Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Bar Chain Builds on Expansion Success with Mobile Solution for Field Managers
Overview
Country or Region:United Kingdom
Industry:Retail
Customer Profile
Inventive Leisure operates Revolution Vodka Bars throughout the United Kingdom. Its focus is to develop and expand the Revolution brand successfully. It currently operates from 46 units, of which 43 trade as Revolutions.
Business Situation
Inventive Leisure needed to enhance the communication between managers, who spend a lot of time traveling. Managers needed to read and respond to e-mail attachments while on the road, book meetings, and access relevant company information.
Solution
Inventive Leisure worked with Microsoft®partner JMC to deploy Windows Mobile® powered Pocket PC devices operating on the Vodafone network.
Benefits
Managers can respond to communications directly and efficiently
Stay updated with daily bar sales
Significant time saved across the business
Access critical information anywhere, any time
Users learn and adapt to technology quickly
/ “At first, our senior team members were apprehensive of using the new technology. However it is so user-friendly, they wouldn’t live without it now. It has become essential to the way we work.”
Marc Dawson, Assistant IT Manager, Inventive Leisure
United Kingdom-based Inventive Leisure has grown rapidly since its first vodka bar opened in 1996. The organisation now operates 46 town and city centre establishments, of which 43 trade as Revolution Vodka Bars. With most of its senior team on the road, travelling between venues, the company was keen to increase productivity by enhancing communications between field staff and the head office. Inventive Leisure worked with JMC, a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, to roll out Windows Mobile® powered Pocket PC devices to senior managers. These devices provide real-time access to information and e-mail while they’re away from the office, and ensure they are always up-to-date with their schedules. Now able to manage their administration while away from the office, users are far more productive, can reduce paperwork, and have freed up a significant amount of time to focus on expanding the business.
Situation
Revolution Vodka Bars is a chain set up by the United Kingdom’s Inventive Leisure, which opened the first bar in 1996. Inventive Leisure, which has twice won the Multiple Operator of the Year award, now focuses almost exclusively on the development and expansion of its Revolution brand. Revolution considers itself a vodka expert. Its bars serve an “unparalleled range of cocktails, premium vodkas, and vodka shots”.
The hospitality industry is fast-paced and highly competitive. To maintain its success, Revolution needed every ingredient to stay in step with market demands. As the chain grew across the country, effective communication between head office, area managers, and bar staff was important to keep costs to a minimum, while ensuring the organisation could invest as much time and resource as possible into the smooth development and management of these establishments.
A key strength of development managers is their expertise in site purchase and development.They manage new sites from acquisition of the property, through to opening night. This is a critical time for managers to be able to maintain contact with head office. Yet working from a site, which is being converted from an old building, can cause logistical problems in terms of communications. In most cases, phone lines, Internet access, and computers aren’t installed until late in the development.
This meant that managers rarely had time to check e-mail messages or deal with enquiries. Marc Dawson, Assistant IT Manager for Inventive Leisure, says: “Our development managers spend most of their time traveling. This leaves them time for only one day per week in head office when they can use e-mail and complete administration tasks.”
The senior managers’ paper-based diary system was also problematic. The diary that managers carried with them did not necessarily correspond with the one in head office. Schedules could only be updated accurately when the manager returned to the office. And support staff didn’t always know when a manager was busy in meetings or working from a new site, and had problems co-ordinating meetings with other managers or suppliers.
“To assure high productivity, it was essential area managers could be more easily accessible. They had to be able to readily resolve any issues as they came up, and be on hand to support their bar staff,” says Dawson.
In addition, the organisation needed to accelerate the flow of critical information relating to daily sales from bars to head office, ensuring that any issues could be resolved before they caused problems. “Some of our bars do not close until the early hours of the morning. We needed a way for staff to be able to send sales data and information to managers at any time, so that they could be aware of any issues as soon as possible even if they weren’t in the office,” says Dawson.
Solution
Inventive Leisure decided to look for a mobile solution that would ensure Revolution Vodka Bars’ field staff could communicate easily with colleagues and suppliers, read and respond to e-mail attachments, book meetings, and access relevant contact information from any location at any time.
The organisation explored various options in wireless technology, including Blackberry devices, before choosing to roll out Windows Mobile®powered Pocket PC devices to its senior field managers. Inventive Leisure worked with its long-standing network provider Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner JMC to develop the solution running on Vodafone v1620 devices.
“Choosing to work with JMC was an easy decision. We were influenced by the low cost of implementation, the knowledge JMC could offer, and the fact that the software we had already would integrate seamlessly with Windows Mobile technology,” says Dawson. “After we had chosen the path we wanted to take, JMC made life easy for us. The company offered information on the devices they’d tested and demonstrated the benefits of the handheld technology.”
