case study tenneco drives sales with tablets · company: tenneco headquarters: lake forest, ill....
TRANSCRIPT
TENNECO DRIVES SALES WITH TABLETS
COMPANY: Tenneco
HEADQUARTERS: Lake Forest, Ill.
EMPLOYEES: About 26,000 worldwide
DESCRIPTION: Tenneco designs, manufactures and distributes clean air and ride performance products and systems for the automotive, commercial truck and off-highway markets and the aftermarket. Its North American Aftermarket business unit manufactures and sells replacement auto parts to distributors and retail auto parts stores. The company’s brand names include Monroe®, Walker®, XNOx® and Clevite® Elastomer.
At a Glance
A global auto parts supplier taps tablets to increase sales productivity and profits.
Susan Keshen says Tenneco sales representatives using tablets can now share media-rich materials with their customers and answer questions or troubleshoot problems on the spot.
CASE STUDY
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Mechanics and car owners rely on high-quality
replacement auto parts supplied and manufactured by
Tenneco to boost their vehicles’ performance. Today, the
far-reaching sales force of Tenneco’s North American
Aftermarket business unit also relies on extra help in the
form of Apple iPad devices.
The unit’s sales representatives rarely bring their
notebook computers on sales calls, typically because
they are too bulky and take too long to boot up in front of
busy customers who have no time to waste, says Susan
Keshen, business analyst for Tenneco’s aftermarket sales
automation group.
“When our salespeople walk into shops, the people
managing the counter are dealing with their own customers.
That’s their first priority. We’re fighting for their attention
span,” she says. “When we want to introduce new products
and show new marketing collateral, we can’t say, ‘Let me fire
up a laptop and PowerPoint. Give me five to 10 minutes.’ ”
Thanks to Tenneco’s recent deployment of iPad Air
tablets, purchased and configured through CDW, sales
team members can now instantly launch presentations on
their tablets, gaining quick access to corporate applications
and product and customer databases. The improved access
yields immediate information and answers while boosting
Tenneco’s bottom line, Keshen says.
The Tenneco unit is not alone in its enthusiasm for tablets
in business. Many industries and departments rely on the
devices to boost productivity, increase efficiencies and
improve customer service. Because they are light and
portable, tablets represent an ideal form factor
for salespeople and other more
mobile workers, says Rob Michuda,
Wintel/messaging supervisor
for Tenneco Global Infrastructure
Operations and Service.
“The big thing is their convenience
for our sales force,” he says. “Going
from customer to customer, the iPads
are just easier to carry and use.”
Work Faster, Save Money Prior to Tenneco’s tablet deployment,
Keshen was tasked with updating
her unit’s custom, web-based
customer relationship management
(CRM) software. After talking it over
with some sales team members,
she discovered that what they truly
needed were tablets.
The unit’s sales team sells replacement auto parts, such
as shock absorbers, struts, brakes and emissions control
products, to automotive channels that include auto repair
shops, retail auto parts stores and car dealerships.
Sales team members typically work out of their home
offices, where they use company-issued notebook
computers. For in-person calls, they required a different
technology.
“The more I talked to them, the more I realized tablets
would help,” Keshen says.
In the past, salespeople visited their customers or
prospective clients and provided paper brochures with
information on their products. When customers had
questions, the salesperson would jot down notes on paper.
“They’d collect the tasks and, at the end of the day, go
home, turn on their computer and take care of each, one by
one,” Keshen says. “We wanted to help them become more
efficient. Why not answer the questions immediately with
an iPad while they’re right there with the customer?”
Over the summer, the unit’s sales team received
32-gigabyte iPad Air tablets with protective cases. So far,
the greatest benefit is improved productivity, Keshen says,
but the tablets are also saving Tenneco on the bottom
line. Sales team members can use the devices to connect
directly to Tenneco’s CRM tool, access a product database,
answer inventory-related questions or troubleshoot
installation issues on the spot.
“They no longer have to call back later with answers,”
she says. “That’s made a huge difference. Our customers
are impressed.”
If a customer complains that a
muffler can’t be fitted or suspects
it may be damaged, a member of
Tenneco’s sales team can use a
tablet to take pictures or video of the
part, email the company’s technical
support department and receive a
quick response through email or the
phone. Such troubleshooting also
saves money by reducing shipping
costs, Keshen says. Previously,
Tenneco’s salespeople had to ship
the parts in question back to the
business unit’s headquarters in
Monroe, Mich., to obtain a diagnosis.
Keshen estimates that if the sales
team can cut shipping by 25 percent,
it will save the unit $25,000 annually.
“Our team at headquarters can
confirm that the product can be
CASE STUDY
$35KThe amount Tenneco’s North American Aftermarket business unit will save annually by deploying iPad Air devices to the sales team
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Managing Tablets with MDM More businesses rely on mobile device management (MDM) software to
manage and secure their smartphones and tablets and to distribute apps
to employees.
Tenneco standardized on cloud-based Fiberlink’s Maas360 MDM
software because of its ease of use, says Rob Michuda, Wintel/
messaging supervisor for Tenneco’s Global Infrastructure Operations
and Service.
“We didn’t want to bring in any on-premises infrastructure and have to
manage upgrades,” he says.
The MDM solution allows Tenneco IT to set policies that require company-
owned tablet and smartphone users to enter passwords to protect the
devices. Should an employee lose a device, or if one is stolen, IT can wipe
the device’s memory remotely, he says.
