SYSPRO Espresso is game-changing software, and companies around the world are drinking it up like macchiato shots at an Italian cafe. The majority of downloads worldwide have been for iOS and Android devices, with Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone coming in third and fourth.
The allure of SYSPRO Espresso is simple to explain. It was designed with basic features that give it very broad appeal:
- Platform and device agnostic. Espresso is based on HTML 5, which allows it to work on any device capable of accessing the Internet.
- Reassuringly secure and centrally administrated (we’ll talk more about this in another post).
- Exceptionally affordable – about 10% of the cost-per-user compared to our competition, with more built-in functionality.
- A breeze to download, install and customize to match the individual user’s comfort – no costly development fees required.
As for Espresso’s practical business applications, the limits are only defined by the users’ imagination. It is, in a very real sense, an ‘office-in-your pocket’. In my last post, I discussed the many advantages of SYSPRO Espresso for executives. Today, let’s take a quick look at its potential utility as it extends across the enterprise into a couple of other vital areas: Sales and Warehouse Management.
The level of customer service provided by your sales team is an important reflection of your company’s efficiency and reliability. With SYSPRO Espresso, your sales team will be empowered with information and abilities they could only dream of in the past.
On the road, advantages accrue before the meetings even begin. Espresso has a handy geolocation feature that provides a visual reference map of customer addresses. With coffee in hand and the sales meeting underway, Espresso can be used to take orders, check inventory levels and pricing – all in glorious real time.
Once an agreement has been reached, the order can be immediately confirmed, by capturing the client’s signature right there on the smart phone screen. With a press of a button, the order can be transmitted to the warehouse to initiate the picking and shipping process. As the order is processed and shipped, its order status can be verified, allowing customers to plan their own processes with a high degree of accuracy.
Meanwhile, back at the office, time and energy has been liberated for sales associates, reception and support staff. In the past, it was necessary to answer calls from sales people on the road, who more often than not required assistance checking stock levels, responding to pricing enquiries and following up on shipping status. With Espresso no assistance is necessary. The time and energy liberated can now be used for other activities, such as dealing with incoming customer calls.
SYSPRO Espresso is equally as effective in the warehouse. In a recent interview with SYSPRO, Paul Kelly, CIO of Whites Group (Australia’s premier provider of steel, wire and fencing products), explained that SYSPRO Espresso was chosen over other mobile solutions for the development of an efficient warehouse management system. ‘We looked at a couple of options,’ says Kelly, ‘but neither of them met our needs. SYSPRO Espresso, with a bit of personalisation, does. Not only, that, but Espresso was a less-expensive and more-effective tool. It enables us to feed warehouse data directly from our sim card-equipped tablets into the database, using SYSPRO’s native functionality.’
In the very near-future, Whites Group warehouse personnel will use Espresso-enabled tablets and scanning technology to create significant efficiencies in order picking and stock taking. As a byproduct of these measures, Kelly predicts that Espresso will help minimise paperwork and the double-handling of pallets. In the future, the company plans to sync Espresso bi-directionally with Mainfreight, the company used to ship their goods.
As technology converges the applications for mobile solutions will grow in leaps and bounds. As Paul Kelly so artfully puts it: ‘What SYSPRO offers businesses allows businesses to dream.’
