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Mobility is emerging as one of the most important aspects of enterprise IT
infrastructure today. Mobile phones and internet have transformed the way we
communicate, share information, and conduct business. Information technology has
been evolving relentlessly supported by constant research, and fueled by the
fundamental desire to communicate which is driving the voice and data
communication. This is in turn changing the way enterprises work.
The high growth Chinese and Indian economies together, present the single
largest market for telecom technologies, including mobility technologies in the
Asia-Pacific. India and China combined together constitute a billion strong
wireless subscriber base. In India, total wireless subscriber base is over 370
mn, while the total telecom subscribers number is over 410 mn.
The telecommunication technology and in particular, wireless technology, has
enabled businesses to re-think their existing business processes, and has taken
connectivity and mobility to a new realm. Significant wireless bandwidth levels
and the arrival of converged networks have unleashed a new frontier in workforce
mobility, delivered via powerful handheld devices.
As enterprise mobility technologies mature, more businesses, including small,
medium, or large enterprise will be able to leverage true mobility across the
Asia Pacific, thus opening up newer applications areas and choices. According to
IDC, there will be a trend towards demanding more value from vendors, and a
greater focus on total cost of ownership. As the world faces a global meltdown,
it will present businesses with the chance to re-think their IT policies as well
as their IT investment plans, with a strong focus on cost efficient long term
options. There are several examples of leading mobility technologies. These
include retail, logistics, and healthcare segments, where one is seeing uptake
of WLAN and mobility technologies. Some of the outstanding examples are Sir Run
Run Shaw hospital in Beijing, China, and Bumrungrand hospital in Thailand.
These examples represent a trend which will only accelerate as time progresses.
True Mobility
A truly mobile workforce can access all enterprise tools, from phone and
email, to real-time specialized back-end business applications on a single
device built for everyday business anywhere, anytime. Instead of stand-alone
disconnected voice and computing capabilities on different devices, workers
inside and outside the four walls stay integrated with the enterprise. The
result is a shift in focus from mobile business communication to true
mobility.
True mobility exploits the emergence of converged, next generation
networks. There is an untapped market for application service providers who
specialize in developing tailored mobile solutions for businesses. Enterprise
operations and workforces also benefit from next generation mobility. Real-time
connection to business systems improves workforce productivity and overall
efficiency wherever operations are conducted. It empowers the individual worker,
and gives access to critical information, so that there can be improved decision
making, and the enterprise becomes more effective in serving customer needs.
Enterprises can also use this platform to integrate all their business critical
processes to ensure clear visibility to the various business processes, and gain
latest information whenever they need it and wherever they need it.
The concept of true mobility often brings to mind chunky brick like devices
that are difficult to manage. However, todays enterprise mobile devices have
merged with consumer style ergonomics, introducing true mobility in new
industries such as health, mobile field force automation, hospitality,
transportation, etc. Armed with comprehensive set of productivity tools, workers
can strip time and duplication from daily processes. Data can be captured
instantly; paper forms and associated manual errors are eliminated. Business
systems are kept up to date with more accurate, real time data.
On the operations front, sophisticated mobile solutions increase visibility
into the business. Management can incorporate real-time facts into decisions,
improving throughput and production management. Inventory levels can be reduced
and turnover increased, by responding to peaks and troughs in demand more
efficiently. In turn, staff can be scheduled more economically to help control
labor costs.
Benefits
Some of the key mobility benefits include that it empowers people to be more
productive; offers speedier and reliable wireless communications; improves
efficiencies from better supply chain and inventory management; improves
customer service; and offers competitive advantage from real-time information.
Technology is under constant pressure to make business more efficient using
less dollars and resources. Merging phone, PDA, laptop and many other devices
into a single device translates into less management time and cost. Typical
consumer devices do not offer the wide range of functionalities in a rugged form
factor for the enterprise, and are designed as commodities with a twelve to
twenty-four month lifecycle. An enterprise integrated voice and data device has
the durability to last up to seven years, almost three times longer than a
consumer grade offering and provides service cover that extends beyond its
expected lifespan. This is critical to CIOs looking to secure and maintain a
standard operating environment (SOE).
Central management is also critical to security issues caused by the
explosion in business mobility. With immense amounts of data being transferred
wirelessly, or stored in mobile devices, virus protection and management are a
major concern. Workforces cant do business anywhere, anytime unless their data
is safe. This is only possible when IT can monitor devices 24/7; quickly update
patches to eliminate weaknesses; detect, lock and wipe devices that may be lost
or stolen; or enable a mobile VPN to ensure the security of highly sensitive
data.
Mobility across Industries
Mobility is the key to efficiency and business functioning across industries
like healthcare, retail, finance, supply chain, manufacturing, energy, and
utilities.
A typical advanced IT enabled healthcare delivery system would have mobility
applications running on rugged, sealed mobile computing devices. These mobile
computing devices are connected to the network using a secure wireless LAN
infrastructure and can access the hospital information system (HIS). The WLAN
acts like a glue which connects inter-alia asset tracking tags,, VoIP phones
carried by healthcare workers, and mobile computers, and this combination of
tools and wireless infrastructure helps deliver the various solutions. A
combination of hardware, wireless infrastructure, mobile computers, and hospital
information management applications offers solutions over mobile platforms which
can be used by healthcare professionals to review patients medical histories,
update patient information, check for drug interactions, and look at lab results
and x-rays and do much more so that significantly higher levels of patient care
standard can be achieved all from the point of activity: the bedside, the
nurse station, the front office, in surgery or on the go within the hospital.
Like healthcare, retail is another sector that can leverage IT solutions to
transform the industry. Indias retail market is the fifth-largest retail
destination estimated to grow to $ 427 bn by 2010 and $ 637 bn by 2015. Players
are increasingly deploying advanced information technology tools for managing
their supply chain, warehousing, and logistics requirements. Even the small
scale retailers are embracing IT solutions to spruce up their operations. Simple
technology like barcodes can be used in hundreds of applications across a
variety of industries and have evolved in recent years to another form of
scanning known as imaging where more information can be contained in the
symbology. Furthermore, scanning technology has vastly improved since the first
scanners. They come in a variety of forms including handheld, rugged, fixed,
wearable and as part of a mobile computer to name only a few.
There is so much more to the anatomy of mobility than voice, email and
calendars. Its evolution during the previous twenty years is only the tip of the
iceberg; new paradigms in GPS enabled location-based services, virtual
healthcare, customer service and business transparency, have only begun to be
explored.
e-Health, field automation and e-education delivered via highly powerful
mobile devices are possibilities that go beyond traditional mobility, and are
fast becoming a reality.
Mobility is not a choice anymore but an imperative. Change is inevitablebe
ahead, not behind it.
Jayant Rastogi
The author is head of sales & regional sales director, enterprise mobility
(symbol), enterprise mobility solutions, Motorola India
maidqindia@cybermedia.co.in
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