Understanding wireless field force automation in trade services
| Published date | 01 February 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02635570610649835 |
| Date | 01 February 2006 |
| Pages | 172-181 |
| Author | Stuart J. Barnes,Eusebio Scornavacca,Douglas Innes |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Understanding wireless field
force automation in trade services
Stuart J. Barnes
School of Management, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
Eusebio Scornavacca
School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington,
Wellington, New Zealand, and
Douglas Innes
BearingPoint, Auckland, New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose – Wireless and mobile technologies are changing the way that many organizations operate
and do business. Mobile business-to-employee solutions, especially field force automation (FFA), have
been widely adopted throughout the planet. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of
wireless FFA in trade services organisations in New Zealand.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a case study approach to examine two trade
services organisations.
Findings – The findings demonstrate that wireless technologies can significantly enhance the
benefits of traditional FFA.
Practical implications – The paper concludes with recommendations for future practice and
research.
Originality/value – This paper contributes to the academic research in this field by examining two
organizations that have already implemented their own wireless FFA solutions and have realized
benefits and impacts as a result.
Keywords Mobile communication systems, Communication technologies,Automation, New Zealand
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In the past decade,the popularization of the internet hasgenerated a profound impact on
the way businessprocesses are managedand accomplished (Al-Mashari,2002; Leem et al.,
2004; Olla and Atkinson, 2004; Scornavacca et al., 2004). In parallel with the internet,
anothertechnology stream has emergedto play an increasinglyimportant role in business
and society: mobile communications (Varshney and Vetter, 2000; Barnes, 2003).
Until recently, these technologies have followed largely separate paths (Barnes,
2004). However, since the late 1990s, convergence between the two has been
accelerating, resulting in a variety of wireless data communication capabilities, in
particular the wireless internet. This has led to the development of sophisticated
wireless data services, based on mobile data access and electronic messaging on mobile
devices (Barnes, 2003; Siau and Shen, 2003; Scornavacca et al., 2005).
One recent development in mobile (m-) business is the application of wireless
technologies in field force automation (FFA) (Siau and Shen, 2003; Barnes, 2003;
Scornavacca et al., 2005). Wireless FFA has the potential to revolutionize organizations’
distributed workforces (Varshney and Vetter, 2000; Siau and Shen, 2003; Barnes, 2003,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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IMDS
106,2
172
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 106 No. 2, 2006
pp. 172-181
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/02635570610649835
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