Information, wherever its needed. Check it out:
(The Economic Times (India) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Information is power today and timely information is absolutely priceless. Decision making process for any kind of business needs timely and precise information as a critical input.
Deciding product and service specifications, human resource needs, managing suppliers and distributors and marketing efforts, all have information as a vital link in the chain. This has created a need to have a fine balance between information mobility and information management for the business enterprise.
Information mobility has extended beyond voice calls and basic telephony to almost all the different segments of the value chain. From customer facing processes to inventory tracking, CRM and supply chain management, enterprises are increasingly going mobile and hence, wireless. Information mobility is finding wide usage in the field of sales force automation and m-commerce nowadays.
On the other hand, information management has become the backbone of almost all the modern enterprises. Information management has become pivotal for areas like consumer analytics, product customisation, e-procurement and supply chain integration.
An unwired enterprise balances both information management and information mobility for secure and seamless movement of information between data sources and point of action. An ideal unwired enterprise is one in which information generated through any data source, server platform or application can be accessed and pooled into a common and easy-to-use storehouse for analysis and decision making, after which it can be sent across to any mobile device at any desired location for action.
But what is the need of a mobile and unwired enterprise? Wireless access to emails and PIM enables employees to make faster, more informed decisions, regardless of where they are. Mobile data collection by field force improves accuracy and reduces paper and latency costs. Sales force automation enables better customer service at the point of customer interaction. Seamless flow of information can help in cutting down the order and delivery cycle time drastically.
Some big retail stores have deployed representatives with handled billing devices to cut down on queuing time and ensure a higher customer entry and repeat customer base. As John Chen, CEO, Sybase, puts it "In the Unwired Enterprise, organisations can securely move business-critical information back and forth between the data centre and mobile devices -to the right person, anytime, anywhere.
Built within a company's existing infrastructure, the Unwired Enterprise is a seamless way of doing business, ensuring that information is always available wherever it's needed." In the following examples, use of wireless solutions and changing the art of information management has made companies cost efficient and more competitive.
BNSF, a US railway company created an application called PARS (Planning and Activity Reporting System) to keep track of payroll data for its employees, and to record details regarding the work they perform. After successfully adding wireless capabilities to it, PARS now helps its management to move toward a preventive rather than a reactive maintenance environment.
Replacing track or equipment a few years too early, can prove unnecessarily expensive while waiting long could lead to serious problems causing service delays for customer freight. Getting information on a regular basis helps BNSF in scheduling maintenance work at just the right time to maximise return on its capital investments.
Britannia Airways, UK, needed wireless connectivity to enable its cabin crew and pilots to access a wide variety of information including email, flight crew rosters, health and safety information and duty-free point of sales applications during a fifteen-minute pre-flight window. It used a mobile solution providing bi-directional synchronisation of data from back-office systems to cabin crews' PDAs and pilots' laptops.
In course of time, this has helped the airlines in increasing employee productivity, improving customer satisfaction, improving compliance. In addition to this, it aims at cost reduction by automating the availability of flight manuals, for saving fuel costs and automating paper-based workflow processes which previously required 600 different forms, with up to 1,00,000 copies.
FedEx also extended its services of package tracking and drop-off location finder to mobile handheld device users on wireless WAP-enabled phones, RIM pagers and PDAs. It created mobile.fedex.com. to leverage its existing services to mobile device users and allowing it to enhance its online services for desktop and mobile access, including support for multilingual users. This solution reduced call centre costs for routine requests, boosted overall customer service and value and lowered IT support and management costs.
Hyundai Department Stores, South Korea, with 14 stores and over $340m in annual sales, has developed a mobile, WiFi point-of-sale (POS) system. The system is deployed on 2,400 PDAs, for use by 5,000 store employees. The solution enables sales associates to assist customers from the beginning to the end of the sales process. It helps customers choose merchandise by allowing the associates to check stock, and to inform them of options that facilitate up-selling and cross-selling.
The associates
can then process transactions (reading product bar codes and scanning credit cards) on the spot, eliminating the need for customers to wait in line at traditional stationary registers. So, customers tend to spend more time in the store and spend more money. Using the new system, transactions are completed in 10 seconds. Company executives and store managers also use the system to do real time analysis and facilitate dynamic merchandising activities.
Otis Elevator wanted a solution that would provide critical, up-to-date information in a mobile computing environment to avoid the inefficiencies and multiple data entry points of a legacy paper-based system among its legion of field service technicians.
Otis needed a solution that was scalable and flexible regarding device and connectivity support, while also delivering accuracy and timeliness to efficiently record service activities, maintain inventory information and facilitate billing processes. Otis made an in-house initiative for wireless access to mission-critical service information, regardless of handheld device, wireless standard, network or carrier.
The company now has a single mobile platform that allows centralised management and support. Field service technicians have increased their responsiveness to customer requests and service calls, thus improving overall customer satisfaction while facilitating more accurate and timely billing. This helped in decreasing non-productive travel time between office and worksites and ensuring availability of comprehensive work data prompting a review of work routes. Otis expects more than 200% discounted ROI from the project.
To sum it all, wireless enterprise is the changing face of doing business. Although, the timing and cost of deployment of mobile solutions would be areas to consider carefully, wireless solutions are bound to bring in efficiencies and payback in the world of information.
ETIG
Copyright 2006 The Economic Times of India, Coleman & Co Ltd. Source : Financial Times Information Limited
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