Why your company should go mobile now

If you're not deploying mobile technology, perhaps it's time to reconsider the power of the small portable screen. It's clear that the market is thriving. According to research firm Gartner Dataquest's most recent numbers, for the third quarter of 2006, worldwide shipments of smartphones grew by 41.7 percent compared with the same quarter in 2005. Worldwide personal digital assistant (PDA) shipments grew by 28.6 percent over the same period. Gartner also estimates that by the end of 2008, even employees who spend just 20 percent of their time away from their primary work location will have wireless access to e-mail.

Research also shows that mobile tools are increasingly becoming a key component of business strategy. According to research firm IDC, the worldwide mobile enterprise application market had revenues of US$1.24 billion in 2005 with predicted growth to US$3.5 billion in 2010, representing a compound annual growth rate of 23.1 percent.

Bob Egan, research director for emerging technologies at Massachusetts-based research firm TowerGroup, predicts, "As mobile technology continues to mature at the level of the network, the applications, the operating system, and the devices, it is absolutely going to be the next growth hormone for business productivity."

Fortuitously, deploying mobile technology has improved significantly during the past few years. Egan explains, "You have mobile devices with 400-megahertz processors and onboard memory in excess of 1 gigabyte. Speeds are up, transmission latencies are down. The segment has almost reinvented itself."

Companies are discovering that mobile technology can deliver a distinct competitive advantage in two ways. First, when employees can communicate wherever they are, they can make decisions quickly. This can decrease time to market for new products. Ideally, companies can then make money from their development efforts faster. Second, companies-primarily airlines with schedule updates and financial services firms with stock information-use mobile technology to serve customers more efficiently by sending information and applications directly to customers' mobile devices.

Mobility in action

Both electronics manufacturer Nikon and motor manufacturer Nissan have deployed mobile technologies to improve collaboration. Nikon executives use handheld devices running Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 that access Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Access to critical information allows them to make decisions quickly and improve time to market. Nissan estimates that the capability to collaborate easily on a global basis will save at least US$135 million over the next few years. Egan's favourite example: an insurance company (which he can't name) whose claims adjusters have digital cameras, computers, and printers in their vehicles. They record damage visually and in electronic form, upload the information to the corporate database, get a settlement amount, transmit the information via Bluetooth wireless technology to a portable printer, and hand the customer a check before they leave.

As the accompanying articles on developing a business case for mobility and mobile IT issues, companies still need to be rigorous regarding deployment and support of mobile devices. But mounting evidence reveals that they can deliver a clear competitive advantage.