DB Breweries has moved to a SAP enterprise mobility solution that securely provides its frontline sales staff with access to business processes and data on their mobile devices.

The solution, delivered on schedule and on budget, is already helping DB better serve its customers the company says, while empowering its sales force.

“Our retail customers operate in a highly competitive and low-margin environment,” says Pamela Nobbs, IS manager, DB Breweries.

“To profitably maintain the right stock and range of products, our customers have to act fast, which means we have to act faster.

"As a business, we only have the agility to meet our customers’ needs if we have an empowered frontline, and that’s what SAP is helping us accomplish with its mobile solutions.”

As part a wider push to improve customer service through IT, this most recent project includes SAP Afaria to manage the company’s devices and mobile applications, as well as the SAP Mobile Platform to enable staff to consume, manage and develop an array of mobile business applications.

The company says one such mobile app, SAP Retail Execution, is helping mobilised sales reps enhance productivity by providing them with insights pulled remotely and in real time from the company’s existing SAP CRM system.

“The whole mobile experience is streamlined and intuitive,” says Dan Gilbert, Sales director, DB Breweries.

“Our sales team have adopted the new mobile solution quickly and are now using it to enhance the world class sales experiences we provide.”

With the support of SAP Services and product-specific rapid deployment solutions, DB says it went live with an end-to-end enterprise mobility solution fully integrated with its existing SAP CRM solution in three months.

“DB Breweries was looking for more than a simple mobile device management solution,” Nobbs adds.

“We needed a solution that could deliver the full range of security, governance and compliance required to manage mobile applications in a corporate environment.”

Building on an end-to-end mobile strategy

With the SAP Afaria solution, DB Breweries will also introduce a bring-your-own-device option for its entire organisation of more than 500 staff.

The company soon will also roll out also a collection of SAP mobile applications, to help increase productivity across the business.

“Enterprise mobility isn’t just about remote access or receiving business e-mail on your smartphone,” says Selim Ahmed, head of mobility, SAP ANZ.

“Companies who understand mobile like DB Breweries are extending and in many cases re-innovating core businesses processes to bring value to their customers and their business.

"Only SAP has the validated leadership in both mobile device management and mobile application platforms to help businesses get their mobile strategies right – on time the first time.”