Inventive Leisure quickly recognised the advantages of integrating Windows Mobile technology with its existing Microsoft-based infrastructure, which included Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. The communications and collaboration server offers mobile access to their e-mail messages, calendar, and contact information without the need to deploy additional infrastructure.
Mike Bentley, Sales Director, JMC, says: “Windows Mobile fitted Inventive Leisure’s long-term strategy of having a seamless Microsoft platform. The virtues of having a single Microsoft-based platform over the disadvantages of a proprietary system, which requires a separate server, are clear. Not only is the rollout more cost-effective, but alternative software wouldn’t have been able to offer the same look and feel as the technology already in-house.”
Benefits
Soon after rollout, it became apparent that the new devices would make a significant difference to operations at Revolution Vodka Bars. In less than three months after rolling out the solution, the senior team was able to take full advantage of its features. Staff productivity has increased and the organisation has been able to save travel time and dial-up costs. The Windows Mobile solution has quickly become an important part of how the company operates.
“At first, our seniorteam members were apprehensive of using the new technology. However it is so user-friendly, they wouldn’t live without it now,” says Dawson. “It has become essential to the way we work.”
Increased Productivity with a Mobile Office
Until its implementation, much of the time that staff spent traveling to bars, suppliers, or meetings had been unproductive. Despite the need for communication with head office and bar staff, they were unable to respond to anything other than urgent voice calls.
The Windows Mobile devices have given managers a way to respond to communications directly and efficiently. Appointments can be updated in real-time by support staff at head office, ensuring managers always have access to an accurate and up-to-date schedule.
No longer do managers have to travel into the office to respond to e-mail messages or complete administrative tasks. This work can be completed from any location, which has produced valuable savings in time management, and frees up managers to focus on setting up new bars rather than administrative tasks.
“Previously, applications such as calendars weren’t used effectively as managers were only able to make it into the office once a week. Now that the Windows Mobile devices are connected to Exchange Server 2003 in real time, staff can remain in constant contact with their managers,” says Dawson. “In addition, they no longer need to carry a paper diary with them.”
Real-Time E-Mail Access Reduces Paper-Based Processes
The mailbox functionality within Microsoft Pocket Outlook® gives users the freedom to exchange Microsoft Office Word 2003, the Microsoft Office Excel® 2003 spreadsheet software, and other files at any time. Operational updates and sales data can be sent from head office to managers in the field for immediate review.
Paper-based processes are dramatically reduced, as managers no longer need to rely on carrying out-of-date printouts. Receiving and sending new data electronically and in real time, speeds up approval processes and helps keep all employees up to date with the latest data. “Bar staff can now send daily sales information to their area managers in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets,” says Dawson. “Before the solution was rolled out, this had been done on an ad-hoc basis and delays led to a greater risk of human error.”
Working from sites is considerably more productive than before. All the users need is a mobile signal to continue working as though they are in the office.
Less Time Spent on IT Back-ups
The solution has had little impact on the organisation’s IT department from a management point of view. In fact, regular access to e-mail from outside the office has actually reduced work for the department, freeing up administrators to work on more value-added tasks.
Dawson explains: “Previously, the e-mail system would overload when managers were unable to clear their inboxes frequently. As a result, backups were taking too long. Now that mailboxes are well managed, backups are a lot more efficient.”
Work Relationships Strengthened
Above all, Revolution Vodka Bars management can be seen as having a more professional approach to communicating internally and with suppliers and partners. Managers can respond to e-mail queries in hours, where before it may have been days before they could send a reply. As a result, stronger relationships are forged with suppliers, and the business has opened up new opportunities to take advantage of supplier sales or limited offers.
Dawson says: “Users can work together more effectively, sharing new information about staff issues, products, suppliers, or industry trends. And as the solution is based on Windows® technology, there is potential for future growth in expanding the capabilities and user numbers of the system. I’m not sure how we ever operated without it.”
Microsoft Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile brings the power of the Windows operating system to mobile devices, helping businesses and their mobile employees stay connected while on the go. Windows Mobile runs mobile versions of Microsoft programs, including Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, Pocket MSN®, Microsoft Windows Media® Player Mobile, and Microsoft Office Word Mobile, PowerPoint®Mobile, and Excel Mobile. With Windows Mobile, information workers get powerful software combined with the familiarity of Windows. Combined with available service plans and connectivity options, Windows Mobile–based devices, available from 42 device makers and 68 mobile operators in 48 countries, can be used to make calls, send e-mail and instant messages, surf the Web, and access critical business information even when users are away from the office.
More information about Windows Mobile can be found at: