WAP and Bluetooth claim to create viable mobile solutions. Proper
planning, ingenious service provision and outsourced support is
really the only answer
Implementation
There are many types of mobile worker in today's commercial world.
Mobile workers range from information receivers, such as delivery
people receiving addresses from a central office, to information
creators, such as architects submitting plans from remote
locations. Each type of information user has different needs and
requirements; fundamentally, though, they all need access to
processing power, applications and bandwidth.Mobile processing
power is increasing at a phenomenal rate. Advances from Intel on
laptop CPUs that offer the same performance as a desktop negate the
notion of under-specified laptops. However, most modern laptops
still weigh in at several kilos and have a limited battery life.
For many information receivers the laptop provides more power than
necessary, but for creators it is still the mobile device of
choice. The growth of the PDA market reflects the shift towards
lighter and smaller devices - appealing to both creators and
receivers - but the lightest of all the mobile computers is the
mobile phone.The mobile phone has become the communication tool of
choice for the majority of knowledge-based workers. Increasingly,
through manufacturers' partnerships with PDA vendors, the mobile
phone is now a PDA with built-in communications ability. The US
only Palm-VII is a perfect example of this new hybrid technology.
The advantages are obvious - it's light and has a long battery
life.During the implementation stage, careful consideration has to
be made as to the suitability of each device to the task. A big
flashy laptop is a nice executive toy, but having immediate access
to electronic messages and applications residing on a company web
or intranet is far more useful. A web-enabled mobile phone is a
great gimmick, but typing in a 500-word email on a phone is a slow
and error prone process. Often the solution is found through
pragmatism - laptops for those who need to wield processing power
and mobile phones or PDAs for the rest. At this point, it is good
practice to implement a unified messaging
approach.
UnificationThe benefits of unified messaging are
especially useful for mobile workers. For example, every employee
can be contacted via a work, home, mobile or fax number. This is
complicated by home and work email addresses or text-based pagers.
Once people have left the office environment, making contact may be
more difficult; allowing the right type of messages through is even
trickier. For example, although it may be tempting, it may be
unwise to give an irate customer a salesperson's home telephone
number. To make matters more simple, groups of users can be
organised logically under a unified numbering scheme. Sales
departments may be covered by 0700 100 501 up to 520, for example,
while marketing can be covered by 521 through to 540.Service
providers, such as Call Sciences and YAC, provide some additional
management services to allow the user to specify how to treat
messages depending on caller, time and location. These services are
configurable by both users and managers. Even though the new range
of wireless devices claims email and data availability and
management, this is not the same as unification of these
services.YAC is one of the UK's fastest growing personal numbering
and unified messaging companies. YAC's UK managing director, Piers
Mummery, agrees that the wireless device is still not a complete
solution. "I get in excess of 100 emails a day and I really don't
want to read them on my small phone screen. The new PDA and WAP
developments, such as Nokia's 7110, are exciting but until WAP
becomes commonplace, managing all these data services while on the
road is still a real challenge."YAC is one of the few personal
numbering and unified messaging systems that can be managed
directly from a WAP device via a WAP website. No matter what
combination of hardware and unified messaging strategy is employed,
managing intra-workforce workflow and data traffic is still an
issue.
ManagementThe Internet can provide an effective way to
manage the resources and application availability for remote
workers. The company intranet can be linked to the web to replicate
many of the company resources. Contact databases, stock levels, and
even transaction processing systems can become available to agile
workers through this method. Understandably, the main concern is
security, but with advances in the PKI security system,
implementing a secure infrastructure has become relatively simple.
