Air2Web Wirelessly Extends SAP System for Parryware; Wireless Application Gives Sales Team a 20% Time Savings and Cuts Company Expenses.

ATLANTA -- Parryware, the number one brand in bathroom equipment in India, is wirelessly extending its SAP system with Air2Web's mobile technology. Parryware has improved its productivity and its customer service as a result of giving its employees and customers mobile access to specific, backend information. Parryware is a business unit of Murugappa, a conglomerate which has 1.20 Billion USD in annual sales. Parryware (a division of Murugappa's EID Parry Ltd) has $40 million in annual sales.

Parryware has been providing its state-of-the-art washbasins, tubs, commodes, seat covers and accessories to the Indian market for over 50 years. Parryware is also a major exporter of these products to countries like South Africa, Middle East, Sri Lanka and neighboring countries. Parryware, a superbrand in bathroom products category (as recognized by the Superbrands Council of India) has been meeting the evolving consumer needs through innovative products and services.

Parryware has 1500 employees spread across India, in addition to over 600 dealer/customers to whom they ship their products from 3 plants and 15 warehouses. These dealers handle over 1800 SKUs from Parryware and in turn, they supply over 3500 retail shops across the country.

According to K.E. Ranganathan, General Manager - Marketing for Parryware, the success of Parryware's business depends heavily on their backend SAP ERP system. "Our 40 sales people and 600 dealer/customers are spread across the country, and they need constant access to valuable data housed in our SAP system," said Ranganathan. "In today's world, information drives business. Our sales force needs to know the status of their orders from the plant, in addition to knowing actual, versus planned or budgeted sales, on a daily basis."

Parryware's Wireless Application

"In the past when our sales executives collected orders from our dealers, it would often take one to three days to verify the order. It would also require many costly phones calls from the field to our headquarters to confirm the status," explained Ranganathan. "Now our sales representatives have this data first thing each morning. Our new wireless system allows us to extract the order status and other critical information in a standard form and 'push' it to our sales and manufacturing personnel, via SMS messaging. Our studies show that this high-powered initiative is saving our sales team approximately 20% in time productivity, which in turn is being effectively used for selling new products and meeting influencers and customers to develop business."

Parryware began by wirelessly enabling two or three on the sales force. They now have over 240 employees in both manufacturing and sales using their wireless system. "The solution is simple to use, and people in India are used to SMS," explained Ranganathan. "SMS service in India is also cheaper than land-based telephone service and serves as an alternative where there is no land-based service."

In addition to order status, Parryware also wanted to access shipping information from their SAP system. "Logistics are very tough in our country as it sometimes takes six days to get the product from the plant to the customer," explained Ranganathan. "Because we require payment upon delivery, this represented a cash management issue for our dealer/customers. Thus, our customers would often call our factory two to three times a day to check the status of their shipment. Wirelessly enabling the CRM portion of our SAP system has taken the guesswork out of when the product will be delivered. Now our customers get an SMS alert indicating exactly when the product will arrive, and the costly follow-up calls have been eliminated."

The wireless application is also enabling Parryware's senior management to access sales reports and forecasts on a daily basis. This lets them prepare for their daily status meetings, as well as have "real-time" visibility into their customer accounts--a benefit which they didn't have previously.

"Additionally, we did not have to invest in new wireless devices because all of our staff have mobile phones equipped with SMS capability," said Ranganathan. "It only took Air2Web 45 days to develop and deploy our wireless system."

Benefits

"Air2Web's wireless solution has resulted in a much shorter turnaround for our products and has cut our expenses, as SMS messages are far cheaper than actual voice calls in India," explained Ranganathan. "But above all--having easy access to our customer information, around the clock, has helped us improve our productivity and customer service which is invaluable. After using the system for just over a year, I can say it has brought us a 1000% return. The day starts with the beep on the mobile and every member of the senior team, wherever they are in the world, are alerted to act fast."

"Parryware has always been known for using cutting-edge technology to enhance and improve its operations," said Sanjoy Malik, President and CEO of Air2Web. "Knowing that their SAP system was an integral part of their success, Parryware had the foresight to wirelessly extend it. Now as a result of their mobile application, specific information which is critical to their day to day operations is seamlessly pushed out to their employees enabling them to better serve their customers and grow their business. Air2Web applauds Parryware for its innovativeness and is proud to be its technology partner."

About Parryware

Set up in 1952, Parryware, is a division of the Rs.600 crore EID Parry (India) Limited. As part of the Rs.5000 Crores Murugappa Group, Parryware has under its fold, the entire range of products that include Vitreous Sanitary ware, seat covers, plastic cisterns, bath tubs, kitchen sinks and electronic flushing systems. The exquisite forms of Parryware range take shape in three state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities located at Ranipet, Dewas and Alwar.

Equipped with the latest technology, the plant's stringent quality control measures and rigorous testing of finished products ensure that only the most "perfect" products make their way into every home.

Parryware is the first company in the sanitary ware industry in India to receive ISO 9001: 2000. Parryware also has the ISO 14001-1996 certification for all its plants. Parryware was awarded the Super brand status in the sanitary ware industry for 2003.

About Air2Web, Inc.

Air2Web's mobile solutions include wirelessly extending sales force and field force automation systems to employees, wirelessly enabling corporate Instant Messaging and Email systems, and the mobile delivery of multimedia content to employees and consumers. Air2Web's mobile solutions are also used to generate new revenue streams through mobile marketing and cost-saving productivity gains for both carriers and enterprises. Air2Web has developed and powered hundreds of mobile applications for blue-chip companies such as UPS, ABN AMRO, ICICI, CBS SportsLine, InterContinental Hotels Group, and the Weather Channel. For more information see www.air2web.com.