RSS Field Marketing
Digital transformation to save time in store, reduce costs, and provide clients with greater visibility of the market place.
Client
RSS is one of the leading independently owned Field Marketing Agencies in the UK, operating across all sectors of the grocery marketplace - multiples, cash & carry, wholesale, and impulse. The company works with many of the country's best-known brands including Famous Grouse, Absolut Vodka, Tetley, and Remy Martin. With a team of over 60 full-time remote sales specialists it manages these brands to an agreed development strategy to ensure that they receive maximum exposure.
Challenge
To maintain a competitive edge, RSS recognised the urgent need to revamp its internal business processes and data collection methods. The aim was to enhance operational efficiency, curtail costs, and crucially, offer clients enhanced visibility of the marketplace, in real time.
Solution
RSS selected Thirdsound ICT to conduct an analysis of the business, interviewing all stakeholder groups from field agents, clients and administrative staff through to the management team and directors. Thirdsound used its 40+ years’ experience in software design to review all possible solutions, make recommendations, and in partnership with RSS, to design and implement a complete digital transformation. The solution was a bespoke software platform to modernise the business, composed of a CRM backend, mobile data collection app, and spreadsheet integration. The platform is an end-to-end paperless communication system which allows remote teams to communicate with head office using mobile phones, negating the need for any paperwork at all, and providing real time reporting from the field.
The type of data to be collected is designed by the head office operations team. “This ability to dynamically create and deploy any kind of information to specific devices means that the system is extremely flexible and scalable,” commented Gordon Houston. “A set of reports is generated in real time from the data being inserted in the field and we can access instantly over the web.”
The set of data to be collected is downloaded every morning to each mobile phone device, ready for the field agent to use.
The data can be input into the device even if there is no active internet connection. When the user enters back into an area with internet coverage, the phone will automatically connect and upload any data they have input.
At the end of the day (or at the end of each call) the data is uploaded to head office ready to be processed in real time.
User-Driven Design
A critical success factor in the implementation of the system was the time required for the field agents to complete their work. One of the major risks, identified at the outset of the project whilst creating the Business Case, was that a new device or workflow would interfere with their long-standing deliverables in-store: to effectively communicate with the store manager, implement any promotional activity, and carry out a series of client audits in the shortest timeframe possible.
The following design features were used to minimise the number of clicks required; to minimise the time spent on any specific audit by summarising information; and to enhance the field agent’s existing workflow rather than impeding it (given that some had been doing the job for over 20 years and were already extremely swift and efficient with the old method using paper).
Our challenge was to design an application user interface (UI) that would be quicker than the fastest field agent using paper, whilst being intuitive and easy to learn, so that all members of the team could get up and running quickly with a minimal amount of training.
User Benefits
Minimise Time Spent in Store
Conditional questions minimise the number of clicks required by the operator by restricting parts of a question to scenarios where specific conditions are met.
In this instance, if the checkbox for SEL Inc Ent (SEL Incorrect on Entry) is checked by the operator, two additional controls are shown to allow further information to be collected. Every client can thus have their own customised questionnaire, whilst minimising the time spent in store.
Minimise Scrolling for Maximum Visibility
The system has the ability to create forms with an unlimited number of questions, each of a different type. Dropdown menus, checkboxes, text fields, numeric codes, pricing information - any type of information can be set up as part of a project. The system automatically re-adjusts the layout of the controls on a page to ensure that the maximum number of questions are able to be answered without scrolling the page.
Summarise Information in Real Time
In any given store visit, a number of actions may be required by the field representative such as merchandising stock, replacing SELs, or negotiating with the store manager. By automatically keeping track of which products require action and summarising on one page, the MDC system allows the field representative to make the most use of their time in store. This screen provides a comprehensive summary of store issues that can be used as a concise agenda when speaking to the store manager on exit.
Results
All areas of the business have benefited, including the remote teams, head office operations and the management team. Gordon says, "The visibility of the marketplace is incredible; we can now see in real time the value we are adding for our clients.”
Manual data entry is no longer needed, cutting out the opportunity for human error and freeing up significant resources.
Quality has improved in the form filling process used by the sales representatives by the provision of an intuitive, streamlined, and automated means of entering the data, i.e. using menu-driven options and data validation at the point of input.
The provision of additional management reports such as audit reports, call rates, how many stores visited and where, calls planned versus calls received, allows the management team to have greater control over the work force.
The representatives are no longer required to carry large volumes of paperwork; one mobile device contains all relevant forms and information needed in store.
A massive amount of time is saved by the data administrator and operations team by the automatic creation and deployment of the forms.