House of Angostura (also known as Angostura Limited), headquartered in Laventille, Trinidad, is one of the Caribbean’s l

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House of Angostura (also known as Angostura Limited),
headquartered in Laventille, Trinidad, is one of the Caribbean’s
leading rum producers and the world market leader for bitters used
in many cocktails. Angostura has 330 full-time employees and annual
revenue of approximately $100 million.
Order Taking Process:
Angostura still takes care of local distribution of its products
in Trinidad and Tobago, with a team of 16 sales representatives
taking orders out in the field. Although this arrangement worked
well in the past, the process was heavily manual, tedious, and
time-consuming and sometimes produced inaccurate orders. Each day,
the 16 sales reps in the field had to copy the orders on paper and
return to the office to hand off the order forms to a customer
service representative, who would then manually input the order
data into Angostura’s SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system. Because the orders were handwritten, information could be
read and entered incorrectly, which could result in the wrong goods
being sent to a customer. Such inaccurate orders were often
returned, creating more paperwork and higher costs.
Accounts and Reporting Process:
Angostura also used manual processes for reporting and tracking
invoices and accounts receivable information, which could create
additional delays and errors. The sales representatives were also
working with data on product availability that might be out of
date. If the sales reps were away from the office, they would not
be able to tell whether an order could actually be fulfilled. They
would have to call Angostura’s warehouse to find out if an order
was possible.
Management Decisions:
In 2012 Angostura’s management decided that the sales process
needed to be more streamlined and efficient and that it should use
mobile technology. The company identified a set of detailed
information requirements for the improved sales process and spent
more than a year evaluating system solutions from five mobile
vendors.
System Requirements:
One important requirement was that the application should be
able to automatically update the availability of purchased products
from the company’s overall inventory and integrate with the firm’s
back-end SAP ERP system.
Another requirement was that the mobile system be able to
operate offline so that a sales representative could still input an
order on a mobile device even if there was no online connectivity.
Once online, the device could then send the order through to the
ERP system.
Software Outsourcing:
The vendor selected was the one that could best develop the
mobile application to the company’s specifications and stay within
the budget established by management. In 2013 Angostura partnered
with IDS Scheer and itCampus consultants to develop a mobile sales
solution running on Apple iPads.
The solution includes:
It was quickly created using SAP
NetWeaver Gateway technology to connect various devices and
platforms to SAP software. A pilot application was ready for
testing in June, and the entire application went live in January
2014.
Each of Angostura’s 16 sales representatives was issued an iPad
that includes not only the order application but other mobile apps
to make the sales process more efficient, such as email, Google
Maps, and a video and PDF document uploader to display the
Angostura product line.
Advantages of Using the Mobile App:
Steps required to design and build new information
systems:
Angostura’s experience illustrates some of the steps required to
design and build new information systems. Building a new system for
mobile sales orders entailed:
Changes in the business process:
The information requirements were incorporated into the design
of the new system, which represented a process of planned
organizational change. Angostura’s ability to handle sales orders
was hampered by outdated and inefficient manual processes, which
raised costs, slowed down work, and limited the company’s ability
to serve its customers.
The solution was to redesign the sales order process to use
mobile devices and software and allow orders to be entered through
iPads and transmitted to the firm’s back-end ERP system.
Angostura’s information requirements were incorporated into the
system design. The solution encompassed not just the application of
new technology but changes to corporate culture, business
processes, and job functions. Angostura’s sales operations have
become much more efficient and cost-saving.
Prepare a report to answer the following questions: