A survey by Morgan
Stanley revealed that mobile and wireless systems are one of the
top three priorities for business spending in
2004/2005.
Mobile solutions are
providing businesses with real competitive advantages and are
enabling them to deliver superior levels of customer service. The
combined benefits of increased productivity and reduced costs have
put mobility at the top of the agenda for organisations of all
sizes.
Most large-scale companies
have adopted a bespoke system in the belief that only this can
match their business requirements. However, this type of solution
is not without its pitfalls and is often not suitable for smaller
companies with limited resources. It is now apparent that companies
of all sizes will need to mobilise at least some part of their
business, particularly as customers increasingly demand
it.
A fully-integrated wireless
mobile solution involves the integration of databases,
communications and connectivity, each element of which will require
ongoing support and upgrades. It could be argued that IT resources
would be better spent on the core activities of procuring systems
to meet customers' expectations, rather than on developing,
andthen
sustaining, software for one-off applications.
Moreover, by its unique
nature, bespoke connectivity often demands an extended
development-to-deployment period. A bespoke system can be
inflexible and may require multiple iterations to get right, which
can usually only be provided by the initial developer, often at
considerable on-going expense. The developer may also own the
intellectual property rights for the system, unless specific
measures are taken.
To bring a degree of
reality to the market, several specialist mobile providers started
to "productise" systems they had tailored for certain customers and
sell them as off-the-shelf function-specific applications. This
approach did indeed reduce costs but often left the user with a
considerable back-office integration challenge.
Other back-office providers
developed slave mobile applications bespoke to their products.
These were good for discrete mobile operations such as warehousing
or parking enforcement, but inherently inflexible and complex for
dynamic organisations needing several mobile
applications.
For organisations like
this, certain providers offered a common mobile application
gateway, providing ready integration into a range of back-office
systems. However, application development still required
significant expertise and resources, with costs to
match.
Now a small number of
companies that provide the best of both worlds have emerged: rapid
application or form development combined with ready and open
integration into multiple back-office systems, in a single toolset.
There are, of course, differences between them: their approach to
security, the remote management of deployed devices, and the range
of complementary technology such as global positioning and digital
imagery that can in effect be included
out-of-the-box.
Users can now get bespoke
systems effectively off the shelf, but in a way that provides an
open gateway for future expansion that enables them to continue to
tailor the solution at will in response to changing needs, which
greatly adds to the potential benefits.
For some organisations, the
slave system may continue to meet their needs, but more complex
organisations will almost certainly require an open mobile platform
that is easy to adapt and modify.
Smaller companies too want
access to clever, flexible, rapidly deployed mobile data. These
toolsets allow even complex systems to be created in less time than
other options without having to resource additional expertise and
knowledge. As a result, the lifetime costs of projects are greatly
reduced.
Philip Neame is
managing director at Integral Mobile
Data