Chapter 1 Information Systems in Global Business Today 37 INTERACTIVE SESSION: MANAGEMENT The Mobile Pocket Office Can you run your company out of your pocket? merribers go outside to the customer's vehicle and Perhaps not entirely, but there are many business enter the repur order on an iPad on the spot. functions today that can be performed using an SKF is a global engineering company headquar- a iPhone, iPad, or Android mobile handheld device. tered in Gothenburg Sweden, with 140 manufac The smartphone has been called the "Swiss Army taring sites in 32 countries and 48,500 employees knife of the digital age." A llick of the finger turns it worldwide SKF produces bearings, seals, lubrication into a web browser, a telephone, a camera, a music systems, and services used in more than 40 indus or video player, an e- mail and messaging machine, tries, including mining, transportation, and manu- and, increasingly, a gateway into corporate systems. facturing. SKF has developed more than 30 custom New software applications for document sharing.coli iPhone and iPad applications for streamlining work laboration, sales, order processing, inventory man- flows and accessing critical corporate data from any agement, and production monitoring make these where in the work. devices even more versatile business tools Mobil For example, a virtual reality app uses the iPhone pocket offices that fit into a pursor cat pocket sro or iPad camera to identify a factory machine and helping to run companies large and small. produce a 3-D averlay of the SKF parts it contains Sonic Automotive is one of the largest automo- A sensor-driven app called Shan Align is used lay SKF tive retailers in the United States with more than service terms and customers in the field Shaft Alien 100 dealerships in 14 states. Every year Sonic sells connects via wireless Bluetooth sensors to a piece of 250,000 new and used cars from approximately 25 machinery such as a motor-driven fan ta ensure that different automotive brands, and it also wells auto the drive shaft is running in proper alignment. If not, parts and maintenance, warranty, collision, and wehl- the app generates step-by-step instructions and a 3-D cle financing services Sonic Automotive managers rendering to show how to manually align the motor. and employees do much of their work on the iPhone Then it checks the work and produces a report and A mobile app called MOST enables factory open Sonic developed several custom iPhone and iPad tors to monitor some SKF factory production lines. applications to speed up sales and service Virtual MOST links to the back and systems running the - Lot a dealer inventory app, lets sales associates machinery and provides operators with key prices of quickly search for vehicles held in inventory by all data. Operators using this mobile app are able to use Sonic dealerships. They have immediate access to secure instant messaging to communicate with man vehicle information, pricing trade-in values, interest spers and each other, update maintenance logs and rates, special promotions, financing and what com. track products in real time as they move through the petitors are charging for identical vehicles. The asso factory linn ciates can quickly find the best selection for each SKF's Shelf mobile app allows sales engineers and customer and often oder for mor chokes than the customers to access on demand more than 5,000 competition. Dealers are not limited to selling only pieces of product literature, catalog product speci their own inventory. fications, and interactive marketing materials. Sales A mobile app called the Sonic Inventory Manage teams can use Shelf to create custom shelves to ment System (SIMS) has spended up and simplified () organize, annotate, and share materials with custom trade-in appraisals and pricing Sonic staff use their crs right from their iPhone or Pads The iPhone, iPhones or iPads to take photos of a car, input the iPad, and Shelf app save ampunk engineers vehicle identification number (VIN) and mileage as much as 25 minutes per day on processes and and note any issues. The data are transmitted to cor- paperwork, freeing them up to spend more time porste headquarters, which can quickly appraise the in the field supporting customers. This increase in car. A Service Pad app simplifies the steps in repair peoductivity is equivalent to putting 200 more sales and warranty work. In the past, customers with cars engineers in the field requiring repairs had to go inside the dealership and SKF auditors perform about 60 audits per year, sit at a desk with a Sonic staff member who wrote and each audit used to take more than a month to up the repair order by hand. Now the Sonic staff complete with the SKP Data Collect app, auditors 38 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterpree are able to use their iPads to collect data and present customers with detailed reports instantly Skiscsont SKF Seals offers specifications and information shout SKF machined and injection-molded scals and plastic surts, while the Scal Select app helps users select scals and accessories using wweraldir Icrcntingut parameters to lind the right solution for their needs. NIKE "Susi Ne Driving with iPad and Driving in the wrywing ilhane in Busincs, www.apple.com, am March 31, 2016 www Man 3, 2018 WWERLICHT we March 1, 20; and why the radioOffsla Good Pur Business Business Mac, 2005 CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. What kinds of applications are described here? What husiness Bunciona do they support? How do they invefficiency and decim making 2. Identify the problems that businesses in this case study solved by using mobile digital devices 3. What kind of business must likely to benefit from equipping their employees with mobile di tal devices such as hones and de 4. One company deploying iPhones has said. "The iPhone is not a game changer, it's an industry chunger. It change the way that you can interact with your cursund with your suppliers Discuss the implications of this statement taking on multiple rules and tasks and collaborating with others in a team They put greater emphasis on competency and skills rather than position in the hierarchy They emphasize higher speed and more accurate decision making hased on data and analysis. They are more aware of changes in technology, con- sumer attitudes, and culture. They ase social media to enter into conversations with consumers and demonstrate a greater willingness to listen to consumers in part because they have no choice. They show better understanding of the urinn hunnen tim ruire their time