August, 2004

Mobile E-Mail Gets a Thumbs Up at Robert Bowden

Going wireless at Robert Bowden, Inc.

By Staff Report

At Marietta, Ga.-based Robert Bowden, Inc. (dba RBI Wholesale), personal computers sit on all the desks, printers crank out production schedules in all millwork shops, and networked "speed" groups relay real-time information with the stroke of a single key. Until recently, however, the company's 25 outside sales reps were decidedly offline when it came to sharing market intelligence.

"They were limited to picking up the Nextel, which was a one-to-one process but not real good for groups, or putting memos in someone's mailbox," says Nick Massengill, the three-unit dealer's vice president of sales and marketing. "It was pretty inefficient."

Enter the latest generation of Blackberry personal communication devices. Armed with the portable units-which offer e-mail access, online connectivity and, combined with a portable phone or radio, instant communication-RBI's sales team is now in constant contact not only with the office, but with customers and suppliers as well. Meeting reminders, shipping status reports, the latest on lead times and pricing, even driving directions and traffic updates now flow back and forth, providing an uninterrupted flow of information all along the supply chain.

For years prior to discovering the Blackberries, RBI had explored ways to "bring the outside guys into the technological revolution," Massengill explained. Supplying them with laptop computers proved expensive and cumbersome. After all, what busy salesperson had the time to pull over to the side of the road, boot up, log on and sift through reams of e-mails, many of them not mission critical? "The best we could hope for was that maybe they'd check in two times a day, if that," Massengill says. "Too often they just weren't getting information on what was going on that day, at that time, in the company."

The Blackberries not only provided an easy-to-use and cost effective alternative, they enhanced productivity by eliminating non-crucial e-mail messages and according to Massengill, "took the pressure off the phone."

RBI introduced the devices gradually, beginning with a four-rep, 60-day pilot test. The reps chosen for the test represented a cross-section of the company's outside team: one handled production builder accounts, another focused on custom home builders, the third was technologically savvy, and the fourth, says Massengill, "wasn't particularly sophisticated" when it came to electronic gadgets. During the test phase, the four provided regular updates and feedback about their experiences.

"We learned a couple of things," says Massengill. "One, that Blackberries don't float and aren't water resistant"-after one of the devices was dropped down an open manhole-"and two, that we needed speaker functionality." Fortunately, a new generation of speaker-enhanced Blackberries (dubbed "Blueberries" because of a color change) was coming onto the market at the time. Following an additional month of testing, RBI began a company-wide rollout with a member of its IT team dedicated to shepherding the process.

"Buy in was never an issue," Massengill maintains. "Some of our guys were sort of technophobic, but once they saw what (the devices) could do, everybody was totally on board." - Scott Larson is a freelance writer in Brooklyn, N.Y.

For more information, contact Nick Massengill at 770 429 9285 or nick@robertbowden.com