19 June 2008

US snack food manufacturer Lance has improved its customer service with the implementation of a mobile solution powered by Windows Mobile and Apacheta’s RouteACE software.

The solution is helping Lance’s 1,400 direct-to-store delivery salespeople to offer better service, run their routes more efficiently, track and manage inventory, and access reports on demand.

The company’s legacy mobile application had become increasingly difficult to maintain, and its mobile handheld computers were failing more frequently. It needed a mobile application that it could deploy, change and support more efficiently.

“Device failure rates had been increasing for several years,” said Shawn Cherry, director of applications at Lance. “The business couldn’t tolerate it anymore. Our immediate objective was to eliminate the downtime due to failed devices – and fast.”

Lance chose Apacheta’s RouteACE direct store delivery software because of the integration it enabled with Microsoft’s .NET Compact Framework. “We already had experience using .NET technology to develop desktop and server applications, and knew that Windows Mobile would enable us to take advantage of that same skill set,” said Cherry. “We also knew that it would enable us to choose from a broad range of applications.”