Companies that are looking for a quick return on investment from mobile Internet projects could do well by looking at ways of the technology using to lift internal efficiency.
That`s the word from Mark Anderson, business development manager for the financial sector at RangeGate. Anderson says that although many observers see the wireless Internet as a technology without an application, it is finding increasing favour among South African companies as a mechanism for streamlining processes such as warehousing, administration, field sales and service, and logistics.
"The mobile environment is about delivering information and services to users that is time-sensitive and that needs to be accessed on the run. Most of these applications will be found in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and within the boundaries of the enterprise," Anderson says.
Anderson alludes to a recent Gartner Group report that shows that 25m of the 113m people in the US workforce have some sort of mobile job requirement. "With such a high percentage of the workforce needing mobile access to information and services, there is a real opportunity for companies to roll out systems that deliver tangible returns in the form of efficiency and cost savings," he adds. Anderson says the payback from mobile technology comes from increasing the efficiency of mobile workers and allowing them to spend more time with customers and prospects. In addition, this technology can help to synchronise corporate information systems more closely with events happening in the field. For example, a sales representative from an insurance firm can use a wireless application protocol (WAP) cell-phone or personal digital assistant to call a quote up for a customer from the business`s back-end application. If the customer signs up, his details can be entered into the system online without the rep needing to return to his office.
Another example is a computer technician who can look up information about the availability of parts needed at a customer site. Once he has completed the repair or installation he can transfer billing information straight into the enterprise resource planning system from a Palm Pilot or WAP cell phone. This slashes the time between carrying out a customer order and receiving payment. RangeGate customers are starting to evaluate devices such as personal PDAs as replacements for notebooks for users that only need access to basic services such as e-mail and sales force automation tools, says Anderson.
"Companies are starting to look carefully at the high purchase and ownership costs of notebook computers. As PDAs mature, they are delivering more functionality with no compromise to their simplicity and smaller form-factor. "That means they are becoming a viable replacement for bulky notebooks for workers such as field sales and service staff," Anderson says.
Anderson only expects to see business-to-consumer applications when companies start to understand how it complements other digital and real-world channels such as the fixed-line Internet and brick-and-mortar stores. In addition, the technology still needs to mature so that it offers a better experience for consumers, who are impatient with the cumbersome interface and slow, expensive connectivity that characterises the mobile Internet today.
"Mobile technology is a business strategy, not a piece of technology. Companies need to apply it to business problems where its ability to handle applications that are time and location sensitive is particularly useful.
"As yet, the average consumer doesn`t feel the sudden urge to purchase a book from his cell-phones as he walks down the street. In the financial services an travel sectors, there are some consumer applications that meet the criteria of time and location sensitivity. For now, however, most of the action will be in the business world," Anderson says.
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