- Posted
- Jun 1, 2005
- | By
- Ian Grayson
Mobilising for competitive advantage
In 2004, whitegoods manufacturer Electrolux realised it had a problem. Bogged down with paper-intensive internal processes, the company was struggling to deliver efficient after-sales service to more than 2 million customers around Australia.
Hand-written reports produced by the company's team of 180 field service engineers were laboriously entered into back-end computer systems by clerical staff, causing doubling handling and delays.
Fast forward to 2005 and the company's operations have changed dramatically. Field engineers are now equipped with Nokia 9210i communicator handsets and enter job information in the field using a specially designed software application. As well as recording details of each completed job, engineers can access a spare parts database and order required equipment while on site.
As a result of the changes, the field team is now able to complete an extra 180 jobs each day. The company reports that paper costs alone have been reduced by $140,000 - and office efficiency has skyrocketed.
The Electrolux experience is an example of a trend that is radically altering the way companies do business. By harnessing a range of new technologies, organisations are stripping out costs and improving their operational efficiencies. The era of mobilisation has arrived.
Late last year, corporate communications company Avaya conducted a global survey of more than 600 business executives to determine their attitudes towards mobile technologies.
Interestingly the survey found that, while mobile technologies are being adopted by a growing number of people, many companies are yet to capitalise on the potential benefits they can bring.
According to Avaya, 64 per cent of those surveyed carry two or more technology devices (mobile phones, PDAs etc) with them every day and more than 25 per cent carry three or more. But despite lugging all this hi-tech gear around, half still claim to have missed an important meeting or new business lead because they were unable to contact or be contacted by a business associate.
Although the results show many organisations still have some distance to cover when it comes to adoption, those in the telecommunications industry believe usage of mobile technologies is already delivering measurable business benefits for a growing number of organisations. Electrolux, it seems, is not an isolated example.
As the country's largest telecommunications carrier, Telstra is well placed to assess the rate at which Australian businesses are adopting mobile technologies. According to the company's group managing director of technology innovation and products, Ted Pretty, high-speed mobile data traffic has grown at more than 50 per cent month on month since services were first launched in late 2004.
Telstra's mobile broadband offering is currently delivered using an upgrade to its national CDMA network, called EV-DO (evolution data only). The EV-DO network offers peak data speeds of 2.4 Mbps with typical usage rates of around 500 Kbps.
Pretty says demand for high-speed mobile data services is coming from companies with field workers and sales staff who spend considerable periods away from the office. "Telstra is delighted with the market's response to its mobile broadband offer as it clearly indicates there is a strong demand for premium wireless data services," he told a recent business conference.
Later this year, Telstra will launch further mobile data services using its 3GSM network, built in conjunction with Hutchison. Initially coverage will be offered in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra. A similar network is being constructed jointly by Vodafone and Optus and will offer similar services, including two-way video calls and other multimedia services.
"The success of our mobile broadband service is a good indicator that our consumer-based 3GSM voice and content mobile phone offer will be well received by the market," says Pretty.
Business users, though, are expected to remain with the existing EV-DO service, because of its extensive coverage and the ability it gives to roam onto the slower but even more widespread CDMA 1x network.
Telstra is also augmenting its cellular mobile offerings by extending its network of wireless hotspots around the country. Customers with Wi-Fi-enabled laptop computers or PDAs can access the internet at speeds of up to 1 Mbps when in range of a hotspot. The carrier is busy setting them up in major urban centres, often integrating them into payphone kiosks or onto existing mobile base station antennas.
The enthusiasm for mobile services shown by carriers is evidence of their belief that it will become a big money spinner in coming years. As revenues from voice traffic continue to be eroded by technologies such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP), data is seen as a glowing beacon.
While it is still early days in the adoption of mobile services by business, certain usage trends are already emerging. Vice president of mobile solutions for handset manufacturer Nokia, Bob Brace says by far the biggest driver for the adoption of mobile technologies is access to corporate email.
"More and more companies are beginning to see the advantages of giving their staff access to email when they're away from the office," says Brace. "This is where we are seeing the most growth at the moment."
Brace points to the Blackberry device, from US-based developer Research In Motion, as something that "captured the minds" of executives. With the Blackberry client available on a range of other handsets, usage is expected to continue to grow strongly.
