The fit of mobile work support functionalities with pharmaceutical sales-force worker tasks

Abstract

This paper reports on research which sought to identify and understand why specific mobile work support functionalities are a good fit with mobile work tasks of pharmaceutical sales-force. The findings from the case interviews support the notion that specific mobile work support functionalities are useful and in some instances innovative in improving customer service, communication with customers and colleagues, reduce double-handling of data entries, and facilitate the handling of administrative work during dead times. This research also identified that mobile work support functionalities such as location-related services and mobile job scheduling and dispatching of work are not a good fit and are likely to be strongly resisted by sales-force workers.