Smartphones Case

1. In which ways do smartphones help these companies be more profitable? To what extent are improvements in performance coming from revenue increases or cost reduction? Provide several examples from the case.

It is very clear that increased technology has benefited these companies in several ways. For the Magellan Program a benefit is that they are no longer wasting valuable man hours sending general technicians to job sites unprepared, just to travel back to speak the expert technician. They can now communicate via voice, text, and picture communication. They have also state that smartphones have helped speed up the purchase order process, now approvers can be practically anywhere with cellular services. For Lloyd’s Construction, they have used smartphones to their benefit in every way possible. They use them for GPS, voice communication, walkie-talkies, and they are also using computer accounting software. They are paying around $50,000 for the smartphone services, but they are saving money around $ 1 Million a year, in productive, paper cost, and fuel cost.

2. The companies described in the case encountered a fair amount of resistance from employees when introducing smartphone technologies. Why do you think this happened? What could companies do to improve the reception of these initiatives? Develop two alterative propositions. I believe many people get stuck in their old ways and don’t like to change their routine. When smart phones first hit the market they were a little difficult to learn how to use. I am sure that these companies could simply conduct a seminar for all employees to learn how to use these devices. They could also somehow transform the forms the employees are familiar with in an electronic version on the phones, so they are still comfortable with their normal routine. 3. CPS energy and Lloyd’s construction used smart-phones to make existing processes more efficient. How could they have used the technology to create new products and services for their customers? Include at least one recommendation for each organization.