Fit for purpose
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Faced with a baffling array of device types, how do organisations select the optimal platform for their business-enhancing mobile applications?
The handheld computers and communications devices that are the focal points of mobile IT are evolving fast. Mobile workers are now using a wide range of devices - from standard mobile phones and smartphones, to personal digital assistants (PDAs), rugged pocket PCs and wireless-enabled laptops - all of which come with price points and levels of functionality that makes the automation of many field-based tasks not only feasible but business critical.
Underpinning that development is the coming together of five key technology strands: the delivery of increasingly powerful, low-cost chipsets designed by Intel, ARM and others; the proven robustness of operating systems such as Symbian and Microsoft PocketPC; extended battery life that enables devices to run throughout the working day; the ubiquity and cost-effectiveness of services from mobile network operators; and, lastly, the development of business process-specific, sophisticated applications.
However, unlike the evolution of the ubiquitous desktop PC, where a single platform supports the vast majority of office activity, the concept of 'one device fits all' is neither desirable nor attainable when it comes to out-of-office devices. Rather, customers want devices that are suitable for particular business purposes - suitable in terms of their specific functionality, usability, robustness, and up-front and ongoing costs. But most of all at this stage of adoption, organisations want to ensure that any decision to equip sections of their workforce with mobile devices will produce a demonstrable return on investment (ROI), and that the mobile networking set-up is both reliable and secure.
All of these factors make choosing a mobile platform that is 'fit for purpose' difficult - not least of all because of the variety of device types that are hitting the market.
Form factor
In broad terms, the options can be sub-divided into a handful of categories, even though the distinctions between these are becoming increasingly blurred.
At the bottom end of the data-driven platforms that are supporting mobile workers are devices that are little more than traditional mobile phone handsets. Simplistic, though in some instances highly effective, the SMS capabilities of standard mobile phones are being exploited to pass data and reports between mobile workers and central systems.
A major step up from that is the smartphone, such as the Microsoft Windows-powered Orange SPV or the Symbian-based Nokia 9210. Although smartphones are still primarily voice devices, early adopters of mobile applications have taken advantage of the data input capability of their keypads and the ability to send and receive data to roll out applications to field service workers.
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Like PDAs, such devices can also include the traditional PIM (personal information manager) applications used for maintaining contact lists and diaries, but increasingly in corporate settings organisations are only loading the specific application set needed to get the job done - whether a set of packaged applications or bespoke software.
An increasingly common alternative to smartphones are wireless-enabled PDAs, such as the Intel-based Hewlett-Packard (HP) Jornada or Panasonic's CF-TL. Although essentially handheld computers with cellular connectivity, these come in a vast array of types - from £300-£500 for Palm or HP iPAQ devices that might be used by a salesforce to manage leads and accounts, and to send reports to head office, through to rugged PDAs from companies such as Panasonic and Intermec which cost around £1,500 but that can be used in 'hostile' environments.
As with mobile phones, wireless-enabled PDAs can offer voice services via a headset and microphone system, although some can be held to the ear. They typically use PDA-centric operating systems such as Microsoft PocketPC/Win CE or Palm OS.
For some field workers where the form factor of PDAs is too small or the availability of applications too narrow, wireless laptop computers are still the essential tool. Older products are wireless-enabled by the use of a PCMCIA card, which provides a data-only solution. More recent models from suppliers such as Dell and Fujitsu-Siemens now come with embedded wireless capability.
Smartphones, PDAs and wireless notebooks can, of course, all be configured to receive email, but there are a number of wireless devices, such as the Blackberry, built for that purpose, and which can also provide organiser, web-browsing and, with some models, a voice capability.
Spoilt for choice
The rapid pace of innovation and the wide choice may, however, be acting as a market inhibitor. Take the Sony-Ericsson P800, for example, which straddles the smartphone and PDA segments. It arrived on the market in early 2003; a replacement followed a few months later.
Andrew Morrow, device strategy manager for handsets at Vodafone UK, points out that this can raise a number of problems. "Application developers want a stable platform to work with," he says, "and corporate users want to be sure that the products they choose will be supported for at least the length of their contracts." He adds that it is all very well coming up with innovative new devices, "but devices need to solve a business problem and make the individuals using them more productive."
Malcolm Fitzsimmons, account director at Dendrite, the pharmaceutical sales force automation software company, notes that there is a further complication. Since most mobile devices tend not to be easy to use, and not all members of the workforce can be expected to accept their use to the same degree, training becomes a challenging and costly issue. If the nature of the device keeps changing, this problem becomes exacerbated, he says.
Advocates of the Blackberry solution argue that its relative success can be attributed to its ability to sidestep many of these problems. David Nicoll, CIO of media group WPP, which has rolled out the Blackberry across the organisation, says it takes only about 15 minutes to teach someone to use it and very little support is required thereafter. He estimates that it can cost less to support a Blackberry and two desktop PCs than it does to support a single laptop.
However, alongside generic functionality like email, companies want devices that support their core field business processes. As IT organisations gain more experience in which form factors and sets of capabilities work best in different settings - and which applications provide a direct ROI - mobile devices are likely to become standard issue for anyone who works out of the office, whether on a permanent or an occasional basis.
