helping us interact with technology more efficiently.

Google hopes the glasses will appeal to people who want information automatically in front of their eyes. No longer will you be hassled to take your phone of your pocket to take a photo, answer a call, send a text message or look up directions.  All this can be can be handled via your glasses and voice command.

I like the idea of wearing my smartphone instead of pulling it out of my pocket every time i need to do something.  The big downfall is the use while driving, I see this as a major obstacle to the glasses.  The no texting laws are in place to deal with the distractions a phone can have on a driver. I cant imagine having a second viewable pane in front of my eye while navigating a tight curve or heavy traffic.  One other down side might be the weight of them, glasses are relatively light but add the smartphone to your frames and wow your ears would feel it.  On the other hand if the glasses were an extension of your current phone and you could connect them via Bluetooth that would be a great option.  All in all there will be people who will love them and those that will hate them but as technology moves more and more in the direction of user comfort it can only make it better as far as i am concerned.

Rod Puzey

Follow us on twitter: @zenwaremobile or @zenwareinc

Zenware is a Boise Idaho based company that specializes In custom mobile software development, custom iOS development, custom Android development, ipad software development, iphone software development, custom web development, web hosting and Saas based work order management software.

Clipboard similarities to the iPad are facilitating user adoption

For the past couple of months I have demonstrated ZenTouch to service professionals from a myriad of industries; electricians, installers, auto dent repairers, carpet cleaners, plumbers and others.  I have found some trends that are enlightening, but today I wanted to focus on one – the adoption of the iPad especially in light of the launch of iPad 3 yesterday

We are so in-grained with collecting and annotating data using a clipboard that the physical similarities of the iPad or Android to a clipboard make it easy, even comfortable, to pick up an iPad and go to work.

Service Technicians

ZenTouch work orders on an iPad

Service technicians ranging from HVAC Techs, Plumbers to Auto Dent Repairs all carry a clipboard. Tasks range from looking up part numbers, checking off service items, filling out the work order, collecting payment information and getting final sign off.

Now with systems like ZenTouch, a cloud base mobile work order system by Zenware, service techs are using their iPad “clipboard” to create estimates, process assigned work orders, add parts and services on the fly, access customer information, review previous service work, manage service crews and have information sync directly into QuickBooks.

The clipboard form factor is so  universal that transitioning to an iPad or Android Tablet is a natural transition. Especially if you can couple the familiarity of a clipboard style device with intelligent business, medical or service apps that drive business, significantly improves processes and provide better service to your customers.

Here are a few areas that smart iPad Apps like ZenTouch are improving service business processes

• Easy and immediate access to prior service information
• Integrated service or pricing lists allow the technician to focus on service instead of pricing
• Immediate invoice for faster collections
• Proof of work
• Create, schedule and dispatch future service tickets right in the field
• Reduce and even eliminate human errors with automated business process
• Avoid handwriting and note translation errors
• Compute service work totals automatically
• Collect and record payments at the time of service

Services industries from all sectors are rapidly adopting enterprise mobile solutions.  I see a significantly higher move towards the iPad as the device form factor of choice.  Doug Drink Water in his recent blog “The 8 industries and professions most rapidly impacted by tablets” highlights the impact tablets of various service industries. Notice that all of these industries historically collected data on a clipboard.