The recent announcement from RSA and Compaq regarding MultiPrime
means that now even low-powered devices can use the powerful
encryption techniques which effectively provide an unbreakable
connection between user and server. The mobile phone will soon be
able to store a certificate used in secure authentication.The
combination of VPN technology and today's advanced software means
that the security concerns over connection to the web are slight
indeed. Of more concern now is how to get complex and powerful
applications onto portable devices and keep them supplied with
upgrades or bug fixes. One possible solution is the ASP model.Quite
simply, the ASP concept provides applications and services over the
Internet through lease line or dial-up connections. The main
advantage is that these applications can be served within a
browser. This way the processing power is only required by the
provider of the service, while that of the user is
platform-independent. Upgrades and support issues are therefore
centralised. Unfortunately, the ASP concept is still being fleshed
out and, at the moment, is only financially viable for larger
companies due to initial investment costs and relatively high
bandwidth charges. However, this is changing rapidly. Major vendors
in the communications market, such as BT, Deutsche Telecom and
UUNET, are all offering applications and hosting facilities. This
increased competition looks set to force down prices. Applications
ranging from Microsoft Office suite to the complex SAP application
are now available within the ASP model. An example of an
application suited to even the smallest of mobile business users is
Juston.com. The Juston service acts as a virtual file and messaging
area for groups of workers. It allows you to upload and download
files to which only you and your colleagues have access. Unlike
email, you can collaborate on these files without having to get
into complex redistribution schemes. The Juston service is not
unique, but due to its popularity (it's free), it does suffer from
periods of saturation, which means several attempts to logon are
needed.But while flexible, the ASP model is not the only solution.
If you have a very simple application that is well established and
able to perform the task, standardising your remote devices will
improve manageability and productivity. For the future, however,
the ASP path looks the one to tread.
SupportComputer system
reliability has improved exponentially since the twitchy systems of
the late 1980s. However, there is always a support burden
associated with any large deployment of mobile systems. Supporting
multiple brands of devices across operating system differences and
time zones is a logistic nightmare. The big vendors, such as
Compaq, HP and IBM, are all focusing on support as long-term
revenue earners, particularly in light of the diminishing margins
on IT hardware.HP is well ahead of the pack, though, in one area,
with their web-based support. Last year, HP received a record 90
million support enquiries. Surprisingly, 80 million of these came
via the web. As a manufacturer in broad IT, HP support teams need
to be competent in operating systems, desktop and laptop computers,
servers, networking, and print and imaging systems.In a recent
interview Rob Biggin, European marketing director for services and
support, outlined their new direction. "We are seeing the web now
being used as the primary support interface for both desk-bound and
mobile users. Time critical problems are still going through our
voice channels but, increasingly, the web is used for the less
urgent upgrade or compatibility problems."Even though HP makes its
own kit, there is an increasing demand for blanket support on IT
infrastructure, regardless of manufacturer. Biggin acknowledges
this. "Some of our customers are now having to deal with multiple
support contracts, each with SLAs and different schedules.
Therefore, we find ourselves supporting our kit plus many of our
competitors' products. This looks likely to grow, especially as the
market moves to a utility model for services."Outsourcing support
for mobile users offers major advantages in both cost and
efficiency. If a worker overseas has a major laptop failure,
arranging support through a UK manufacturer and then through an
overseas division has a potential for problems. Biggin is also keen
to point out the advances in HP's web support services. "In October
of last year, we set up
itresourcecenter.hp.com as a way of
creating an online support community. The site is multilingual and
includes European and Asian languages. It now has over 500,000
users." The portal is still only focused on HP products, but Biggin
believes this also may change. The first sign is the number of
white papers and seminars available via the site, although this
still covers HP partners mostly in the software sector. HP is not
alone in moving to a more web-focused support model. Both Compaq
and IBM have improved the technical resources available via the web
after increased support traffic.
ConclusionThe three elements
for a successful mobile solution are all available on the market
today. Buzzwords such as WAP and Bluetooth are slightly overrated.
In the case of WAP, the experience of surfing the web from your
phone is painfully unpleasant. Imagine a colourful 800-600,
multimedia rich website ported over to a 1.5in. mono screen, with
no graphics or sound. Also a mobile phone is incredibly slow and as
high-speed cellular data services are still a long way off, WAP
equates to hype. Bluetooth effectively removes the direct cable
connections and creates a wireless LAN. At the moment there are no
products readily available and no applications that can't be done
cheaper with direct cables. Waiting for the next big thing to make
mobile IT easier is unrealistic. Technology already exists, but to
get it to work requires the substantial pruning of information to
the bare essentials. Management is probably the most crucial
element of the mobile solution. If a company's mobile workforce
costs more than it generates in revenue, it will no longer be
mobile and in our increasing web orientated work place, the slow
will give way to the agile.
Will Garside