Mobility as a Strategy

As the world has become increasingly mobile, enterprise mobility has been steadily creeping from luxury towards necessity. Mobile workers have become ubiquitous throughout the business world and the need for bringing the office with them is apparent. Whether it's a sales rep that needs real-time access to inventory or an insurance adjustor who needs instant on-site access to claims information, productivity is no longer reserved for the cubicle.

What's more, due to the growing presence of mobile technology and wireless infrastructure, companies are now able to deploy mobile fleets with an increased level of value and reduced level of cost. Wi-Fi has become a standard in corporate buildings, educational campuses, and in many cases, entire cities. Coupled with wireless data networks from major wireless carriers such as Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T, the ability to connect with the office or the world has increased dramatically.

Additionally, increased sales of mobile devices have led to lower prices and the development of more intuitive software. Custom line-of-business applications have allowed companies of all types and sizes to make mobility work for their specific needs. Having recognized the potential for mobility, vendors have devoted more resources towards the development of mobile solutions and thus, have further improved the industry.

Endless possibilities for improving the enterprise

The possibilities for improving productivity and efficiency through mobile solutions are seemingly endless. However, what many of the current articles and whitepapers lack are real-world examples of how actual companies have used, and are using, mobility as a strategy for their business needs.

One of the most basic, and often most utilized, changes that enterprise mobility can facilitate is converting paper-based forms to forms-based applications. By using handheld devices to digitally input data into central enterprise servers, businesses see a reduction in recording errors and data collection time. In the end, this conversion process allows for more business transactions and increased customer satisfaction.

Take Temple University's Health System, for example. When the Philadelphia-based University implemented electronic applications for writing medical prescriptions, they were able to fill common prescriptions at the point of care while automatically updating the patient's file. This led to an 11% increase in the use of generic medications, reducing overall drug costs. Additionally, the mobile deployment helped reduce malpractice suits by 10%.

Similarly, GMAC Commercial Mortgage used a mobile electronic forms-based application to reduce commercial loan processing time from 90-120 days down to 10 days or less. This outstanding increase in productivity was the outcome of a development project that took three people only three months to complete.

Real-time web-based applications have also made a tremendous mark on the enterprise mobility world. Providing easily accessible information and services from phones and PDAs, mobile technology has led to increased performance in business intelligence, customer relationship management, point-of-sale systems, and a host of other enterprise needs.

Dollar Rent-a-Car found a cost effective means of opening new lines of business when it created and deployed a reusable XML Web services-based interface into its existing reservation system, making it available to new partners. By employing this mobile application, Dollar was able to open up an additional sales channel that has collected millions of additional rate requests and thousands of new reservations each year, generating millions of dollars in additional revenue.

Even Apple has used mobile technology in their hugely successful Apple Stores. When the stores are faced with high amounts of customer traffic, employees reach for a Windows-Mobile based point-of-sale mobile application. This wireless POS system allows Apple Store workers to increase productivity and generate greater sales in less time by ringing up customers via their handheld device, eliminating long lines and increasing customer satisfaction.