Today, enterprises are extending their back office systems by utilising handhelds at the point of activity, enabling them to offer their customers increased levels of customer service and satisfaction - not to mention employee efficiency and productivity, said to Sheldon Vermaak, Motorola enterprise mobility business product manager at ICT distributor, Pinnacle Micro.
"Being able to effectively run ERP or CRM-type systems on handhelds has made the selection of an optimum device that meets the durability, capability and stability criteria quite challenging.
"PDAs do not necessarily contain all of the criteria required for true enterprise mobility. This is why we are seeing the convergence of the smart phone, PDA, digital camera, and GPS devices - which has lead to the advent of the EDAs (Enterprise Digital Assistant) and 'ruggedised' mobile computers."
These EDAs and mobile computers now become business tools -effectively an extension of the enterprise's core operational systems.
Being able to combine functionality such as mobile voice and data, image capture, bar code reading capabilities and global positioning into one device helps reduce the equipment complexity required to deliver the real benefits of mobile workers staying connected to co-workers, customers and back office systems, said Vermaak.
For example, GPS enables real-time device location and, in combination with appropriate applications, can assist with directions, vehicle tracking and location mapping.
With specific reference to EDA and ruggedised handhelds, the organisations involved in field force operations have proven to be the earliest adopters of mobile deployments. The employees of these organisations use this one tool as a critical component of their day-to-day responsibilities, which may include field service, mobile sales, route accounting or logistics.
The number of mobile workers continues to grow daily as organisations continually look for competitive advantage. It is expected that the mobile worker population worldwide will increase by approximately 30% between 2004 and 2009, which will result in a growth from 650 million mobile workers worldwide to more than 850 million in 2009. Each one of these workers will need some type of device to facilitate their daily activities.
"This is a huge opportunity. Solution providers can expect the market for mobile enterprise applications to triple by 2010, providing yet another awesome opportunity."
As to what the future of handhelds holds for us? Only time will tell as the rapid development of miniaturised components continues apace we will see the capabilities and functionality of these devices grow beyond our imaginings.
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