Today at the 2005 APICS International Conference and Exposition, Microsoft Corp. shared details of a pilot project it is conducting with KiMs A/S, a Danish snack and chips manufacturer that has been exploring the benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in combination with Microsoft since 2003. The pilot project draws on the capabilities of mobile technology and the innovations of a full lineup of Microsoft® products to grant KiMs’ 70-person sales force access to critical customer information regardless of their physical location. The pilot project and the solution, which adds the flexibility of mobile technology to the benefits of bar-code and RFID innovations KiMs was already experiencing, is called mobile sales assistant and reflects the Microsoft Dynamics™ strategy to deliver role-based technologies and services that accommodate the way people in midsize companies work. Mobile sales assistant was successfully rolled out to the KiMs sales team in August and September, and the team is already seeing the benefits.

At the heart of the mobile sales assistant pilot project is the need to leverage KiMs’ existing IT investment, consisting of the Microsoft Windows® platform and the Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta® business management suite, now part of Microsoft Dynamics. With a clear focus on role-based needs, Microsoft is extending KiMs’ existing investment with powerful mobile technology to help ensure a successful end-to-end sales process. The new solution combines key supply chain and customer relationship management features in Microsoft Axapta with the flexibility of a mobile solution. For the sales team at KiMs, the benefits are considerable; the pilot solution gives the mobile sales force access to data within Microsoft Axapta, such as current inventory levels and historical information about the individual customers’ purchasing habits. The salesperson can also use the customer’s most recent point-of-sale data on the device, which gives a full picture of that customer’s profile, provides insight into which promotional campaigns are best suited to that store, and enables the salesperson to advise the customer on how to maximize sales accordingly.