Steven De Backer looks back on the Resco.NEXT conference in Lisbon
On 6 October, Avento and its FMCG-app Fearless Leader was a prominent participant at the international Resco.NEXT conference, ‘the Enterprise Mobility Event of the Year’ in Lisbon. Steven De Backer, product manager at Fearless Leader, sat on the expert panel to provide his vision on mobile CRM and future opportunities. And that should come as no surprise. Fearless Leader is a European leader that offers its users a competitive advantage thanks to its superior offline availability and functions that have been developed specifically for the fast moving consumer goods sector.
What did you say when you sat on the expert panel, Steven?
Steven: “That field workers with Fearless Leader can overcome difficult working conditions, including standing up without a desk, a lack of internet, or working on a tablet or smartphone. Fearless Leader also provides the back office with real time data in order to ensure the right actions are taken and sales are optimised. With just a few clicks, the app provides access to all the options provided by Dynamics 365.”
“That is the main trend for the future. No more paperwork and no administration to complete in the evenings. All the work on site takes place fully digitally via user-friendly apps. Preferably via one, single app. Our Fearless Leader with Resco mobility.”
Avento is now known to Resco, as it has been a partner of Resco for quite some time for the purposes of supporting Fearless Leader’s mobile technology. The app has also won several Resco awards. Have you noticed any differences?
Steven: “Yes I have. During another event at the conference, Omnivision gave a presentation on using Resco technology for store checks. They had a highly simplified version and said, “If you want an advanced, more powerful version, you should consult our colleagues at Avento”. I sat in the hall and waved to everyone (he laughs). And a few people asked me questions afterwards.”
“While I was presenting on the expert panel, I must have planted a few ‘seeds’ too because a few people approached me with questions afterwards. The subjects included the facilities for planning across multiple days.”
The day before, there was also a consultancy hour with Resco’s specialists. What did you take away from that?
Steven: “During that hour, technical issues were discussed based on a list of suggestions from users. These were technical issues, for sure, but they offered an overview of the interaction between Avento and Resco. In terms of Fearless Leader, we were promised that future releases of Resco would focus on and improve a few points. These include calendar control, which will change from a roll-index format to a date picker, as this is more intuitive. The function of the agenda in Fearless Leader will become more similar to Outlook; multi-day events will be displayed as a line at the top so that they take up less space. The speed of loading forms, e.g. the customer card in Fearless Leader, will also be improved. We even examined Resco’s coding with one of their mathematicians to check whether Fearless Leader has the best possible connection.”
And finally: how was the weather in Lisbon, Steven?
Steven: “It was pretty warm. At least it was during my walk the evening before the conference; I actually spent the whole day in meeting rooms. The evening reception to close the event was also very pleasant. But a boat trip on the Tagus will have to wait until next time.”
And there will be other times, perhaps in another capital city. Avento, with Fearless Leader, is well on the way to conquering Europe. Brands such as Innocent Drinks and Laurent Perrier have recently started using the FMCG app. Thanks to ongoing innovation and market expertise, Avento has also been an Independent Software Vendor for Microsoft since 2021, and Fearless Leader is available in AppSource.
