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Brown, Jennifer

Novenber 28, 2003

Originally Published:20031114.

TORONTO - Companies need to think about what mobility applications can do for them before they choose a device, experts said at a seminar about mobile computing for the enterprise held earlier this month.

David Neale, vice-president of new product development at Rogers AT&T Wireless, said enterprise organizations must focus on the application, not the technology.

"Too often people buy for the device. People keep saying 'That's cool, we have to get it into the enterprise,'" said Neale, speaking at a mobile computing seminar, sponsored by Psion Teklogix.

And while the majority of users claim e-mail is the killer app, it provides little to no return on investment to the enterprise.

"It's a function of, and dependent on, e-mail servers around the world. The true killer application is messaging quickly. If I want information, I want it now. If I'm out for lunch with a customer and they want to know the status of an order, they want to know that now, not after lunch," said Neale.

Microsoft's mobility business manager Jason Offet said there are 94 million Microsoft Exchange licences in the world, and research from Microsoft says 83 per cent of those users have indicated they want wireless access. By the end of this year, Gartner predicts 60 per cent of Fortune 1000 companies will have developed a mobile application server.

Richard Bauly, vice-president of strategy and business development at Psion, said corporations must determine "what is the low-hanging fruit" in terms of capitalizing on what wireless can deliver to the bottom line.

"Most of us think of mobile communication as e-mail. But it is time to think of things such as inventory tracking and taking care of customers more quickly," he said.

Companies must also focus on getting complete solutions from solid integrators, Neale said, and be sure to seek out the widest coverage possible and look for responsive after-sales support. 13#vety=7;enum=1; Richard Bauly "Success only comes from a structured approach. Stage 1 is the application - what is the business driver? After that you have to consider the network: national versus regional? And then the device: you must match the device to the application, network and user needs," he said.

Applications getting the most return on investment to date are those that automate a paper-based process, according to Offet.

To that end, Offet presented a case study in which Microsoft worked with Scotiabank's automotive financing branch two years ago to develop an automated application that would assist field reps who do monthly audits of the cars financed by Scotiabank that sit on car dealer lots. The previous process required the paper and pen recording of vehicle identification numbers (VIN). The old method produced a 20 per cent error rate in the recording of the lengthy VIN numbers onto paper.

"They needed a device to work intelligently even when they didn't have a connection," said Offet.

Working with Microsoft, Scotiabank was able to devise an application in less than a month built for Pocket PC. The idea was to eliminate the error of recording each number by reading them into a handheld device and using voice recognition.

"Scotiabank went from no application to a deployed prototype in 20 days,' said Offet.

However, when it came to proceed beyond the prototype, the handheld Scotiabank had been considering from Rogers AT&T was not commercially available. The bank has since been considering the next generation of the device, said Neale. 14#vety=16;enum=0; By Jennifer Brown

Computing Canada

(C) 2003 Computing Canada. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

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