An app designed by Georgia-based developer Catavolt allows sales representatives in the aggregates and cement industries to access a wide range of geographic market intelligence and competitive data on their mobile devices.
“The aggregates and cement industries are among the leading early adopters of enterprise mobile apps,” Catavolt CEO George Mashini said. “Companies utilising our app in their daily operations are reporting positive measurable business impact, including top-line growth and competitive advantage, all while delivering a mobile experience that delights users.”
Companies that have implemented the Catavolt app include Lafarge North America, Vulcan Materials, Lehigh Hanson, Summit Materials and Bluegrass Materials.
Saving time with the Catavolt app
According to a report in Pit & Quarry, Pat Malaney, sales manager of US aggregates and concrete block producer Bluegrass Materials, found that one of the main advantages of the app was that it allowed for faster and easier quote delivery.
Instead of going through the time-consuming process of searching customer and competitor locations and calculating haul distances and freight rates to produce a quote, Malaney said he is now able to use the app to pull all this information up automatically.
“I can see, for example, that from [the customer’s site] to my quarry, it’s 12 miles [19km] – and my competitor is 35 miles [56km] away,” he said. “Well, I have a haul advantage, and the aggregate business is driven by how far your stone can or can’t go.”
Malaney said that using the app to gain a good idea of a competitor’s haul advantage or disadvantage allowed him to maximise his freight price and determine whether a job was worth pursuing.
The app also tracks jobs that have been won and lost for three years, providing useful information on construction trends as well as helping companies identify where sales adjustments may be required.
“If I’m looking for a job that’s right down the street from a high school that I’m close to, I can see that I should be getting those jobs,” Malaney said. “In that case, either my freight rate isn’t correct or I’m pricing incorrectly. Maybe the next time I bid, depending on whether I won it or lost it, I can raise [the price] or lower it 10 or 15 cents per tonne. Then I may be able to pick that job up.”
Mashini told Pit & Quarry that the app software had been specifically designed to suit the way in which the aggregates and cement businesses operate.
“From what we understand about the material delivery business, if we enable the folks who are out [in the field] to have the right information about their specific territory at that point in time, they can do a much better job against competition,” he said.
To find out what other benefits Malaney experienced from using the Catavolt app, read the Pit & Quarry article.
Sources: Catavolt, Pit & Quarry