Meanwhile, consultants told Burrows that making the data fromSouthern's mainframe-intensive back-end systems (which have beenhighly customized over the years and update information in batches)available to devices in real-time would cost many millions of dollars.But sales reps didn't need real-time info. Most gathered what theyneeded such as price changes and order status in the morning and spentthe rest of the day selling. Converting the back-end systems to allowreal-time inventory updates wasn't worth it. "We're not an emergencyroom," says Burrows.

Instead, Southern spent $1.5 million to extend the batched data fromthe back-end systems to wireless devices and about $1 million fordevices for half of the company's 2,000 sales employees. It will spendanother $1 million as it extends wireless devices to the rest duringthe next six months. An initial pilot with 20 Northern Californiasales reps and a second trial with 50 people in Southern Californiahelped Burrows design the access application. Now, sales reps spendfive minutes downloading updated inventory, pricing and customerinformation to Windows Wintel or Windows CE compatible devices througheither a wireless or dial-up Internet connection. Reps can also entersales and customer information through the devices, again eitherthrough a wireless connection or dial-up.

The benefits are twofold. If, for example, a restaurant manager wantsa brand of Merlot and Southern is out of it, the rep can say so andrecommend a similar wine on the spot. Also, thanks to the customerprofile he just downloaded, the rep can remind the manager that henormally carries Tanqueray gin, thereby picking up an order that hemight otherwise miss. Second, placing orders through the device'sWeb-based interface is more reliable than the old automatednumber-code system. With the old method, reps would find a pay phoneand punch in the item number. Then they'd get a notice confirming thatthe order had been placed, not what the order was for. "If you wantedBeringer Chardonnay you might enter 12345," says Burrows. "But if youenter 12346 by mistake, you could get Mondavi." The mistake wouldn'tbe noticed until a truck delivered the order. Last year Southern saved$150,000 in California alone by eliminating shippingmistakes.

The biggest return, however, is in increased sales. Burrows admitsthat attributing a percentage of increased sales to the wirelessproject is trickywho's to say it isn't because you got lucky or workedharder? he notes. But by tracking order history and conductinginterviews with customers, as well as considering overwhelminganecdotal evidence, Burrows credits a 1 percent to 2 percent increasein sales in Californiaabout $10 million (a figure he callsconservative) to the wireless project.

Stuck in Nashville with the Memphis BluesAgain