Case Study — Eaton - Antenna Software

Case Study — EatonEaton Corporation is a global leader in diversified power management,providing energy-efficient solutions to answer today’s most criticalelectrical, hydraulic, and mechanical power management challenges.Eaton’s Hydraulics Group manufactures an extensiveportfolio of state-of-the-art hydraulic components, and formany years the company had been using collections ofprinted manuals to assist the sales process. Eaton saw theopportunity to transform its field operations, shorten salescycles, and provide a differentiated customer experiencewith a mobile catalog application.“This is a real game changer.We believe that enabling fasterresponse times drives moreopportunities, and createsa competitive advantage. WithPowerSource, that’s exactlywhat we’ve built for our team.Having access to currentproduct information in the fieldis critical to closing deals andgrowing the business.”— Eric Stager, Product Manager, Web and Mobile,Industrial Sector, Eaton CorporationCHALLENGEEaton’s Hydraulics Group’s sales teams and distributors useheavy, printed manuals that quickly become out of date.Eaton wished to transform its field sales operation by creatinga digital product catalog application and replacing hundredsof catalog pages with a mobile application.SOLUTIONEaton teamed up with Antenna to develop a sleek, tabletcatalog app — PowerSource that placed all its 200,000products at the fingertips of its field sales team and itsnetwork of distributors, automating the entire sales process.RESULTSEaton reduced the sales cycle from weeks to days, andin some cases to hours. Transformed sales operations,differentiated their service offering, and improved thecustomer experience.PRODUCTS AND SERVICESAntenna Mobility Platform — AMP.Eaton Corporation won the Manufacturing LeadershipAward (ML100) for “Game-Changing Technology”.NATIVEMANUFACTURINGB2E

Case Study — EatonINNOVATIVE STRATEGYEaton has an extensive product line that includesmore than 200,000 products. The company’sdistributors and field sales representatives usea collection of large, printed manuals that theybring with them to meetings.In addition to carrying the printed manualsto showcase products, the teams also had tocontend with a professional but potentiallytime-consuming sales process. After takingextensive notes during these meetings, salesrepresentatives would then return to theoffice to enter the necessary information intothe company’s sales and order managementsystems. At times, this data-intensive processcould mean several days would pass betweenan Eaton field representative making initialcustomer contact and being able to providea sales proposal or contract.Eaton’s competitors were in the same position,and Eaton recognized that making a strategicdecision to mobilize their sales team wouldmake them much stronger, competitively. Thealternative would have been to leave the dooropen for a competitor to take the initiative. It wasan easy decision to make.TABLETS LEAD THE WAYEaton knew they needed to reduce the entiresales cycle. Only a mobile solution could help— by placing detailed product and pricinginformation at the fingertips of their field teams.Mobile tablets provide a catalog-like feel and“The goal was to reduce the sales cycle from what hadbeen days and sometimes weeks to, ideally, the day ofinitial engagement with a customer or prospect.”— Eric Stager, Product Manager, Web and Mobile, Industrial Sector, Eaton Corporationhave the screen real-estate to display complexproducts and specs effectively, reducing theamount of paperwork sales reps have to carry.The basic parameters that needed to be metwere as follows:The mobile application had to be able todeliver the entire Eaton collection of catalogsand manualsIt had to allow easy access to information ina clean and visually compelling wayIt needed to ensure that information on morethan 200,000 products — particularly productspecifications — was always up to dateIt needed to allow sales reps to craft proposalsand notes, and to capture customer data forsystem update, while on customer premisesIt needed to allow easy order entryAnd the app had to work under a true anytime,anywhere set of conditionsUninterrupted anywhere, anytime accesswas critical. The field reps typically operate inenvironments with unstable and unreliable 3Gservices and little or no Wi-Fi access, meaningthat the ability to transparently work offline wouldbe essential to the design of the mobile app.A field rep needed to have access to the entireworking app at every point in the sales process,from initial contact, throughout the meeting andafterwards — capturing information and datawhether wirelessly connected or not.MAKING THE CASE WITHA PROTOTYPEWith these initial parameters in mind, Stager andhis team pulled together an initial prototype fora mobile app, running on an iPad, and showedthe prototype at the company’s Fall 2010 EatonDistributor Meeting event.Stager recalled, “There were over a thousandglobal Eaton channel partners andrepresentatives and our simple and relativelycrude mobile prototype captured theirimagination. We received overwhelming ‘Voiceof Customer’ feedback at the event from oneon-onediscussions, surveys, and collaborativeworkshops — demanding that Eaton make theapp an urgent priority.” Stager continues, “TheEaton leadership team received this feedback inperson — the idea sold itself.”Search, Spec, SellWith the tablet application,the sales team can respond tocustomer needs on the spot.They can access over 200,000up-to-date product specifications,price comparisons, productavailability, and immediatelyprovide quotes and place orders— all in real-time.CHOOSING ANTENNAEaton went through technical deep dives withMobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP)vendors and ultimately chose Antenna Softwareand its Antenna Mobility Platform (AMP).Antenna was selected due to a number offactors: the company’s 13 year experience andcapabilities in the enterprise mobility space,it’s ability to support tablet apps and to deploy toother smart devices when user demand dictated,the company’s ability to deliver the required userexperience (a key component for Eaton) and thebreadth of technical support services availablepost implementation.

