Remember when the BlackBerry was an executive status symbol? Now it's a front-line business tool. Consider Coca-Cola Enterprises, which this month rolled out a timekeeping and routing application to the BlackBerrys of 400 merchandisers who visit stores to make sure Coke products are well stocked and properly displayed. The distributor plans to extend the app to 11,000 U.S. merchandisers so they can record on smartphones the time they spend in each store, instead of having to call a timekeeping toll-free number. And, using the smartphone's GPS, the app provides routes to the stores they visit in a day and lets Coca-Cola Enterprises track merchandisers' routes. It also lets merchandis- ers update their sales offices about in-store product displays. The app, developed in four months, shows a new way of thinking about mobile devices for Coca-Cola Enterprises. Gone are the days when it developed a mobile app on a case-by-case basis, choosing a suitable device depending on the particular job. Now the company thinks in terms of "strategic enterprise mobility," says Kevin Flowers, the company's director of enabling technologies.
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