"At the moment there are fewer than 5 million users with email access through their mobile device," says Brace. "This is not many when you compare it with the overall email market where there are about 1 billion inboxes in the world."
Vendors such as Nokia, which also supplies the back-end systems needed to allow mobile access to existing corporate email infrastructures, believe mobile email will become commonplace within the next 12 months - just as SMS (short message service) has become pervasive among consumer users.
But while email access is increasingly popular for executives on the road, there are other ways in which mobile technologies are being used that can have a demonstrable positive effect on productivity and an organisation's bottom line.
Sydney-based rubbish removal firm, 1300Rubbish has radically changed its daily operations with the introduction of an application that uses the Telstra GPRS mobile network.
The franchise company, which uses a network of owner-drivers, had been using a radio-based system to allocate jobs. Each driver would have to write down the details and then manually log each completed task.
Company operations manager Geordie Gill says the new system allows jobs to be sent directly to a driver's mobile handset. Using an application called When & Where, drivers receive address and contact details and any special instructions.
"As the job progresses, start times, finish times, job signoffs and invoice details are captured and relayed back to the office and then automatically updated in the computer system," he says.
Gill estimates the system saves each driver around 2 hours per day and has dramatically streamlined the company's back-office functions.
Corporate interest in mobility is also being stirred by a rapid increase in the number of mobile devices from which business users can choose. As well as a wide range of laptop computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), new categories of hybrid offerings continue to appear on the market.
On one side, mobile phone makers such as Nokia and Ericsson are pushing so-called smart phones. As well as making voice calls, users have access to other functions such as email and web access and the ability to install extra software applications as required.
In the other camp, the PC companies are pushing converged data devices that can also make calls. The different approach means their offerings tend to be more like a handheld computer and less like a mobile phone.
An example is HP's iPAQ range which uses Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system. Vice president of the company's consumer products and mobile business group, See Chin Teik, says demand for these data-centric devices is strong and he expects the category to continue to evolve.
"People have been predicting the death of the PDA or pocket computer for some time, but we are not seeing this," he says. "The power and flexibility they provide to mobile business users make them a compelling choice."
Meanwhile, US-based Palm, which is often credited with creating the PDA market with its early devices, is also pushing the smart phone concept. Its Treo range has a loyal and growing user base attracted by hardware features such as the inbuilt Qwerty keyboard.
But despite a growing list of companies that are benefiting from the adoption of mobile applications, concerns still exist about factors such as reliability and security.
Early wireless and mobile implementations suffered from patchy network performance and security breeches. Some technologies, such as early versions of the Wi-Fi standard, were found to lack the levels of security needed for serious corporate use.
Nokia's Brace cautions that, while the underlying technologies have improved, it is vital to remain vigilant when it comes to using mobile devices.
"If you connect a mobile device to the internet, it will take only around five minutes before it is probed," he says. "If you don't have security such as a firewall in place, the device will rapidly be compromised."
News reports surfaced recently of the first viruses designed to target smart phones. Software makers are rushing to develop fixes, but the trend is likely to continue with more sophisticated attacks highly likely.
Telstra's general manager for wireless and mobility, Paul Thomas is quick to point out that the tools exist to ensure that mobile applications are as secure as their wired counterparts.
"The Blackberry device has been so successful because it removes much of the complexity of securing communications," he says. "It just works, and that has got to be appealing."
Looking further down the mobile road, industry watchers are convinced the next flurry of activity will be spurred by so-called fixed-to-mobile convergence. This process involves the replacement of traditional fixed-line desk phones with mobile handsets.
In some incarnations, the handsets can be configured to use a wireless local network when the user is in the office and then roam onto a cellular network when they leave. The benefits include access to the user via a single number and reduced call costs by avoiding the use of a cellular network while in the office.
"Once more than 60 per cent of people have mobiles within a company, it is worth that organisation seriously considering taking out fixed lines," says Brace. "The savings in support and running costs can make such a move financially appealing."
Such hybrid systems are particularly attractive for companies establishing new office complexes where the costs associated with implementing a PABX and fixed-phone infrastructure can be avoided altogether.
There are clear examples among early-adopter companies of the benefits brought by the adoption of mobile technologies. Improved efficiencies, staff flexibility and reduced operational costs are just some. While security, reliability and costs are factors which need to be carefully assessed, more organisatons are expected to follow. The future, it seems, is mobile.
Related Articles
Recent News
Phones and Devices
