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Key drivers of mobility
- Enable away-from-desk workers to be more efficient
- Improve the customer experience
- Reduce or remove the paper trail
- Remove duplication of tasks
- Avoid loss of critical information from the field
- Better daily route planning because of remote diary
- Speed up administration processes in office
- Reduce cell phone voice calls
- Reduce wasted travel time for workers
- Release cash tied up in stock
- Improve management of mobile workers
- Increase sales and service via improved market intelligence
- Answer customer queries quicker
- Instant documentation after closing a customer call
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How long has MyMobility been around?
We have been pouring our passion for technology (and all things related to ‘cool business’) into Mobile Solutions since last century – 1996 to be exact. We have therefore seen major evolutions in mobile computing and handheld computing technology during this time. The last decade of work in this exciting field has given us a deep understanding of what works really well (and also what doesn’t work!) in the world of enterprise mobility, PDA’s and mobile computing.
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How is a mobile device or mobile computer different to a cellphone?
Mobile device, smart-phone, or personal digital assistant (PDA) all refers to a new type of handheld electronic device which offers more features than a standard cell phone.
For starters, a cell phone only stores contacts (and sometimes calendar entries) and is generally only used for voice calls and SMS messaging with friends, business colleagues or the office.
While a mobile device has a larger screen and runs software much like a desktop or notebook computer. This software allows the user to accomplish more and access more information while outside the four walls of the organisation!
MyMobility provides mobile solutions for business, allowing the user to easily move from a cell phone to a mobile device, but without the pain.
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What brand or models of mobile computer does MyMobility support?
We support virtually any device that is installed with the Microsoft Windows Mobile based platform, which includes Windows Mobile, Windows PocketPC and Windows Smart-phone versions. There are several manufacturers who sell devices built around this platform and there are literally hundreds of different mobile computer models manufactured worldwide.
MyMobility also develops Mobile Solutions for Blackberry, a widely adopted communication platform within corporate environments. We are able to advise you on the best device platform for your particular environment and based on the needs of your mobile workforce.
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What do people use mobile devices for? I have a cell phone which I use for voice calls and SMS messaging, so what else do I need?
Mobile business people and companies are finding that voice calls are expensive, especially when the user needs to query large amounts of information with a colleague or the customer, while away-from-desk. SMS (short message service – 160 char per message) is also not suitable to query or transfer large amounts of information to a customer, business colleague, or between the field and the office.
Mobile devices are also used to replace paper forms such as a Survey Form of any type, an Invoice, a Proof of Delivery or a Job Card. By completing a form or capturing any information on a mobile device, the information is available immediately by the administration person sitting within the four walls of the company. The form does not need to be re-captured (when the paper arrives back from the field) because there is no paper process; all information is gathered in electronic format on a PDA and the business systems are updated directly. MyMobility provides mobile business solutions, operating on a mobile device to address all of these issues.
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What would a typical mobile business solution involve?
The solution is tailored to suit the needs of the business user, and the tasks that he/she wishes to accomplish while away-from-desk. A typical mobile worker uses a MyMobility solution for tasks which may include:
- Lookup products or costing
- Management & executive reports
- Lookup customer orders & history
- Capturing of new orders with signature
- Receipt & response to service calls
- Capturing details for a new quotation
- Travel claims and expense tracking
- Lookup of information, technical specs, etc
- Capture survey forms
- Capture of barcodes & digital photos
- Sales route planning
- Sales & marketing intelligence
- Job card completion with signature
- Proof of delivery or collection & signature
- Mapping solutions
- Capturing of a GPS location
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Where will I find benefit from using a mobile device?
Business people need access to information, processes and tasks while outside the four walls of their office, in order to work faster and be more effective. Inside the four walls, most business people access information and conduct work via a PC (or notebook computer) but mobile devices are starting to play more of a role.
Increasingly, business people are demanding that information is up to date and accessible wherever they are during the course of the day, and this is only possible by using a mobile device which is carried with the person (and therefore accessible) at all times. For example, a business person may reply to an urgent email while in a meeting, instead of simply sending an SMS.
A PDA also takes no time to boot-up like a notebook, saving critical ‘wait time’ while in front of a customer. This time saving may easily be 5 minutes per customer call; a PDA lives in sleep mode and therefore turns on immediately when required so information is immediately accessible.
And the most obvious advantages are related to size (a PDA is small and convenient) and battery life (A PDA battery is designed to last for a full daily cycle).
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What critical issues does the MyMobility solution address?
- Security and compliance around mobile information spread across multiple devices in the field
- Centralised management of mobile devices over the network
- Remote lock-down of a device if it’s stolen or lost
- Always-available mobile solutions, whether the network is online or offline
- Smart synchronisation technology takes care of data communication over the cellular and other wireless networks
- Open integration standards for communication with existing business systems
- A world class data centre ensures that mobile users have maximum uptime
- Our Subscription service makes the mobile solution highly affordable and scalable
- The user experience is critical to us, so ongoing user training forms a critical part of a service offering
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Okay, so who would benefit from this technology – “I don’t think our company is ready for mobility”
MyMobility doesn’t only benefit the mobile user. As more business people within an organisation switch to MyMobility when outside the four walls, information is delivered faster, in electronic format and directly to the people within the organisation that need the information to complete a task (place an order or solve a customer query) and to run the business efficiently.
Administration people become highly effective as an indirect result of mobility, because information coming from the workforce (the frontline or customer face) does not get re-captured other computer systems. Billing and many other standard business processes may be automated as information is sent from the field.
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Our executives don’t believe the system will benefit them.
As organisations embrace mobility, the first to realise the benefits is often the executives and management, but why?
Mobility helps organisations to become more efficient and helps mobile individuals to be more effective at getting things done. The mobile business person now has access to critical information needed to make effective decisions and complete tasks while outside the four walls.
