To reinforce their market leadership, Southern Wines and Spirits, the nation’s largest distributor of wines, spirits and beer, and a traditional, relationship-based business, turned to innovative wireless solutions using Advanced BusinessLink’s pocket Strategi™ wireless web middleware and IBM’s iSeries server.

Southern Wine and Spirits (SWS), the country’s largest distributor of wine, spirits and beer, operates in a competitive, high-volume, low margin industry. With 2,000 reps throughout the country, hundreds of suppliers and more than 100,000 SKUs, the company was generating millions of sheets of paper a month—tracking orders, inventory, account history, promotions and other customer information. It was getting increasingly difficult for reps working far from the office to keep up with the mountain of information. SWS needed to streamline the process to maintain high levels of service for customers who range from mom and pop stores to bars, casinos, restaurants and hotels. The company also wanted to continue building good relationships with its suppliers that include wineries, breweries, distilleries and non-alcoholic beverage producers.

Traveling from customer to customer to take orders, SWS reps normally didn’t have access to a PC with a modem link. The complexities of the wine and liquor industry make it especially reliant on access to up-to-date information. Distributors must comply with government regulations from federal, state and local  entities. Their customers have a wide range of needs, including easy access to vintage and tasting notes, and they must maintain credit control from both a government compliance and business standpoint. Timely pricing information and accurate order processing means better service and fewer returns—significant to both customers and suppliers.

SWS needed a low-cost, state-of-the-art order management and information system that would help it deliver exceptional customer satisfaction and give it an edge over its competitors. Wireless communications seemed to be the obvious solution, but that brought its own challenges. One problem was the intermittent nature of wireless communications. If reps were in an area with no connection, they wouldn’t be able to access web pages used for order entry, status checks and other account information. The benefits of a wireless system would be limited if it was critically dependant on the availability of signal from wireless carriers.

Another issue for SWS was that it didn’t like the idea of getting locked in to one device or operating system when new technologies were becoming available almost daily, especially in the wireless world. If SWS bought into a dedicated solution that locked it into a particular technology, the solution could be obsolete in months. Moreover, SWS wanted to use the investments it already made in its IT infrastructure.

"Implementing our wireless system was a strategic move to maintain our leadership position, edge out the competition and continuously improve all aspects of our business," said Simpkins. "Our reps are masters at building strong relationships, and our new system gives them the tools they need to stay ahead of the curve. Now they have the information they need at their fingertips in near real-time, so they can quickly check a customer’s purchase history, place orders, verify order status, and provide special promotional offers."

Previously SWS of California reps placed orders through a Telxon Brick that transmitted orders over conventional telephone lines back to the home office mainframe. The process was cumbersome, did not have online data validation and was prone to user errors.

"In searching for a solution, we had numerous requirements," said Steve Burrows, SWS VP Sales, Marketing and E Services. "The system had to be wireless, easy to use and maintain, cost-effective and flexible. It had to be platform and device independent, and we wanted to take control and ownership in-house, not be beholding to another company."

After examining many options including large consulting firms and "canned" packages, SWS choose Advanced BusinessLink’s middleware software solutions that take advantage of the flexibility of IBM’s iSeries servers for e-business and other core business applications. 

Pocket Strategi enables browser-based access on wireless devices, such as the personal PCs or handheld devices that SWS wanted for its reps. Using the mobile device's browser and Pocket Strategi/’s unique embedded web application server, SWS reps can access their HTML-based sales force application even when they are not linked to the web server through a wireless connection.

Written specifically for the iSeries platform, the Strategi suite provides a path for businesses to move from host-based legacy applications to web and wireless capabilities. Key to this path is the leveraging of existing code, skills, and iSeries knowledge that enables businesses to achieve dramatic web and wireless success for significantly less money and in a fraction of the time required otherwise. In addition to the web and wireless interactive capabilities of Strategi and PocketStrategi, the suite’s Pushfeed capabilities and several applet-based technologies provide further tools to allow firms to move ahead in today’s marketplace. Pushfeed delivers all manner of content in a highly managed and secured environment, and a Java applet enables existing 5250 legacy applications to run in a browser and replicate the exact look and feel of a corporations web site.

"We had a very tight time frame to implement our system, and Advanced BusinessLink exceeded our expectations," said Burrows. "The project was completed on time, and we now have a flexible platform and device independent wireless solution that will grow with us."

Some 500 sales reps in California now use a wireless personal PC or Java enabled handheld device to handle customer orders. Sales are up and satisfaction is high among reps who are pleased that they now have an easy to-use intuitive system that doesn’t require technical knowledge. They simply click on a menu item such as 90 Days Summary and get instant access to a customers order history. Other menu items allow reps to access inventory, order status and promotions, giving them up-to-date access to the information they need to make SWS even more competitive.

Orders are relayed in less than a minute to an IBM iSeries server, speeding delivery time, reducing errors and increasing the amount of time SWS can spend building relationships with customers. The system is so effective, SWS of California is making more than 1,000 more sales calls per day with the same number of people. Suppliers have noted that SWS is a progressive company and they are impressed with the new efficiencies and increased professionalism. Return on investment, which was expected within 24 months, was actually achieved in about 18 months.

The successful California pilot program is now being rolled out to SWS divisions. It’s already implemented in Nevada, with rollouts scheduled for Kentucky, New Mexico, Florida and other states. SWS is using the system as a basis for expanding into business-to-business e-commerce and is looking into additional uses such as for merchandising.

SWS’s Burrows said, "Now wireless sales automation not only gives us new capabilities; it’s also adding value to the investments we’ve made over the years in enterprise systems. That’s how an e-business implementation should work."