Reference no: EM133175588

Sunbelt Rentals, based in Fort Mill, South Carolina, is one of the largest equipment rental companies in the United States, with a $2 billion inventory of rental equipment. More than 1,200 company employees, including sales staff, field personnel, and executives, are equipped with iPhones to interact with contacts and stay abreast of calendar events. In addition to using iPhones for e-mail, scheduling, and contact management, Sunbelt deployed a custom application called Mobile SalesPro, which ties multiple systems and databases into a single package for the sales team. This application connects the corporate point-of-sale system, inventory control and management system, and enterprise system, which integrates data from many different business functions. Users are able to share sales quotes based on the most up-to-date information on rental rates and equipment availability. With this application, Sunbelt's sales team can respond immediately to customer requests while they are at a job site.

QUESTIONS:

1. What kinds of applications are described here? What business functions do they support? How do they improve operational efficiency and decision-making?
2. Identify the problems that businesses in this case study solved by using mobile digital devices.
3. What kinds of businesses are most likely to benefit from equipping their employees with mobile digital devices such as iPhones, iPads, and BlackBerrys?
4. One company deploying iPhones has said, "The iPhone is not a game-changer, it's an industry changer. It changes the way that you can interact with your customers and with your suppliers." Discuss the implications of this statement.