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Achieve Wireless Benefits Now: Guidelines For Getting Started
Achieve Wireless Benefits Now: Guidelines For Getting Started
Jan. 1, 2000 12:00 AM
No need to do everything at once. Start out small if you wish, and see
what works best. There are two approaches to getting started. One is to do a
strategic plan and rollout for the entire enterprise. The other is to begin
with a limited pilot in which a single business area is mobilized. One thing
is sure though. Businesses that begin wireless implementation now will reap
the benefits sooner than their competitors.
More than ever before, businesses are striving to reduce costs and increase
productivity. While wireless and pervasive technologies pose some front-end
challenges, they also offer the short- and long-term opportunity to achieve
cost savings, process improvement, revenue and competitive gain, and
customer loyalty and retention. But like every technology, wireless
connectivity demands both technical and organizational learning. Businesses
that start now are more likely to learn early and thus reap the benefits
sooner than their competitors.
In addition, IT organizations that start now can optimize by
strategically planning for and implementing mobile and wireless solution
rollouts throughout their enterprises. The task need not be daunting.
Organizations can start small with a pilot, building in mobile and wireless
capabilities as they evolve their e-business infrastructure capabilities.
Understanding the Benefits
Wireless technology is a natural extension of e-business. It reflects
the evolution from using a wired desktop or laptop PC to access critical
business applications and services to using wireless mobile devices. Devices
that embed intelligence, such as mobile phones, PDAs, automobiles, and
set-top boxes, can provide connectivity that allows organizations to reach
customers, partners, products, and employees anytime, anywhere. The real
power of wireless e-business is its capability to optimize communications
between people thereby improving customer responsiveness and the ability
to accelerate processes and decision making. This translates directly into
benefits that can provide a sound business return on wireless investments.
Wireless technology can enhance worker effectiveness and efficiency by
connecting mobile workers to existing and new corporate applications.
Implementation can increase sales force efficiency, provide better
interactions with other businesses and customers, expedite the development
of new products and services, and deliver services to users in ways and
areas not previously possible.
With wireless, it is possible to cost-effectively automate a wide
variety of processes that were previously either paper-based or required
data input through batch processing. Mobile workers connected to in-house
systems can process real-time data, reducing paperwork errors. Workers have
access to the data they need to respond to customers more accurately and
expediently.
Process improvements spurred by wireless technology can transform
businesses and entire industries. When mobile workers connect directly from
any location to the automated systems running on corporate platforms, the
opportunity to change business processes and organization is almost
unlimited. Processing long lines of clients at hotels, airline counters, or
retail checkouts can be dramatically altered through the use of mobile
devices. Ultimately, wireless technologies can lead to improved customer
satisfaction through increased responsiveness to customer requirements.
Depending on the specific industry and application, companies can reap
wireless benefits in numerous ways:
Law enforcement can reduce errors caused by garbled or missed voice
dispatch messages and have real-time access to police databases in the
field.
Banks and brokerage firms can increase revenues and customer loyalty by
freeing customers from wired connections. Customers can readily locate ATMs,
and traders can have access to customer information and the ability to act
upon it, wherever they may be.
Health care institutions can reduce costs, improve efficiency, and
provide better care through mobile nursing stations, mobile access to
patient records, and mobile patient check-in.
Educational institutions, using wireless LANs and notebook computers,
can free students to learn in accessible settings, as opposed to waiting for
potentially overcrowded computer facilities.
Transportation and delivery industries can use wireless technology to
allow vehicles to communicate with dispatchers to provide faster schedule
changes, better handling of delivery exceptions, and increase the number of
deliveries or services completed in a given period.
Hospitality organizations can enhance customer service through wireless
guest check-in and electronic payment options.
Retail businesses can enhance customer loyalty and higher sales through
wireless shopping, point-of-sale access to Internet catalogs, and convenient
access to information on store hours, locations, or promotions.
Reaping the Benefits
As with most IT projects, successful implementation of wireless
connectivity depends on some basic factors. There are two approaches to
getting started. One is to do a strategic plan and rollout for the entire
enterprise. The other is to begin with a limited pilot in which a single
business area is mobilized. Which path is chosen depends largely on the
corporate culture. However, in either case, focus first on the functional
reasons for implementing wireless technology (i.e., what is the real value
of "mobilizing" a particular area or areas of the business, how will the new
technology be used, and how will it impact business processes?)
Focusing on the technology first can result in an infrastructure driven
by price and ease of acquisition. Such an infrastructure may not address the
real business need and may be ill- equipped to support desired functions
without costly upgrades and/or retrofitting.
Select technology that integrates with existing company systems and
processes. Committing to a mobile and wireless solution that uses
proprietary software or hardware can be costly financially and otherwise.
Such a solution often limits integration with other systems, and it can
hinder the ability to adopt new devices, networks, applications, and
technologies as they become available. When assessing wireless systems, it
helps to consider the following:
Integrating new wireless hardware and software into an existing IT
environment entails special requirements.
Application design must address the speed and space limitations of
wireless communications.
The current network and security infrastructure must be extended to
include wireless.
As wireless devices and standards are still evolving, configuration and
environment changes must be easily accomplished.
The wireless system must share information with other systems.
Evaluate Third-Party Vendors
Choosing the right solutions vendor is as important as selecting the
appropriate hardware and software. Determining whether a candidate can
deliver on time, within the specified budget, and furnish application
support over the life of the product should be key considerations.
