Andrew Knapp, Arizona Beverages

SuperNova Award Category

CoIT & The New C-Suite

Future of Work

The Company 

Founded in 1992, AriZona Beverage offers a wide array of iced tea beverages and energy drinks with distribution across the world.

The Problem

AriZona’s sales team initially relied on paper order slips that required someone to compile and input the information into AriZona’s electronic distribution database. This process inflated AriZona’s costs from excess paper usage, hindering its efforts to be environmentally friendly. Additionally, sales team members wasted precious time transferring orders from paper forms to the electronic database. AriZona’s IT team knew the organization needed a more economical way to submit product orders and have secure access to their inventory system on mobile devices.

The Solution 

Once tablets and smartphones were introduced into its business practice, AriZona needed a way to push product catalogs to the sales team and provide secure Wi-Fi access to mobile employees. In 2011, AriZona implemented AirWatch to manage security profiles, configure Wi-Fi and distribute corporate content to corporate-owned devices and employee-owned devices. AriZona also adopted AirWatch’s mobile content management solution, Secure Content Locker (SCL), to enable streamlined sales operations and a less cumbersome logistics method.

The Results

Secure Content Locker (SCL) plays a critical role at AriZona – rather than carrying product catalogs to meetings, members of the sales team now login to SCL from a mobile device to access new product promotions and beverage information digitally. AriZona employees now have access to digital order forms, saving paper and abetting the company’s environmental initiatives. Using AirWatch creates effi-ciencies in business processes that were not possible before – sales people enter live orders in real-time, leading to increased profi¬ts and faster results across the board. For AriZona’s distribution operators, the secured mobile devices provide instant visibility so that they can easily track where shipments, products and truck drivers are in real-time.  Additionally, the sales employees are able to show potential and current customers the most up-to-date product catalogues, brochures and price lists on their mobile devices.

The Technology

Enterprise Mobility Management Suite, AirWatch

Secure Content Locker, AirWatch

Metrics

AriZona began to see significant results from the deployment after about 3-6 months. AriZona saved thousands of dollars in printing and paper alone once it adopted the mobile initiative. By using AirWatch’s SCL on more than 250 mobile devices, AriZona could securely store all of its sales brochures, marketing kits, pricing lists and corporate data. The company was able to seamlessly update and sync this information across all devices so that employees consistently had up-to-date resources. AriZona’s operational costs also decreased as a direct result of the mobile initiative. Previously, 12 salespeople were needed to take orders over the phone from on-site team members who were using paper forms. Now only two people are needed to man the phones, and the additional 10 phone workers have moved into the sales field to maximize reach and lead generation. AriZona’s mobile initiative has helped the company to increase its potential customer base and revenue without adding any new employees.

Disruptive Factor

Not only do these new technological changes result in streamlined distribution chains, more efficient allocation of time, increased productivity and increased profits, but they also allow AriZona to lead the beverage industry in environmental impact initiatives. Employees have the satisfaction of working for a future-conscious firm that takes to heart the responsibility of being a recognized brand that serves our future generations. In addition, AriZona’s owner sees the beverage industry’s need for mobile initiatives and is looking to make AriZona the leader in the space – the next step is making sales right off the delivery trucks by utilizing new on-site mobile resources for printing and billing.

Shining Moment 

AirWatch’s Secure Content Locker (SCL) was a deciding factor when AriZona was looking for an MDM provider, and it’s proved to be one of the company’s best leads to ROI. The AriZona sales team picked up on how to use it immediately, and it’s providing monumental business results for the company. AriZona’s owner was very skeptical about the company’s entire deployment initiative at first, but since they have started seeing the numerous benefits, he actually wants to invest more into the project. Now AriZona is buying all of the salespeople special cases for the iPads so they can be held in place for easier typing, and the IT department is even considering capabilities for making direct sales off the delivery trucks.