IBM, an American multinational manufacturer of software and computers, announced that China’s largest fertilizer producer and distributor, Sinofert Holdings Limited, has started using new mobile applications to help farmers across the country increase yields of crops such as soya beans, wheat or rice. China’s agriculture and food supply chain are vital for the stability of the country as well as of global food markets. As such, the apps are expected to help hundreds of millions Chinese farmers to avoid disruptions such as those caused by the limited access to fertilizers, which could have a negative impact on the production of the most important crops.
Sinofert needed a more efficient system to service its huge distribution and sales network in order to continue to grow its business and stay competitive. The most important component in driving growth was investing in mobile technologies to encourage decision-making from the field, predict demand, and offer customers better services and products. Sinofert’s global network includes 17 offices, almost 1,700 sales outlets, more than 600 transit warehouses and 2,100 distribution centers.
The Chinese fertilizer giant and IBM Business Partner Enwaysoft Software Technology (Enwaysoft) chose the IBM MobileFirst Platform to help Sinofert transform its sales and distribution processes. Enwaysoft developed a number of industry-specific sales and customer relationship management apps to empower the Sinofert workforce by enabling them to reach markets in remote and rural areas. At the same time, the apps ensure better services in order placement and delivery. He Pingshi, project manager at Sinofert, explained that “investing in industry-specific mobile solutions has enabled our organization to gain a more timely, holistic view of our entire sales and operations process, and provide insight to make better decisions about business development and growth plans. The apps have been critical to improving the productivity and responsiveness of our sales team and increasing satisfaction among our farming customers.”
