SMS Central provides you with a way for customers and employees to quickly communicate information stored on barcodes directly back to your back-office systems by doing nothing more than taking a picture of the barcode and texting it. You don’t need any app installed on a phone other than SMS messaging. Those barcodes can then be used to create sales orders, service calls, inventory changes, as well as countless other things that you can use when tagging an item with a bar or QR Code.
Barcode formats SMS Central can handle
UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8, EAN-13, Code 39, Code 93, Code 128, ITF, Codabar, MSI, RSS-14, QR Code, Data Matrix, Aztec, PDF-417
For Customers
Wouldn’t it be great if you could communicate information with high accuracy between you and your customers? What if your customer has a problem with one of your products and you are trying to determine exactly which one it is?
SMS Central allows you to give your customer a phone number to SMS text to and mail a QR or barcode directly to your system already decoded!
All a customer has to do is take a picture of the barcode on their product and SMS message it to you. They don’t have to install any special app on their phone and it will work on any phone. SMS Central will then automatically decode that barcode and can then save it directly into your ERP, helpdesk, field service, CRM, or any other system so that you can have that information at your fingertips.
For Sales
If you have sales people out in the field needing to restock shelves, supply restaurants, or other situation where the sales rep can snap a picture of the barcode on a product, SMS text it to your order management system, and then get it ordered. All without any app installed on their phone.
Just snap a picture of a barcode of a product and send it to your order management or other system!
There are countless ways that SMS Central could be configured to handle most any workflow or need.
For Field Service, Inventory, and Asset Management
Your people in the field can quickly snap shots of barcodes and QR codes at customer sites to track what equipment is on site, what hardware has problems, or take inventory of assets at a location by simply using any phone and taking a picture and texting it.
Getting information about an asset or tracking assets is as easy as taking a picture of a barcode and sending it to your back-office system. SMS Central does the rest!
SMS Central is perfect for quick communication with your customers over SMS texts. Unlike email, SMS messages have an extremely high open rate (usually greater than 99%) and 90% are read within 3 minutes of delivery. This makes SMS ideal for delivering important information from business applications to your customers. Your customers can also text information back which can then be recorded in your business systems.
SMS Central can send notifications to your customer
- Notify customers of pending field service visit or changes in date/time
- Notify customers of product shipment
- Notify customers of tracking information or delivery
- Schedule automatic follow up messages to customers after a service call or support incident is closed
- Send images to field staff so they can see what the customer has reported needs work
- Send images to customers showing damages found, repairs needed, proposed work site
- Get customer approval on completed work displayed in images sent to their phones
Appointment Reminders and Confirmations
- Send customers messages when a service call is scheduled
- Send an automatic service call appointment reminders prior to scheduled visit
- Have customers confirm they can be available for a service call (if required)
- Have customers confirm site will be ready for the service call
- Send customers notices when service calls need to be delayed or changed
- Have customers confirm service call date/time changes
Photos
- Get photos from customers of damages, repair sites, or other useful images
- Get GPS coordinates of mobile images for proof of location, tracking movement
- Get before/after service photos as proof of work
- Read barcodes using only a mobile phone camera and record results in business application (GPS coordinates are also available on barcode images)
- Send images to customers showing damages found, repairs needed, proposed work site
- Get customer approval on completed work displayed in images sent to their phones
Catalina’s SMS Central allows you to easily dispatch your field techs, salespeople, and others straight from your Dynamics SL without any special mobile apps. All using SMS messaging. Nothing to deploy, works on any phone, and easy to maintain.
Your people in the field can send updates as replies that will get automatically updated in your back office. They can even send pictures, GPS coordinates, and other attachments which will automatically be attached to the service call, quote, invoice, timecard, or any other screen in Dynamics SL.
1. Create a service call, quote, invoice, or any other type of record in Dynamics SL. SMS Central will send an SMS message to the appropriate person in the field.
2. Your person in the field receives the message and can respond. Those responses will automatically update Dynamics SL.
3. The field person can also take pictures, GPS coordinates, or other mobile files and attach them to the service call, quote, invoice, or other screen in Dynamics SL using just an SMS message.
4. That photo, or other attachment, automatically attaches to the appropriate record in Dynamics SL
5. All attachments and SMS communication are also stored in a web portal, allowing your field people to review history without needing any special app. Any browser on any type of device will work!
