Remember that poster you saw in a shop or café window promoting a hot concert, play, or a new movie? Chances are, a PMD Promotion (www.pmdpromo.com) installer put it in the window — and in exactly the right spot to catch your eye. Hanging posters by hand can be labor intensive but, thanks to FileMaker Go, executing a successful poster campaign for its clients is as trouble-free as it gets and saves significant money.
With 75 display reps, each armed with an iPod touch running FileMaker Go, PMD now has a 21st century solution to the 19th century clipboard and pen, helping display Windowposters in the top 20 urban markets in the U.S. What used to be a time–consuming, tree–hungry process has now gone mobile, resulting in streamlined administrative processes back at the home office, a motivated field staff, easy-to-access integrated data, efficient reporting, and happier customers.
From the moment PMD display field reps clock in, they handle their entire shift using FileMaker Go on an iPod touch. Starting with a WiFi download of the day's route sheet from headquarters, reps hit the streets fueled with precise instructions, maps, and helpful tips for each assignment. As they move from place to place, they simply jot notes and details into their FileMaker Go database, as well as snap photos of each installation using the iPod touch built-in digital camera. Up–to–the–minute information and images are stored in the rep's mobile database, which is then uploaded via WiFi to PMD's New York headquarters and automatically synchronized with the firm's central FileMaker Pro database.
"Our display representatives are our 'feet on the street' so to speak, installing the displays in more than 35,000 storefronts nationwide," says Dean Stallone, PMD's chief executive officer. "They work to exacting standards, remove the poster displays when they are out of date, and coordinate all activities with the establishment owners. Before we started using FileMaker Go, the reps dragged around clipboards, paper forms, and their personal digital cameras to document the poster displays and create the extensive reports we send to clients.
"Now, on a simple mobile device, they have a richer, more convenient experience — and all the information they send and receive is centralized in one database."
