automatic data capture
point of sale
developers to exhibit their applications to a wider audience and reach potential new customers, while resellers use that platform for easy access to those apps.
Harnessing expertise Ultimately, AppSource demonstrates some of ScanSource’s key principles, based on partnership in the channel and harnessing the expertise of all channel players – vendor, software developer, distributor and reseller – to continually enhance the service levels our resellers’ customers enjoy.
ScanSource Europe launched AppSource nearly one year ago. It is an online store giving resellers convenient access to a library of applications that can be downloaded for free to test, simulate, demo, customise and configure to ensure they meet the needs of their customer.
repeat business and generating long- term relationships with their customers.
And what if the apps that are available do not 100 per cent match the end customer’s needs? Flexibility is a key strength of AppSource, meaning apps can be fully customised, localised, tweaked and tuned to match demands before licences are purchased. What’s more, using reseller feedback, AppSource developers have the chance to enhance their apps.
ScanSource has seen a number of situations where this idea of flexibility and feedback has been put into practice. One of those involved a customer who was interested in purchasing the Working Apps' Tickets Please application, which is used to verify ticket validity using barcode recognition. However, the end customer required multi-user support that at the time was not a feature of the app. The Working Apps developers got to work, added multi-user support and, since this was deemed such a valuable enhancement of the app, thanked the customer by translating it into French for them.
Matching market needs As resellers provide higher levels of feedback, it helps developers who are sharing their applications on AppSource to make their apps match market needs, meaning apps are becoming increasingly complex and feature-rich. The latest app is ideal for proof-of-delivery tracking and is something resellers have been waiting to get their hands on. They’ve had end customers who want to buy terminals so their drivers can record signatures upon delivery of goods but neither the reseller nor the end user have the resources to develop such software for the terminal.
The solution is EasyGo! POD, which not only does this, but also allows the driver to record the GPS location when the signature is captured, as well as take a photo as evidence of the condition of the goods on delivery. Essentially, this app helps those resellers provide the end customer a full solution to their need.
It’s in this way that AppSource brings together the reseller and developer communities, providing a platform for
We’re recommending that resellers register for AppSource, because, since it is so flexible, when they sell the next handheld terminal, they can check which app best suits their requirements and take advantage of the thousands of customisations that are possible to help them generate a multitude of opportunities.
www.itrportal.com
IT RESELLER – NOVEMBER 2011 15
OPINION
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