No PC freeze for the ice-cream man
In the near future, ice-cream salesmen will not need to hold a pile of paper to deal with orders from ice-cream shops.
Instead, they will use a pocket PC to jot down orders and check the status of ice-cream units from their palm-size device. Samak Buachoo, managing director of Connexion Expert, said the firm was now developing sales-order automation for pocket PCs to support ice-cream suppliers. The system allows ice-cream salesmen to receive orders from clients via pocket PC, which will then check the inventory and organise stock from the mobile ice-cream van. Information on clients will be recorded on the pocket PC and the salesmen will be able to transfer information to the database when they enter the office. The pocket PC will not only transfer information on the ice-cream shop to the database, it will also evaluate customer behaviour in each area, and is able to track the refrigerator units, he said. The ice-cream refrigerators will have a barcode tag at the back so the manufacturer is able to track their location and temperature via pocket PC, in order to protect against theft and ensure the product remains fresh. "Normally, ice-cream suppliers cannot track the refrigerator units' locations. With the new system they will be able to know the status of the refrigerators in any area," said Samak. "The pocket-PC point-of-sale services offer convenience to salesmen when taking orders from customers, since normally, ice-cream shops call or fax orders to the head office. It will also increase the accuracy of tracking order information and the behaviour of customers in each area," said Samak.
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