Case Study — EatonStager said, “Antenna demonstrated to usa unique maturity to deliver both a complexmobile app and the huge amount of data that ispart and parcel of the app.”Running Eaton’s app in the Antenna mobilecloud has been vital to the success of thedeployment. Eaton has not had to invest inhardware or resources to maintain the mobileoperating environment. Instead they have beenable to focus on other strategic projects, centralto their business.Antenna’s ability to make the necessary mobileapp development resources available to Eaton,and that team’s ability to effectively deliverthe app as specified by both back-end anduser interface requirements defined outside ofAntenna itself, were critical to Eaton’s ability todeliver the app on a timely basis.A COOL CATALOG APPIN THE FIELDAntenna provided Eaton with an innovativetablet catalog app that goes far beyonda standard web-based product catalog, takingadvantage of the iPad’s unique strengthsincluding easy portability, portrait andlandscape viewing modes, and multi-panedtouch navigation.With Eaton’s PowerSource app the field is nowable to access 3D parts modeling, trainingvideos and detailed specs on thousands ofproducts. Real-time updates, including pricing,technical specs, competitor cross-references,and customer history provides Eaton a hugeadvantage over their competitors in themarket. It all happens at the point of customerinteraction, where data can be captured,proposals crafted, and orders entered.Bringing Products to LifeThe field is now able to access3D parts modeling, trainingvideos, and detailed specs onthousands of products throughthe catalog app.All of this is handled through a set of sophisticateduser interfaces, each designed to servea particular type of data requirement.“Ultimately we and our partners have developeda substantial and strategic application that isinherently mobile. It is mobility that provides ourstrategic and competitive advantage,” said Stager.A SALES PROCESSTRANSFORMEDEaton transformed the day-to-day operations offield sales and distribution teams and gainedcompetitive advantage with a well-designedmobile catalog app.Eaton’s PowerSource app has reduced the salescycle from weeks to days, and in some cases,hours — increasing deals closed on the first dayof engagement.Eaton’s strategic mobile solution differentiatesthem in the eyes of the customer. High useradoption is achieved through the popularity ofthe iPad. Up-to-date product information andpricing contribute to optimizing margins andimproving its market position. The customerexperience and service has been enhanced,with quotes and information at the field teams’fingertips.The faster product selection and orderingprocess provides Eaton with a uniquecompetitive differentiator. For example,customers that work with Eaton don’t haveto wait and risk costly operational downtime.When time in replacing a part is critical to thecustomer’s buying cycle, Eaton’s PowerSourceapp better enables the field sales representativesto fulfill needs immediately.Additionally, the company expects to realizecost benefits in print reduction by eliminatingthe need to print significant numbers of its hardcopy catalogs each year.In March 2012, Eaton won the ManufacturingLeadership Award (ML100) for “Game-Changing Technology” for it’s ground-breakingPowerSource iPad application. The ML100awards honor transformational businessprojects, innovation and excellence in a widevariety of manufacturing categories includingoperational excellence and workforcedevelopment.Related ReadingAntenna Corporate Overview AMPchroma Mobility SuiteGET READYTO DEPLOYHAPPINESSAre you ready to take your mobility strategy to the next level?To learn more about Antenna and our award winning mobility platform, or other productsand services: Visit www.antennasoftware.com | Call +1 201 239 7980 (US)or +44 1483 739 707 (EMEA APAC).© 2012 Antenna Sofware Inc. All rights reserved | Antenna Software, Inc., 111 Town Square Place, Jersey City, NJ.All products and product names mentioned in this publication are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.