Sumitomo Rubber North America Inc. (SRNA) has won the 2017 Ventana Research Leadership Award in the Digital Technology category.
SRNA was honored for developing an iPad application that gives its sales personnel easy access to competitor pricing, fitments for popular vehicles in the area, and more. The app combines data from SRNA’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) and sales systems with tire market data to provide salespeople with the insight needed to do their jobs better, and help customers make informed purchasing decisions.
The Ventana awards program honors individuals, organizations, supporting vendors and consulting firms for their accomplishments using technology to drive exceptional results in achieving their goals and objectives, and for going the extra mile to advance the use of technology through best practices and leadership.
SRNA used the mobile platform provided by MicroStrategy Inc., a developer of enterprise analytics and mobility software, to build the iPad app.
“Operating in a highly competitive market, Sumitomo Rubber North America is constantly looking for ways to gain a competitive edge,” says Cameron Forbes, director of information technology for SRNA. “To set ourselves apart, we wanted to empower our sales network with access to detailed information that could vastly improve the overall sales experience. By developing a sales analytics iPad app with MicroStrategy Mobile, we were able to put valuable information into the hands of sales representatives to help provide a more positive and productive customer experience while also expanding brand awareness.”
SRNA deployed its iPad application in just eight weeks. The mobile app helps SRNA dealers and analysts across its distribution centers in New York, Tennessee, California, Illinois, Florida, Texas and New Jersey make decisions in-line with the larger organization.
“Our research showed that over 80% of tire sales are heavily influenced by ‘the guy/gal behind the counter’ at tire shops nationwide,” says Forbes.
“Working with MicroStrategy, we developed an iPad app that allowed sales representatives to easily show fitments for popular vehicles in an area, prices for competitor’s products, and information on why our tires are a better fit, or would yield higher margins for the dealer or distributor. As a result, customer relationships improved, sales teams spent less time gathering information for meetings, business analytics teams could spend their time on more in-depth analytics tasks, and fewer IT resources were needed to develop reports,” says Forbes.
David Rennyson, senior executive vice president, worldwide sales and chief revenue officer for MicroStrategy, congratulated SRNA for winning the award and for “embracing MicroStrategy to help drive greater sales efficiencies that improve the bottom line. This prestigious award further proves that empowering organizations to customize mobile apps for specific business goals facilitates intuitive discovery, precise action and incredible results.”
The video discusses how SRNA mobilized their data using the MicroStrategy platform.
Headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., SRNA, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. In addition to offering an extensive line of tires for cars, light trucks, motorcycles and commercial applications of all sizes, SRNA markets Falken tires to the original equipment and replacement markets, Dunlop motorcycle tires to the OE and replacement markets, Dunlop light vehicle tires to the Japanese OEMs, and Ohtsu tires to the replacement market.
