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Mobile Applications and the Propane Industry: A Case Study in Learning How a Business Operates By Bill Stomp

Throughout Canada, the propane industry is a symbol of family unity and technological advancement.This mutually beneficial relationship is

one of tradition and innovation, where mo-

bile applications have the ability to trans-

form (for the better) businesses that serve

their respective communities.

The challenge, however, involves creat-

ing relevant applications for Android smart-

phones and tablets that managers, dispatchers

and bobtail drivers within the propane indus-

try need and will use.

The only way for a software developer

or designer to resolve this issue is to have a

convincing response to the one question ev-

ery owner or operator will ask as a matter of

course: How well do you know my business?

That query is of crucial importance

because, with over 475,000 Google search

results for “Mobile Applications for the

Propane Industry,” there is major demand for

more ways to mo- bilize an already mobile

workforce; to give the industry in general, and

Canadian companies in particular, the most

effective and essential fea- tures for the devices

they use on a daily basis.

To make this goal a reality – the very pur-

pose of this increased adoption of mobile ap-

plications must happen – is because, on the

one hand, there are too many inefficiencies,

costly procedures and logistical problems that

only the right mobile applications can elimi-

nate; and, unless a programmer or developer

listens to business owners involved in the

propane industry, until that person visits the

towns and cities where family-run companies

operate, that individually will continue to de-

but products few businesses want and even

fewer will ever use.

Which is to say, despite an application’s

many features and beautiful design, it must

still pass (and exceed) the relevancy

threshold.

That bar exists for a reason: to enable an

ap- plication to do no more than two big

things, and to do them with excellence and

security, so a user can master this tool with

confidence and clarity.

Where problems arise, and here I write from

direct experience in my role as Vice President of

Di g i ta l Di spat c her , where, for purposes of full

disclosure, I have many clients in this

industry; and those customers, themselves

readers of Propane Canada, are not

numbers on a spread- sheet; they manage

family-run businesses – and their

respective buyers are fellow friends and

neighbours – where a person’s word is a

sign of integrity and leadership.

Take, for instance, Chris Guy of Guy Fuels

& Propane, based in Ontario and the

greater Ottawa region. He is not another

name on an accounting ledger or an

association member- ship list; his company

has more than a quar- ter-century of

history, fulfilling orders from commercial,

residential and agricultural cus- tomers in

Eastern Ontario and elsewhere.

Chris, therefore, knows that the right

mo- bile application should help his

drivers, im- prove communications and

make his business run without interruption.

He says: “A relevant software solution

uses smart technology to make you

smarter and more aware of the information

that can impact your bottom line. We are

now more ef-

ficient and productive than ever before.

Unlike other Heating oil in-cab computers , I

have a solution that actually works.”

Chris’ remarks expose the divide between

a software developer in one part of the world

and a propane delivery business in or around

the Canadian capital.

It is hard, in other words, to get a sense of

the urgency of this subject when a program-

mer is in his office and a driver is in a subur-

ban town near Ottawa.

Thus, I return to the overarching ques-

tion of this discussion: How well do you

know my business?

Does your team understand the culture

and clientele of the propane industry?

For, despite the convenience of video

meetings conducted over Skype or through a

Google Hangout held within a dispatching

office, wisdom is the result of being present;

driving those suburban and rural roads, and

learning the mechanics (and meeting the me-

chanics) of a business owned by the descen-

dant of company’s namesake.

Fuelled by Knowledge: The Rewards of

Real-Time Intelligence

There is a universal principle concerning

this overview of business and technology.

The rule is straightforward: While “build

it, and they will come” reads like an inspired

piece of philosophy, it is, in fact, the epitaph

of many a failed company.

To borrow a phrase from America, in

which each of the country’s 50 states has its

own of- ficial motto, every industry

professional (in the

U.S. and Canada) is from Missouri; each

one is, intellectually, a resident of “The

Show Me State”; that individual demands,

and has every right to receive, proof that a

product or service works as advertised.

The details are evidence of an applica-

tion’s value.

Those facts determine the influence of

mo- bile devices within the propane industry,

now and forevermore.

January/February 201518

PROPANE CANADA