In a few years more than 100 million workers will spend the
majority of their working life outside the office. Mark Blowers of
the Butler Group explains why businesses need to plan and implement
wireless-enabled, horizontal applications if they are to remain
competitive.
Mobile technology is still in its infancy, but that is no reason to
be complacent and wait for the wireless environment and standards
to mature. Your competitors are no doubt already looking at the
benefits that utilising mobile devices can bring, not only for
employees, but also for customers.
With the launch of General Packet Radio System (GPRS) services by
the major network operators underway, now is the time to start
planning your mobile applications. Organisations need to look
beyond the hype of the mobile Internet and find ways of exploiting
the undoubted potential that the wireless medium offers.
There are a number of key factors driving the utilisation of mobile
business applications. By the addition of an instant means of
communication, mobile devices will further enhance the efficiency
of the back-office systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning
and Supply Chain Management Systems. As mobile devices become more
common, new models of doing business will evolve, building on the
anywhere and anytime strengths of the wireless media.
The reliance of many of today's workforce on e-mail is making
wireless messaging one of the key applications. The technology
becoming available has enabled the ability to combine messages of
different media, such as text, voice, and video. There is a move
away from the keyboard as the main input source for messaging as
many of the mobile devices currently in use and planned for the
future do not possess the means for
 | | "For information to become
knowledge, it must be available when and where the employee
requires it" | | | | | |
| | Mark Blowers | | |
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"easy text" input.
The key to successful messaging in the future will be the ability
to get any type of message to individuals, regardless of where they
are and the kind of device they are using. Unified Messaging (UM)
applications provide a singe access point for voice, e-mail, fax,
instant messages, or video messages.
The combination of these different types of message into a familiar
e-mail repository format means that there is no need to provide
training in the use of UM services. Both consumers and staff will
be able to manage messages as if they were e-mail. Employee
productivity is increased, while improving communications between
customers and the workforce. UM also provides mobile professionals
with more flexibility and better efficiency both in the office and
on the road.
Informing customers
There have recently been a number
of innovative applications announced that utilise simple SMS
technology. A number of application providers have developed the
SMS infrastructure to allow organisations to send information to
their customers' mobile phones.
The use of SMS for more and more innovative applications is causing
a subtle shift in mobile communications from voice to data, even
though wireless technology is still in its infancy and, as yet,
does not adequately support data transmission.
However, SMS should not be seen purely as an interim messaging
solution, providing a welcome revenue stream, but as an application
that can be used to attract consumers to services, and also to keep
employees up-to-date with the latest, critical, company
information.
The mobile environment provides an opportunity for companies to
communicate with customers on a one-to-one basis, via the wireless
channel which offers global "24x7, 360 degree" coverage.
Mobile office functionality also allows employees to turn their
mobile device into a business tool. The mobile professional needs
to be kept up-to-date, all the time, while out of the office. Their
requirements, apart from e-mail, enterprise system, and information
access, include a number of personal information management tools
including: corporate dashboard, calendar, contact information,
connectivity/Synchronisation, word processing, spreadsheet, local
database, and presentation software.
This functionality can either reside on the client device, for
example, as with the Nokia 9210 communicator, or the applications
could be accessed from the enterprise servers when required.
Ultimately, the goal is for remote workers to have access to mobile
office facilities with the same speed, transparency, and security
as provided for their office-based colleagues utilising the
corporate local area network.
Moveable offices
Wireless appliances will enable sales
representatives immediate access to Sales Force Automation (SFA),
CRM, and field servicing capabilities while out of the office.
Wireless connectivity will allow many other enterprise
applications, such as in supply chain integration, procurement, job
allocation, scheduling, and telemetry, to be revolutionised.
Another application where mobile functionality can add value is in
the area of Field Force Automation. To-date, this has been one of
the most popular uses for a mobile device within the enterprise.
Eventually, mobile access will affect the whole way the
organisation operates, making it more adaptable and responsive.
Wireless technology is starting to be used in the CRM arena by both
established CRM application vendors along with newer mobile
platform developer start-ups. Enhancing CRM functionality to
include wireless access enables enterprises to offer their
customers additional avenues for contacting the company and
automatically obtaining services without recourse to organisation
representatives. Wireless CRM provides the following benefits:
- An improved customer support operation is possible by allowing
multiple contact channels for the consumer looking for additional
information or further assistance.
- By providing access to information from mobile appliances, an
organisation is capable of better responding to a customers
requirements and problems.
