ARMONK, N.Y. and ZURICH, Sept. 7,
2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced
that M-Industry, one of the world's largest private label consumer
goods company and subsidiary of Switzerland's largest retailer and supermarket
chain, Migros Group, has launched a new IBM designed mobile
offering to transform how product promoters work.
As part of its overall digital transformation, M-Industry is
rolling out iPads equipped with IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps to
more than 300 employees across their promotion agency, Trade
Marketing Intelligence (TMI) unit. These apps will provide
promoters with immediate access to information to better
coordinate, conduct and complete in-store promotions.
M-Industry formed TMI three years ago to oversee the in-store
promotions of the company's food and non-food private labels and
third-party products throughout Migros stores in Switzerland.
Traditionally, TMI promoters primarily relied on manual-based
processes with the back-office –such as phone and email
communication and paper documentation – to get more information on
products and store displays prior to, during and after their
assigned promotions. Typically, promoters printed this paperwork at
their homes before leaving for a store visit. Additionally,
promoters received last minute texts or emails on changes to
product messaging or cross-product pairing. Coupled with limited
access to knowledge about promotional content, this inconsistent
method impacted the overall quality of the promotion.
As part of a broader transformation, M-Industry wanted to
improve the productivity and efficacy of promoters by equipping
them with the tools to streamline communications and access the
right information all in one place to better prepare for store
visits and deliver greater value to Migros
customers.
"Our collaboration with Apple and IBM is reinventing how we do
business. By creating a compelling, mobile-first process for our
field employees, we are transforming how they work and it's
game-changing for not only employees but for our business and our
customers," said Lukas Bigler,
Project Manager Head of TMI. "Our employees who work remotely in
various stores require the most current product information to do
their job well. We are now putting relevant information at the
fingertips of our mobile employees, making it easier for them to do
their daily job, be more productive and augment the quality of the
promotions."
M-Industry worked closely with IBM iX, one of the world's
largest digital agencies for business strategy and experience
design, to create native apps, built using Swift, with a
user-centric approach based on input from target employees. Each
app is specifically tailored for the needs of TMI promoters – a
base comprised of users with limited experience on digital
solutions. With an intuitive user experience, the three iOS apps
are designed to simplify tasks and give promoters quick access to
up-to-date data while they are managing product promotions on
location:
- Market Visit puts the latest promotion information in
the palm of employee hands, including training materials on
promotion products, real-time product notifications updates and
other communication from the back office, eliminating the need for
paper and multiple devices to prepare, conduct and complete
promotions. Promoters can also record expenses – travel or in-store
product related – on the app and submit it prior to departing the
store, which took days and weeks in the manual mode. Upon
completing a store's assessment, promoters can easily give feedback
to the back office.
- Shift Sync helps promoters better coordinate with the
back office to plan work assignments more efficiently. Using iPad,
employees can view and manage work schedules, request time off, and
receive push notifications regarding assignment confirmations.
- TMI Visits, a custom-built iOS app exclusively used by
M-Industry employees, enables promotion execution managers to
access location-based store and promotion information, capture
notes about each store and its promotion activity, perform promoter
and promotion assessments and analyze the results.
"Organizations across all industries are recognizing the need
for digital transformation to drive efficiencies, reinvent business
models and create digitally enabled experiences that enhances
services delivered to their customers, and the path begins with
mobile," said Gareth Mackown,
European Mobile and Apple Leader, IBM. "Together, M-Industry
and IBM designed an iOS enterprise experience around the end user,
beyond just for data entry, to create a simple-to-use platform that
empowers employees with data driven insights, transforming work
processes, increasing job satisfaction and raising
productivity."
IBM and M-Industry will continue their collaboration to further
evolve the apps with plans to add new functionalities that will
empower employees with better insights to deliver higher quality
service and enhance interactions with store customers. For example,
iPads of the promoters could also be used for consumer interactions
so customers can vote during product sampling on their favorite
product, as well as share product demonstrations with in-store
customers.
About IBM
For more information, visit
http://www.ibm.com/services/gbs.
For more information regarding IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps and
services please visit
https://www.ibm.com/mobile/mobilefirst-for-ios/ or
www.apple.com/business/mobile-enterprise-apps/.
About M-Industry
For more information, visit
http://www.mindustry.com/en
For media enquiries
The Media Office is only intended to answer inquiries from
journalists.
Federation of Migros Cooperatives
Media Office
Limmatstrasse 152
CH-8031 Zürich
Telephone: +41 (0)58 570 38 38
media@migros.ch
The M-Infoline is available for customer enquiries:
Telephone: +41 (0)848 84 0848
Marisa Conway
IBM Media Relations
conwaym@us.ibm.com
212-671-9408
Switzerland:
Susan Orozco
IBM Switzerland Media Relations
orozco@ch.ibm.com
058 333 5883
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SOURCE IBM