Companion Gets a New Field Sales Team Management App
Companion
Flutter-based app uses gamification to engage users.
20 Dec 2021
We created a new version of Companion’s iOS and Android mobile app to support the management of field teams.
Client
Companion
What does Companion do?
Companion delivers Salesforce Automation system solutions to sales teams. Their app uses gamification to encourage field work reporting; it’s also used to manage merchandising, auditing and promotional projects, and outsourcing agencies. The company's most trusted customers are brands such as: Orange, Adecco, Zott, Energizer, and LOTTE Wedel.
Mass management of merchandising and audit projects
Companion’s main clients are field marketing agencies that serve dozens of customers and handle up to several hundred projects. The Companion system can manage large volumes of data and various types of projects and can implement various changes relating to the use of the system for thousands of employees.
Integrations
On request, Companion can integrate their system with Power BI, any Shelf Recognition solution, accounting systems, ERPs, etc.
Gamification
Using the principles of gamification, Companion solutions help achieve the defined KPIs and supports employee motivation by:
- Encouraging sales representatives to focus on the most important and time-critical elements of their job.
- Developing good habits.
- Improving commitment.
- Building a positive relationship between the company and its employees.
Supports vanselling and preselling
The Companion app allows reps to report vanselling (i.e. selling products door-to-door or from a van or other vehicle), print invoices on a mobile printer, and enter orders that are later emailed to the distributors.
On request, Companion can integrate the application with distributors’ systems, automating the following processes:
- Recording orders in the sales software.
- Downloading confirmations and order status.
By having access to the warehouse stock in the vanselling model, the application prevents the sales representative from selling more products than are available. As part of the process, the rep completes a survey with customized questions. They can scan item barcodes to report out-of-stock products, prices, or inventory. They can also document their work by taking photos that are automatically attached to the survey.
This application is mostly used by remote teams who normally work in the field and use smartphones and tablets. Thus, Companion needed a new application that:
- Allowed the use of all the system’s extended functions.
- Worked quickly on every type of device.
- Was compatible with Android and iOS systems.
- Allowed for fast and intuitive data entry.
- Enabled IT specialists to easily expand the application.
Companion’s mobile app supports the management of field teams
Existing solution
When we started our cooperation with Companion, they already had an application that had been developed a few years ago. The company wanted to:
- Make the application faster.
- Adapt the UX solutions to users’ current needs.
- Reduce technical debt.
- Utilize a framework that enabled easy onboarding for new programmers.
"We wanted the new application to be available for everyone, regardless of the system they used. It is a very important technological element for companies that operate remotely but still want to monitor the results of their employees’ work. The application also had to be multilingual. We chose e-point for this project because of their extensive knowledge and experience. This results in effective cooperation and a professional exchange of information."
Sławomir Łebkowski
Management Board President
Companion Sp. z o.o.
New Flutter-based app
After considering Companion’s needs, we recommended building a new application using Flutter.
Flutter is an advanced Software Development Kit from Google that enables the creation of cross‑platform solutions with a single code base. There is no need to create separate applications for each OS; this reduces production and maintenance costs as well as the time to launch. Flutter is used by Alibaba, eBay, Philips, Google, and other well-known leaders.
Implementation and use
Because Companion already had an existing solution, we knew all the required functionalities. We focused our efforts on the following areas:
1
Analysis
2
Front-end app development
3
Workshops
4
Integration with the customer’s backend (via API)
We used a block framework to manage the state of the application. This allowed us to solve several important issues with the separation of business and application logic.
The application had to work offline, which is why the project required building secure local storage on the user’s device. This presented new challenges, especially considering the huge databases requiring extensive storage capacity. The solution to the problem was to partition the data in a way that did not disturb the app’s normal functioning – a completely new approach.
Results
Technology now gives us so many options that building and maintaining separate native mobile applications is not always a good idea. In the case of Companion, we built a modern cross-device application with Flutter in just six months.
Discover how our solutions can enhance the functionality and efficiency of your mobile application.
Contact us and see how we can help transform your system!