PricewaterhouseCoopers, the world`s largest professional services organisation, and Palm, a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet applications and a leading provider of handheld solutions, have announced a global alliance agreement to provide mobile enterprise business solutions to clients.
Under the terms of the agreement, Palm and PricewaterhouseCoopers plan to work together to help companies quickly integrate existing enterprise systems with mobile capabilities.
The organisations intend to develop and market mobile enterprise solutions based on Palm handheld computers.
The solutions will enable clients to gain further benefits from critical enterprise applications deployed by businesses including CRM (customer relationship management), ERP (enterprise resource planning) and B2E (business-to-enterprise).
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Palm have successfully conducted a deployment programme, Palm@Enterprise, which "mobilised" various business functions within Palm. The mobile-enabled environment allows a secure and stable channel for Palm employees to access a personalised portal with corporate e-mail and calendar functions, as well as enterprise systems using Palm handhelds.
"We view mobile business as an entirely new way of capitalising on enterprise systems, enabling greater overall work force effectiveness," said Marilyn Stemper, PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting Services partner focused on mobile business initiatives. "The combination of our extensive consulting capabilities and relationships with wireless network operators worldwide, coupled with Palm`s innovative technologies, allows us to help clients quickly realise the benefits of a mobile-enabled enterprise."
"Palm is executing on its strategy to deliver secure, mobile solutions to large organisations," said Carl Yankowski, chief executive officer, Palm, Inc. "In so doing, we want to form relationships with those who have demonstrated leadership with enterprise clients on a global basis. PricewaterhouseCoopers` Management Consulting Services practice is a logical choice for this collaboration."
Palm has been working with its Palm Economy members focused on enterprise solutions to stimulate development of "behind-the-firewall" enterprise applications. In parallel, PricewaterhouseCoopers` Management Consulting Services practice is working with clients globally to exploit the benefits of mobile business by providing strategic advisory services, encouraging the mobilisation of enterprise software and assisting in application development and systems integration.
According to Pooneh Fooladi, Internet services senior analyst with IDC: "Using handheld computers and other mobile devices to conduct business remotely continues to gain momentum and is fuelling the next generation of telecommuting. As corporate environments continue to evolve into virtual enterprises, employees are more geographically dispersed and require greater mobility. In these extended business communities, organisations will gain enormous benefits by providing employees and business partners fast, easy remote access to networked resources and electronic communications."
"The mobile Internet is a critical channel to interact not only with employees but also with customers and business partners," said Jesus Mantas, PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting Services partner at Palm.
"Those companies that integrate mobile devices with existing systems and infrastructures will have a clear advantage in boosting productivity, generating greater workforce efficiencies and increasing the bottom line."
PricewaterhouseCoopers has begun introducing Fortune 100 clients to the new mobile-enabled solutions at PricewaterhouseCoopers` North American and European demonstration facilities located in Philadelphia and Heathrow, UK. PricewaterhouseCoopers` Management Consulting Services practice has more than 500 professionals dedicated to mobile business globally. In addition, clients can draw on the capabilities of more than 1 500 professionals knowledgeable in mobile-related solutions such as enterprise systems, B2E and customer relationship management.
Palm@Enterprise Programme
In September 2000, Palm and PricewaterhouseCoopers set out to develop a "behind-the-firewall" mobile-enabled business solution. Tailored around Palm technology, the solution was developed to conform to enterprise-class security and management policies and provide a streamlined user experience.
The result was an employee-focused portal with an intuitive user interface that provides employees with access to email; proprietary enterprise systems; and portal information. A dynamic main page is updated real-time when accessed wirelessly, and can be personalised by each user. Users must pass security checkpoints, using passwords to gain access to various databases and company-confidential channels that require additional verification.
Feedback from users and analysis of the overall programme revealed that wireless dynamic content and continual, stable access to corporate data enables greater efficiency and effectiveness among mobile employees. "The test group of users felt they were receiving significant benefits from on-the-go access to corporate information and believed their work and personal productivity increased substantially. Their reaction - and enthusiasm - was so pronounced, we`re rolling our pilot out to the entire work force in the United States," said Yankowski. "We believe this can be the case for any large organisation like ours."
The challenge for businesses is determining how to best harness mobile computing and new technology to effectively connect employees and business partners with existing databases and infrastructure systems. There are complexities associated with security and technology integration in an enterprise environment. "One advantage of handhelds is that they provide both personal and corporate information in a secure and easy-to-use single device," said Mantas. "Our efforts at Palm demonstrate that it`s possible to both increase personal productivity and generate even greater value to an enterprise through effective deployment of mobile business solutions."
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