Mobile and wireless solutions usually require vendors who have broad
experience and expertise, as well as relationships and partnerships. They
can help plan, design, deploy, and support the products, services, and tools
to enable a total solution from network connectivity, security
implementation, and management to the necessary reliable and scalable
middleware for enterprise systems, device selection, provisioning, and
rollout. Selecting a vendor that can provide hosting services for wireless
solutions may also prove to be a good alternative for some businesses.
Infrastructure Considerations
Mobile users need to access enterprise applications, synchronize local
data with servers, and receive timely updates. When disconnected from the
network, they also need to browse Web pages, read and respond to e-mail, and
access relevant groupware or business applications. For these types of
activities to occur, several unique characteristics of the mobile
environment must be addressed:
Most mobile links are high-latency, low-bandwidth, less reliable
connections than office networks.
Disconnected operation must be provided for, as there are geographic
areas where connectivity is not possible.
The diversity of devices, networks, network connections, and operating
systems requires more than one solution.
To meet these needs, certain infrastructure considerations are
important:
Security
Like wired communications, security is one of the most important issues
to consider for mobile deployment. Mobile devices are subject to being lost
or stolen, and wireless communications can be more readily intercepted.
Policies, processes, and technologies for mobile and wireless communication
need to be integrated into current security and privacy controls. Areas
requiring technology controls include content/e-mail filtering, antivirus
protection, user identification and authentication, policy management,
intrusion detection, hardening of platforms, and security-rich device
management. Areas requiring process changes include risk and incident
management, incident response, security validation, and monitoring.
Wireless networks can be as secure as traditional wired networks. Many
of the vulnerabilities in today's public wireless LANs or Wi-Fi networks
stem from users not changing the standard default setting. Simple changes to
the encryption during the setup of these networks will increase security.
For corporate users, traditional steps taken to secure wired networks can
also apply to the wireless world.
Interoperability
Because of the diversity of mobile devices and solutions, open standards
are more important than ever. Select open-platform and open-standards
solutions that can support an application's portability. Even if a very
specific project for a device and network is being considered, it is
important to plan for the future and choose a comprehensive platform. Look
for a solution that encompasses both wired and wireless data and multiple
device types a solution that can optimize mobile computing communications
and provide the required support tools and scalability.
Networking Services
Choose wireless connectivity for the right reasons: because it supports
a business process and provides business advantages. Select connectivity
providers that can support project goals in a cost-effective manner. In many
cases, multiple connectivity options may be needed for different user
communities including a mix of wireless and wireline.
Disconnected Services
Mobile users still need to work when they are not connected to the
network. Disconnected ser-vices require both server- and client-side
infrastructure. These services help users transmit and receive information
reliably when they establish a network connection. They also provide higher
effective bandwidth by optimizing retransmission of data on unreliable
wireless networks. Services that support this disconnected mode of operation
include: caching of data and applications on devices, replication and
synchronization of data maintained on the device and the network server, and
message queuing.
Mobile and Wireless Device Support
Mobile and wireless devices include embedded machine devices without a
user interface as well as devices with multimodal interfaces such as
traditional keyboard and mouse interfaces, small text screens, pens,
touchscreens, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and other emerging
technologies.
Standardizing on a small portfolio of devices can help contain the costs
of procuring and supporting devices. For the devices themselves, consider
factors such as readability of the display area, mechanisms for data input,
processing and storage capacity, available connectivity options, security
factors, application and application development tool availability, and cost
of procurement and support.
Systems Management Services
It is advantageous to have an integrated management system that includes
wired and wireless support, thereby reducing costs associated with both.
This is crucial because of the need to monitor and manage the
synchronization of data between different wireless devices, desktops, and
servers, and this synchronization increases the volume of asset, failure,
performance, and backup management transactions needing to be performed.
Getting Started
If your enterprise has not already begun using mobile and wireless
technologies, here's how to gain an unwired advantage:
Begin now: Studies show that the most popular applications for
corporate wireless use are e-mail, unified messaging, customer service and
support, sales force automation, and marketing applications. However, there
may be other operational areas that could benefit from mobile employees
being able to access and provide information to relevant databases.
Whatever the application, it is important for IT organizations to
take the leadership role, working with business units to identify
opportunities and create an enterprise strategy that can achieve sound
business results. Initiatives led by individual business units can result in
incompatible solutions that may prove costly to support and integrate.
Be clear on objectives: Understand from the start how the wireless
solution that's selected helps achieve objectives such as cost management,
revenue and competitive gain, process improvement, and/or customer loyalty
and retention. Develop a solid, bottom-line business case for proceeding.
Use nonfinancial benefits as icing on the cake, not as justification for the
project.
Let an experienced vendor help: A trusted partner can help
organizations understand the options and make the right choices relative to
the connectivity, security, device and management technologies, and
processes that are needed. This includes helping organizations understand
how to define, monitor, and measure return on investment.
Enjoy the benefits: Begin to reap the benefits as you implement
multiphase projects that can keep your organization ahead of the curve in
optimizing business potential through mobile wireless technologies.
The wireless world is changing rapidly; there is increased availability
of high-performance handheld devices and low-cost, high-speed broadband
Internet access. Communications and security standards are being further
defined and implemented in products. The wireless user experience is moving
to match that of the wired user. By starting now, your organization can
effectively compete as wireless technologies continue to allow
differentiation through new types of transactions and services, localized
information, and personalization.
About Adel Al-SalehAdel Al-Saleh is general manager,
Global Wireless Business, IBM Corporation.
He is responsible for the business, applications,
and solutions-related aspects of IBM's wireless
and mobile initiatives around the world.