Johannesburg, 05 Apr 2005
All the hype, all the press, all the marketing, are you really getting what you expect or promised?
Customers are faced with many mobile options provided either by the GSM network operators or by the groupware developers (Microsoft, Lotus and Novell). These solutions provide the basics in delivering e-mail and PIM (calendar, contacts, tasks and notes) compared to other products that provide a total mobile integrated solution.
Sean Glansbeek, director at PDA Consulting, says: "The time has come for corporates to start asking the correct questions and making informed decisions."
End-user customers should be asking the following:
Can the solution offer the following groupware (e-mail and PIM) functions from a single system?
1. Can our system support multiple devices (Pocket PC, Palm, Symbian, smartphones and PC/notebooks) out of the same system? Do we want our systems to support more than one option?
2. Can our system support Exchange (5.5, 2000, and 2003), Lotus or GroupWise to these multiple devices?
3. Can our devices perform a manual and/or scheduled sync and view information offline disconnected from the network thereby reducing data costs?
4. Does our system provide complete groupware push (e-mail, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks) to the listed devices above and not just portions of groupware?
5. Are we able to real-time browser our groupware from any device type and the system will auto shape and format regardless of the device browser?
6. Can our solution allow attachments to be viewed, downloaded and edited, and are compressed during delivery?
7. If our company has GPRS, GSM, 3G, UMTS, Edge, Wireless, Bluetooth, cradle etc, can we sync to our groupware regardless of the connection type?
8. Most solutions provide end-to-end encryption through the connection, but does the same solution provide physical device security and protection?
Most solutions offered can only provide portions of the above services and some require multiple products to achieve the same effect. Some are built into the groupware creating huge security risks as the groupware servers are exposed to the Internet. The highly marketed solutions require propriety devices and some only support one or two different device OS types.
The above are some technical issues; however, here are some business considerations.
1. Who really owns the system after the contracts are over?
2. Have we looked at the total cost of ownership over 24 months?
3. Where is our data stored when our devices are unreachable?
4. Will our system allow us to move into the integration of mobile applications through the same system and use the appropriate device for the job?
5. Has anyone thought about document management, software distribution, backup and restore, reporting and device management?
6. Aren`t we admitting to inefficient mobile systems if we are all rushing out and purchasing additional high bandwidth contracts just to connect our notebooks and devices to our e-mailing systems?
"End-users and customers need to investigate their mobile solutions and the various options," says Glansbeek.
This will prevent any limiting technology decisions ensuring that mobile solutions are implemented with the view to supporting all device types and required back-end applications without the devices dictating the solutions and applications.
PDA Consulting offers a single solution that answers all these questions listed. Contact Sean Glansbeek for an evaluation at sean@pdaconsulting.co.za.
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