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Management Information Systems, 13TH ED.
MANAGING THE DIGITAL FIRM
Kenneth C. Laudon ● Jane P. Laudon
continued
Learning Track 4: Wireless Applications for Customer
Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, and
Healthcare
Wireless Applications for Customer Relationship
Management
Major customer relationship management (CRM) vendors have enhanced their products to provide
mobile support for sales and service activities. A growing number of sales professionals work
outside the oce and require up-to-date customer records and account information to help them
close deals. e ability to deliver this information on the spot helps mobile sales sta act decisively
at the point of customer interaction.
For example, Siebel Systems’ Siebel Sales Wireless enables sales professionals to ac cess customer
account records and related information such as order status or recent service issues at any time or
location. ey can also enter the most current account and deal information data into their wire-
less devices to update the Siebel corporate customer database. e system will alert representatives
to important events using wireless messaging.
Field service workers benefit from wireless applications that provide real-time access to critical
enables them to access data from multiple back-end systems.
Chapter 7: Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology
Chapter 7 Learning Track 4 2
continued
Figure 6-1 illustrates how this system works. When a customer calls to place a field service request,
Siebel CRM software identifies the product needing repair, selects the field service representative
to dispatch, and messages that technician’s wireless device with the service re quest. e techni-
FIGURE 6-1 Pitney Bowes’s Wireless CRM System.
e system delivers customer and service history data instantly to the field service technician’s
handheld. It also tells the technician whether the work is covered by contract or is billable and
feeds data for billable work into Pitney Bowes’s billing system. If parts are required, the Siebel field
Wireless Supply Chain Management
Contemporary supply chain management (SCM) systems are a fertile area for mobile wireless tech-
nology because of the need to provide simultaneous, accurate information about demand, supply,
production, and logistics as goods move among supply chain partners. SCM software vendors
include capabilities for mobile support and wireless capture of data on movements of goods and
other events.
Chapter 7 Learning Track 4 3
continued
A firm that needs to ship out goods can use mySAP SCM to create a shipment order and tender it
to a selected freight forwarder. e forwarder can access this tendering application from a mobile
device and accept, reject, or modify the planned order. If the forwarder rejects the tender or does
Wireless in Health Care
Another area in which wireless technology is having a major impact is health care. Health care
systems have been hampered by ineciencies from paper-based processes and gaps between infor-
mation systems. Many hospitals have wired networks but still have problems getting essential
information to the right place at the right time because most physicians and nurses are rarely in
one place for long.
Mobile technology can provide some solutions. Hospitals are installing wireless LANs in emer-
TABLE 7-3 Examples of Wireless Health Care Applications
Wireless Application Description
Electronic medical record
(EMR) retrieval
Health care professionals can use wireless handhelds to enter and view
medical records, including diagnostic information in real time. They
can review data immediately and update patient records while making
their rounds.
Wireless note taking for
patient charts
Doctors and nurses can enter data electronically into wireless PDAs,
smart phones, or laptops.
