Sherwin-Williams Coats Salesforce With Treo Smartphones
Sherwin-Williams Deploys Its First Mobile-computing Solution with 2,000 Palm Treo Smartphones Running Customized Customer Relationship Management Application
November 14, 2006 — Sherwin-Williams - a global leader inmanufacturing, distribution and sales of coatings and related products - deployed Palm(R) Treo(TM) smartphones to its entire sales force in the United States, Caribbean and Canada. Using more than 2,000 Treo smartphones as wireless tools, sales representatives gain immediate access to valuable company resources that improve customer service, centralize information, and enhance their daily business operations. Combining Palm's open-platform system with a customized application built in-house, employees use Treo smartphones as their mobile office, managing email and phone calls while at customer locations.(1)
In business for more than 135 years, Sherwin-Williams - a Fortune 500 company - operates more than 3,000 stores in 50 states, Canada, and Mexico, and is the U.S. market leader in distribution of paint, stains, coatings, wall coverings and associated supplies and sundry items. The company has yearly revenues exceeding $7 billion and is ranked one of the 100 best companies in America to work for by Fortune, while setting standards of excellence within the coatings industry.
Collaborating with AppForge, a member of Palm's new Select Developer Program, Sherwin-Williams created the customized Palm OS(R) application. The application allows its sales force to record daily sales calls, calendar updates and customer contact information immediately after visiting with a customer, regardless of whether they have cell coverage. The data then automatically synchronizes with the corporate network once it returns to cellular coverage. Employees also can use the application to view sales-call history prior to calling a customer.
"The Treo smartphone presented an opportunity for us to integrate and centralize all information, and also provides a common tool for our sales representatives to manage their daily activities," said Emiro Uribe, manager of systems development for Sherwin-Williams.
Reports now are entered more often and in a timelier manner. Treo smartphones have proven to be a reliable, cost-effective, and flexible solution for Sherwin-Williams employees by shortening their business processes, increasing data accuracy and efficiency by providing immediate access to pertinent information. Call reports, appointments, and other information are now centralized on the smartphone and visible to management in near real time.
"The Sherwin-Williams program is an innovative implementation of a mobile customer relationship management system, and we applaud them for their successful deployment," said Tara Griffin, vice president of enterprise markets for Palm, Inc. "Companies like Sherwin-Williams illustrate that the promise of a highly effective mobile workplace is now a reality."
Before using Treo smartphones, Sherwin-Williams' widely dispersed sales force relied on a manual process of recording sales calls. With email and messaging at their fingertips, the sales force uses Treo smartphones as a vehicle to improve customer service and reduce administration costs. The company chose the Treo smartphone over competitive offerings because of its size and form factor, the integration of its PDA and phone features, and the stability of the Palm OS platform.
More information about Palm's enterprise solutions is available at: http://www.palm.com/solutions.
sherwin-williams.com
http://www.palm.com
(1) Within wireless service coverage area only. Availability and coverage depends upon carrier and the geographic scope of international roaming agreements. Email, messaging and web access requires data services from a mobile service provider at an additional cost.