- Furthermore, enabling wireless communications allows clients to
update their own information, and avail themselves of self-service
applications via their mobile phones and PDAs.·
- The opportunity to offer location-based marketing, targeted at
a specific individual, presents itself with the wireless enabling
of CRM systems. These emerging applications will be able to utilise
previous buying patterns, align this with the location of the user,
and transmit marketing information to the mobile device.
- Mobile access enables the development and maintenance of strong
relationships with customers.
Keeping in touch with sales
It is imperative for every
sales representative, regardless of industry, to be in continuous
communication with the administrative centre, and the various
support systems, while out of the office. This access to the latest
information improves productivity, allows real-time reservation of
stock, and the immediate instigation of the shipping process.
Shortening of the time taken for business procedures can lead to
significant return on investment.
The use of wireless SFA technology by a company can open up a
number of opportunities for sales professionals to improve
administration of customer accounts, superior information retrieval
leading to enhanced sales prospects, and better customer
satisfaction while at client premises. Wireless SFA can benefit the
selling process in the following ways:
- Finding new customers with the incorporation in SFA systems of
search tools for the Internet.
- Improved information sharing amongst the sales force, along
with the ability to quickly reference all aspects of company
information, such as contact details, e-mail, meeting notes, and
maps.
- Closing the deal at one customer meeting. By the provision of
up-to-date information from the company with instant communication
of latest stock levels and delivery times, along with product sales
data and customer credit limits.
- Plus interactive customisation of terms and conditions, and
updating of records while still at the customer's site, by
utilising dynamic access to corporate systems.
- Provision of alerts and automation. SFA can drive the sales
process by automating recurring tasks and exception reporting.
- Allowing e-mail to be annotated with diagrams, voice notes, and
pictures, while still out of the office.
- Functionality, allowing real-time presentations for displaying
and demonstrating products.
- Online time and expense billing.
Designing for mobile access
The special
characteristics of mobile devices means that there is a need to
tailor the information to take into account the small screen size
and limited processing capabilities. When accessing information,
search engines are required to bring back only relevant
information, and data pushed out to the user should be
personalised, to ensure that only details specifically requested by
the user reaches them. Access to corporate databases should be as
seamless as possible, with a common interface for each of the
possible devices that an employee can use.
Advertising will need to be provided as a service, and only sent
when requested by the user. The trick will be to disguise marketing
as content. Wireless devices offer an opportunity for marketing
campaigns that aim at users consistent with who they are, where
they are, the type of device they are using at the time, and their
requirements at that particular moment.
An extension of mobile advertising is wireless couponing. A big
disadvantage of paper coupons is that people forget to take the
vouchers along with them. This is where the mobile phone can be
utilised to provide an ideal medium for providing discount for
products about to expire, such as unsold seats to the theatre or
free tables at a restaurant.
This concept is simple and can utilise SMS technology, so is
available to nearly all current mobile phone users. Ideally, in the
future it should be location-based, so that only those people in
the neighbourhood are sent a coupon.
Wireless connectivity will allow employees and customers to be kept
appraised of events which they have specified as being important
enough for them to be notified of, wherever they are and at anytime
of the day. The concept of exception reporting and alerts is not
new, and has been used by companies for a number of years.
Innovative mobile services will be based on alert-driven content
that is of high worth and significance to the user. These
event-triggered applications should be user-focused and technology
independent. They should be accessible by the current majority of
SMS-enabled GSM phones, and cater for WAP and the various operating
systems employed by the many PDAs on the market.
Knowledge to go
Having access to information and
applications does not automatically mean that the workforce can
utilise these assets to leverage corporate advantage. Before
information is transformed into valuable knowledge, companies need
to focus on a number of important issues:
- Data identified as key should be organised and highlighted for
reuse.·
- Information needs to be pooled and disseminated to those who
require it, where they need it.
- Acquired information needs to be reformatted in order to
provide added value.
- The required information needs to be easily accessible,
regardless of the whereabouts of the employee.
The requirement for sophisticated information has led companies to
invest in numerous systems, such as information retrieval, document
management, management information systems and data mining. These
applications are assisting organisations to make sense of today's
data overload, and present the information to desk-bound employees.
Unfortunately, they are currently not capable of catering for the
complex needs of an increasingly mobile workforce. For information
to become knowledge, it must be available when and where the
employee requires it. Owing to the constraints of the mobile
device, it is also more important to a mobile worker that the
information is filtered and that it can be accessed regardless of
where it resides.
The workforce on the move needs the power of the existing corporate
systems combined with wireless applications designed specifically
for the mobile environment.