Kevin Jones used to be a Starbucks regular, and not just because he enjoys a strong cup of joe. As a regional sales manager in Sacramento, Calif., for CSK Auto, Jones spends 50% of his workweek driving the highways of Northern California and Oregon, and he was forced to seek out publicly available Wi-Fi connections at places like Starbucks to get on the Web or check e-mail. He also planned his itinerary to be in the vicinity of a CSK store whenever possible to connect directly to the company's network, though sometimes that just wasn't possible.

"Even when I found a hotspot, it wasn't ideal because there was a lot of data we couldn't access unless we were physically connected to the corporate network at one of our stores," says Jones. Consequently, his primary means of communication with the 17 sales reps he manages was voice mail. "We did a lot of calling back and forth. It wasn't a very productive use of our time."

That changed earlier this year when CSK Auto, a leading specialty retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and equipment, issued smartphones to its 300 sales professionals and implemented a mobile, custom-developed application that provides real-time sales, inventory, and customer service data. Sales reps have unlimited access to Sprint's high-speed EV-DO network. Jones can now monitor up-to-the-minute sales for any CSK store, check on inventory by stock-keeping units (SKUs), and be in constant touch with the home office and his sales team.

"If I see that there's a problem with a particular store--say, if the day's sales aren't on the ball--I can get hold of the sales guy and find out what's going on," he says. Jones can check on sales for a store or region at 11 a.m., and if sales are behind targeted levels, drill down to the individual customer or SKU level and find out where the problem is. "I make a couple phone calls, maybe run a sale on some tools, and within two hours make up and even exceed that deficit," Jones says. Likewise, he can intercede immediately if a large sale is on hold because of accounts receivable, pricing, or credit issues. With anytime, anywhere network access, "I can resolve these issues on the spot," Jones says.

Based in Phoenix, CSK Auto operates more than 1,300 stores in 22 states under four brands: Checker Auto Parts, Schuck's Auto Supply, Kragen Auto Parts, and Murray's Discount Auto Stores. The stores cater to do-it-yourselfers--people who repair and maintain their own vehicles--as well as to auto repair shops, fleet owners, government agencies, and municipalities. CSK reported $1.9 billion in sales in fiscal 2006, an increase of more than 15% over the preceding year. The company is growing through expansion of its store network and by increasing per-store sales. With margins on auto parts under constant pressure, however, CSK must keep costs contained while it searches for ways to boost sales.

"We saw an opportunity to do both by using technology to increase the productivity of our field sales force," says CIO Larry Buresh, who, along with senior director of IT David Waxberg, drove the initiative to give mobile workers ubiquitous access to critical data in legacy and transactional databases.