Tenneco recently deployed iPad Air tablets to members of its North
American Aftermarket sales force, but has also equipped executives with
iPad tablets and will soon implement a bring-your-own-device (BYOD)
initiative to allow employees to use their personal mobile devices for
work. The MDM software will protect Tenneco’s data on the employees’
devices, he says.
installed or conclude it’s damaged, and we can just send
them a replacement without having to ship the old one
back,” she says. Keshen also notes that reducing printed
sales materials by showing marketing and product
information on the tablets saves another $10,000 a year
on paper and printer ink.
Choices AboundTenneco tested five different tablets for three months
before standardizing on the full-sized iPad Air. Keshen
created a matrix to compare each device’s cost, quality
and features, including weight, size and screen resolution,
camera quality, available memory, security controls and the
ease with which each device could be powered on and off.
“The device had to be intuitive and user friendly for
the salespeople to turn on and easily tap through and
find information. It became clear that the iPad met those
requirements,” she says.
Keshen launched a second beta test to help build the
business case for purchasing the devices. For four months,
sales team members regularly filled out detailed reports,
noting how the device improved their productivity and how
much was saved on shipping or printing costs.
“We described all of the savings, and the senior
management said, ‘You know what? You do have a business
case. We get it.’ And they funded the purchase,” she says.
CDW Gets the AssistAt Tenneco, about 10 to 15 people worked on the iPad
project from start to finish, from the IT, sales automation,
purchasing and supply chain management departments,
Keshen says.
To ensure that the devices would be ready to connect to
the corporate network and crucial applications right out of
the box, Tenneco turned to CDW to purchase and configure
each iPad Air distributed to the aftermarket unit’s U.S.
salespeople.
Michuda and a handful of Tenneco IT staffers visited
CDW’s Configuration Center in Vernon Hills, Ill., to discuss
their needs. They asked the CDW team to create Apple IDs
for each user, download several business apps onto each
device, activate Verizon cellular data plans and tether the
devices to Tenneco’s Fiberlink MaaS360 mobile device
management (MDM) software.
Tenneco’s IT department had purchased the MDM
software previously to manage and secure new iPhones
issued to employees. Once the iPad tablet project was
funded, Tenneco’s IT team was able to use the same
software to manage and secure the new devices.
“There is a lot involved with configuration, and CDW
helped reduce our manpower needs,” Michuda says. “The people we
met at CDW were very knowledgeable. They understood the space
and were very beneficial.”
CDW team members comprehend the many shortcuts and
nuances of quick and efficient device configuration, says Christopher
Brooks, an engineer within the CDW configuration center. CDW
worked directly with Apple to have fraud restrictions lifted, allowing
CDW’s certified technicians to create Apple IDs for Tenneco en
masse over the same IP address.
Moreover, rather than purchasing apps individually, Tenneco
took advantage of Apple’s Volume Purchasing Program through
the advice of CDW. The program allows Tenneco to purchase apps
in bulk, integrate them easily into the MDM environment and better
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manage it all, Brooks says. Tenneco purchased an app
to make PowerPoint presentations and another to allow
sales teams to view and edit Microsoft Office files.
During the configuration process, CDW also worked
with the Tenneco IT staff and several vendors to iron out
minor glitches to ensure the apps, MDM security policies
and network access also functioned bug-free, says Avi
Nutkis, a configuration technician at CDW’s Configuration
Center.
“We have contacts not just at Apple, but also with MDM
vendors and communications service providers. That
way, if there are questions, we can make a direct call for
immediate help. That saves a lot of time,” Nutkis says.
When one particular app failed to download correctly
using the MDM software, the CDW team quickly got on the
phone with Tenneco and Fiberlink to resolve the problem,
says Senior Account Manager Kevin McGrane.
“Our engineers worked with Tenneco’s IT staff to make
sure everything went smoothly from start to finish,” he says.
McGrane recommended two cases to protect Tenneco’s
tablets: Griffin Technology’s rugged Survivor case, with a
built-in screen protector that can safeguard iPad devices
when they are dropped; and a Logitech Folio case and a
3M screen protector, which are especially suitable for
sales managers in meetings or office settings.
About half the staff chose the Griffin Survivor, the other
half chose the Logitech Folio cases, and a few chose other
options, McGrane says.
Nothing but Benefits Keshen says Tenneco could not have rolled out the tablets
successfully without CDW’s expertise: “The technicians
who were responsible for the configuration were in
contact with us constantly.”
CASE STUDY
Now that each sales team member has an iPad, Tenneco
can roll out more apps, and plans are in the works for
a new, more feature-rich, cloud-based CRM tool in 2015,
Keshen says.
To further increase productivity, Tenneco also
purchased iPads for tech support, allowing them to
communicate quickly — even videoconference — with
the sales staff to diagnose and troubleshoot parts
problems, she says.
Carl Tellier, a Tenneco area sales manager based in
southeast Michigan, says he can now accomplish about
95 percent of everything he does on a given day using his
iPad, including check email, show sales presentations and
type notes following each sales meeting.
Tellier says he makes 10 to 15 sales visits daily, but no
longer needs to carry marketing brochures. Now that he
shows product information to his customers using his
tablet, he can also email copies to them to review later.
“The iPad has definitely made me more efficient, and it’s
been a tremendous time saver in all aspects of what I do
daily,” he says.
Keshen says she’s received similar feedback from the
rest of the sales force. As the company expected, the
business unit is seeing increased productivity and cost
savings: “The sales team members call me up and say,
‘This thing is awesome. I’m doing things on the fly now
that I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do.’ And that’s exactly
the response we were hoping for.”
Ready to learn more about deploying tablets to your employees? Check
out the Total Mobility Management ebook, available through CDW’s Tech
Insights app: CDW.com/TImobility.
“When our users approach customers with tablets, they are perceived as more knowledgeable and professional.”— Susan Keshen, Tenneco
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