by Sandra Matthes
In some companies the sales force wants to enhance customer meetings with individually prepared multimedia content that is maybe even presented on interactive surfaces, for example the sales force of T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH whose products are customized software solutions. In preparation of such a meeting analysis and research of customer needs and collecting relevant media are important steps. Until now the sales force lacks a single tool that accompanies and supports it in preparing and chairing customer meetings. That’s why currently a huge number of different tools with varying interaction mechanisms are in use. Furthermore not every application has a counterpart on the typically used devices like Personal Computer, Tablet, Tabletop Computer and Display Wall. Therefore this paper deals with developing the concept of a Windows 8 application (“Windows Store App”), that has the potential of increasing efficiency in the whole process of building up and holding meetings with multimedia presentations while it’s applicable on a great number of different devices.
Based on a classification of typically used device types, an analysis of related work and a user study with employees at T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH for determining the most important requirements, the concept of the so called “Sales App” was developed. The focus was laid on interaction and visualization design within the application, but thoughts on useful context- and device adaptive elements were integrated as well. Finally main parts of the interface were implemented in a prototype. Besides evaluating the concept ideas it seems important to extend the tool in the near future by features for follow-up activities that take place after a customer meeting, e.g. analysing the outcomes or sending presentation materials to the customer.