Coca-Cola Amatil finds Toughbooks are tough enough in all conditions

When researching notebooks, Coca-Cola Amatil performed extensive field trials with various devices and manufacturers and obtained feedback from the users on those devices. The data collected during the trials formed the basis for an economic evaluation, which took Coca-Cola Amatil to its decision to engage with Panasonic.

Coca-Cola Amatil looked at the advantages of a notebook equipped with rugged features such as a waterproof keyboard and ruggedised hard drive. The research concluded that, in the long run, it was more cost effective to implement hardware that would stand up to the wear and tear placed on units by the business development teams.

According to Michael Sumner, Vendor Relations Manager for Coca-Cola Amatil’s Information Systems in Australasia, Panasonic Toughbooks not only met their rugged requirements, but had the long battery life needed for extended periods in the field. The bright touch-screen capability was also important to the Coca-Cola Amatil team who spend their days in and out of stores, bottle shops, cool rooms, cellars and vaults - anywhere that Coca-Cola Amatil products are stored or sold.

“The Panasonic Toughbook’s ability to withstand shocks and knocks and its built-in wireless capability were huge selling points for us. Tests showed high breakage and failure rates with external or plug-in wireless cards, so embedded wireless as standard was particularly important.

“Panasonic Toughbooks can be left inside the boot of the car in the searing Australian sun and then taken into a cool room, or a humid cooking environment. Not only that, the device also needed to withstand being held by the hinge and opened and closed anywhere between 20 to 30 times a day, depending on the number of visits made,” he said.

With over 30% of Australian companies’ sales departments now using notebooks, Coca-Cola Amatil’s purchase illustrates the growing need for organisations to critically analyse the total cost of owning a notebook for salesforce automation. The Panasonic Toughbook’s rugged features ensure a higher rate of reliability over a standard notebook, which is a key consideration in maintaining the productivity of mobile sales teams.

According to Sumner, Coca-Cola Amatil’s business development teams have been extremely impressed with the capability of the device and the fact that it has a consistently available wireless connection.

“We intend on using the Panasonic Toughbooks as true tablet devices with a workflow solution, to increase the number of wireless applications on the devices, and introduce signature capture with the touch-screen capability,” he said.

“Device failure rates push the TCO up, so even though the Panasonic Toughbook was more expensive up front than others we looked
at, its low failure rate was a huge factor in our decision-making process.