DMC, a promotional marketing agency with more than 20 years of experience in the auto parts segment, announces that it adopted OfficeTrack as a solution to manage the routine activities of its field team.
As a result, it reduced information collection and processing time by more than 50%.
DMC performs specialized work in the dissemination of products from the main auto parts manufacturers in the country within the segment known as aftermarket.
“The sales promoter is the mechanic workshop, as well as distributors and retailers. Our focus is there, in these three links of the distribution chain. Our promoter is a specialized disseminator of our customers’ brands and also the eyes and ears of the manufacturers at this end,” sums up the director and one of the partners of DMC, Dirce Boer.
One of the great challenges of this type of activity is the constant need to automate the work routine of the field teams – in the case of DMC, its external team, includes more than 50 promoters operating throughout the country.
“Our challenge was to gain agility in the collection of information. With manual collection, it took the promoter up to a week to send it, and this compromised the quality of the work,” recalls Marcelo Boer, administrative director of DMC.
Among the information collected by the promoters are data on product availability, its availability in the store, its positioning in relation to the competition, among others.
With these challenges ahead, Dirce and his team began to look for a tool capable of providing agility and greater efficiency in the collection and sending of data, in addition to technologically equipping his team of promoters. In this search, they learned about OfficeTrack through 3CON consulting, a software distributor in the country.
OfficeTrack is a mobile application that helps in the management of employees in the field. It has 8 different modules: Tasks (Service Order); Dynamic Forms; Geolocation; Attendance (time card); Orders (sales); Fleet Management; Optimization (services and routes); Retail (image recognition and comparison).
The user companies do not have to install anything on their servers. They simply download the application from the store (Play Store or App Store), as everything is in the cloud. While the field staff goes out with their mobile devices, the manager can track and interact with his external team at all times. He can do it through the web, via the OfficeTrack platform, either from his desktop or any mobile device.
Agility and quality gains
With OfficeTrack installed, DMC equipped its developers with smartphones from which they upload information.
“In the past, the promoter, after collecting information or any request from a customer, had to go home or to a Lan House and connect to the Automatic Information and Occurrence Reporting system. Now you can complete it directly from your smartphone and send it to us the same day. As soon as we receive it, we can process the information to send it to the manufacturers. These changes were immediately noticed by the DMC customer,” Marcelo mentions.
According to 3CON’s Account Manager, OfficeTrack’s flexibility allowed DMC to create dynamic forms, including all the information that was previously collected manually.
“During the pilot phase, the DMC team, in addition to being able to handle the tool, used all their experience and creativity to introduce new information, such as photos, drop-down lists, customer signatures, etc.,” Marcelo noted.
DMC partners agree that OfficeTrack is very simple to use and brings great agility, both in sending and receiving information from the field. Now everything happens overnight; before, the result of external activities could take up to 15 days to arrive.
“The system works very efficiently and certainly met the expectations of streamlining the flow of information,” Dirce explains.
The system also solved the problem of organizing the external team’s routines.
“If we establish that the promoters have to meet a certain number of visits, we can control it through the system. We also know if the visits were made, if that point of sale was attended and addressed, among other aspects,” he said.
For the directors, the investment has already paid off, especially because 3CON granted a grace period to use the software, which helped DMC to get a clearer perception of the advantages of the system and the return of the business.
“We had no upfront costs until the system was fully implemented. Based on that grace period and the practical return, the system paid for itself and we were satisfied. We also had no problems with technical support or with the commercial area. 3CON’s flexibility in adapting to our reality, negotiation, excellent service and post-sales follow-up made the difference,” said Marcelo Boer.
The executives also revealed that OfficeTrack did not require any significant IT investment, not even a change of machines, since everything is in the cloud. The only additional investments were the higher-speed Internet data package, since OfficeTrack needs more bandwidth for good information traffic, and cell phones with 3G technology.
They also commented that, despite the ease of the system, it was necessary to organize trainings for the teams, especially for promoters from other regions of the country.
“Resistance to change is normal. The promoter’s adaptation to the new platform was a challenge, but it was soon overcome, especially as they understood the advantages and the evolution of the company,” they commented. “Now, promoters even receive the day’s visit schedule through a smartphone. The field routine is more organized and convenient for everyone,” he finished.
