Running a business on smartphones

Running a Business on Smartphones
1. Ways that smartphones helped the companies become more profitable
It helped reduce the number of staff. For example, Lloyd was able to reduce the number of staff to only 41 hence reduced the cost for their salary. Through the use of eTrance, the company was able to reduce the number of hours of the accountant per week, lowering their wage bill.
The use of smartphones helped reduce the amount of time needed to solve an issue and serve a customer. The CPS Energy staff was able to use the smartphones as digital cameras and for GPS tracking, which, is helpful in emergency notification. The integration of smartphones helps speed up the purchase order, providing a better customer service. This translates into more transactions hence more profit for the company.
The companies are able to resolve customer issues with fewer processes, for example through the use of CPS, making the customers more satisfied.
The use of the phones eased and cheapened the process of transactions, reducing unwanted costs. For example, Lloyd was able to cut the time used for data entry and dispatch, the fuel costs were cut by more than 30% and a reduction in unauthorized stops. In overall, the company was able to reduce its cost and estimated 100 million dollar profit in 2007.
2. Reasons for resistance from employees.
Most employees did not know how to operate these smartphones hence were rejecting their implementation. This is evident at Lloyds where the employees were to be taken through training for 18 months.
Most employees feared their jobs were over with the implementation of the smartphones. The introduction of the phones could lead to a fewer workforce for the companies. For example, Lloyd reduced their staff from 100 to just 40; hence the employees were right to be scared of the implementation.
Some employees felt that the introduction of smartphones would have little impact to the company. This is due to the perception that phones can only be used for emails in the workplace.
Ways to improve the reception of initiatives
1. The management of the company should come up with a system that tries to blend the existing workforce and the new initiative rather than wiping out most of the staff. The system could work in such a way that the existing staff is retained for some period, like until their current contract expires.
2. The firm needs to involve the staff in the implementation of a new system. This will enable the employees to understand the working of the system; hence they will be more accommodating to it.
3. Ways the companies can use smartphones for new services.
CPS energy
The company could come up with an application that allows the customers an easy access to the company’s information rather than going through the internet by themselves. The application should be able to send daily updates to their customers about any changes.
Lloyd construction
The firm could use an application that can keep it updated on any market changes, weather conditions. The application could be linked to a central database, and when there are any changes in weather conditions, the information is relayed to all its employees.