Reference no: EM133172822

With operations in 60 countries, Dow Corning offers more than 7,000 products and services for consumer and industrial applications, from adhesives to lubricants, delivered as fluids, solids, gels, and powders. A Roambi Visualizer app lets Dow Corning executives use their iPhones to quickly view and analyze real-time data from their core corporate system, including sales figures, trends, and projections. It presents managers with simple, intuitive dashboards of complex data. According to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Don Sheets, "In 15 seconds I can get a sense of whether there's a financial performance issue I need to get involved with." Dow Corning's Analytics App for the iPhone monitors Web site traffic and online sales for the company's XIAMETER brand of standard silicone products. Analytics App interfaces with Google Analytics. When Dow Corning rolls out XIAMETER Web sites across the globe, executives will be able to monitor what content is and isn't being used whether they are home, traveling, or at the office.

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.