MyMobility provides business intelligence and analysis tools so executives are able to view high level performance and business reporting, via their own mobile device. This gives an executive the peace of mind (while sitting in an airport lounge anywhere in the world) that the business is performing or where the critical issues are.
MyMobility has solutions to directly benefit operations, customer service, administration, management and executives within any organisation.
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How will the mobile solution communicate with existing systems and software within our business?
MyMobility has been delivering mobile solutions for over a decade, across many diverse industries.
We have the expertise and knowledge to ensure that information is transferred to and from the organisation, with a focus on security and compliance of all data. All MyMobility solutions synchronise primarily with our secure data centre (which is available 24/7/365 from anywhere in the world) or directly with the organisation’s network. This means that mobile workers should never out of touch, even when their organisations’ own systems are offline or unavailable for whatever reason.
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The mobile solution might not fit the way we do business. Our company uses many different systems so how will a mobile solution accommodate our various processes across the company?
MyMobility solutions are built on sound Business Process Management methodologies and systems. This gives us the responsiveness to rapidly deploy a phased mobile solution to mobile workers; with the added flexibility to adapt or extend the solution to fit a particular business process or organisational requirement as the requirements evolve.
A MyMobility solution will always be tailored around the customer. We don’t expect companies to change the way they do business, just for technologies sake or to fit a shrink-wrapped system!
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What if our processes change in the future – “By the way we are a very dynamic, flexible organisation”
Our design methodology used for our Mobile Solutions has a strong Business Process framework. As such we are able to map out the detailed processes for any organisation and then define which processes need to be mobilised and in what order. This design methodology offers complete flexibility and continuous improvement, so the Mobile Solution may easily evolve us the Business Processes evolve. There is no need for concern!
Furthermore, MyMobility provides remote updates of the mobile devices via a Wireless Management Console, so a business is able to start with something simple such as mobile PIM access (access to email, calendar and contacts from the office servers), then progress to process driven applications, all supported through the same robust Mobile Solutions framework residing on the mobile device.
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We just want our people to access mobile email, calendar and contacts. We don’t think we are ready for other mobile solutions.
No problem. This solution is often called PIM or Personal Information Manager synchronisation.
This is a ‘starter’ solution offered by MyMobility and it enables companies to see immediate benefits by giving mobile devices to away-from-desk business people in order to better plan and manage their daily schedule and communication.
Many companies who have implemented live access to Office based applications (such as email, contacts & calendar) are surprised at the level of efficiency improvements gained by this simple ‘first step’. Such companies are finding immediate improvements from: reduced reliance on cellular calls, fewer wasted hours spent in traffic (due to incorrect meeting times or lack of customer address and contact information), better customer services because the business person can monitor emails when on the road, and give the customer quick feedback on an urgent issue, before it becomes a crisis issue.
This is a solution where Blackberry has been particularly successful across the world. Let us provide you with honest and up to date advice as to which Mobile Solution would be best for your organisation.
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Surely the information available on a mobile device is severely limited, by the speed and memory capacity of the mobile device?
In the past few years, there have been massive leaps forward in terms of mobile devices, their computing capabilities and their overall ability to support demanding business solutions for mobile workers.
The mobile devices we carry in our pockets are now quite capable of offering the mobile worker all that is required to work more effectively between customer visits and on the road.
However, one should not expect to draft an entire business proposal on a mobile device, with attached brochures & complex spreadsheets and tables. This is quite possible although practically it is still the domain of the desktop PC (or notebook or tablet), due primarily to the larger keyboard and screen size on ones desk, allowing the user to type faster and to view the document in a large format.
In this regard MyMobility has vast experience in consulting on business’ mobile needs, and in finding the best blend of technology for the customers’ specific needs and expectations.
In terms of storage capacity, one only has to think of the mobile music devices used today to store thousands of songs and video files. The storage space required on a mobile device is usually far less demanding, with the most critical business information amounting to text data, tiny encrypted databases and perhaps some supporting documentation (eg. PDF files), all of which is relatively small in volume.
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We have extreme environments where a mobile device may not be suitable. Our field personnel need to scan barcodes and sometimes read RFID tags or even fingerprints to verify equipment serial numbers, or personnel.
There are specific mobile devices suitable for use in extreme environments and MyMobility has done extensive work in this area, assisting customers in choosing the right device.
Various durable and ultra-rugged mobile devices are available, built to withstand drops to concrete (eg. up to 2m drop specification as required) and also incorporating barcode scanning, cameras and other specialist technologies such as fingerprint reading. MyMobility consults with organisations in diverse industries in order to assist with the right choice of Mobile Device based on their specific needs and operating environment.
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We find the mobile phones we give to our staff are often lost, damaged or stolen. Isn’t it even more expensive for us to replace mobile devices?
MyMobility is often asked this question and there are several ways of addressing this issue:
- Most cell phone operators have increased the warranty period on mobile devices to two years, which means that customers receive backup and support for the full period of their cellular contract. This covers the user against most device faults, even on PDA and smartphone devices, but the user would have to consult their service provider directly.
- MyMobility also offers comprehensive Maintenance and Support Agreements on mobile devices (that we have supplied bundled with our Solutions), through the manufacturer, to ensure that the devices are properly maintained and repaired when disaster does strike, and to ensure that the device is returned to the field as soon as possible (this is often within three business days!). The SLA works in conjunction with the device warranty, to improve turnaround time on any faults, and may even include coverage for accessories such as batteries if the customer requires this.
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For coverage against accidental damage (eg. the device is driven over by a forklift and crushed), loss or theft of the device, the organisation would need to take out an insurance policy on the mobile device(s) and this becomes affordable when bundled with a rental agreement.
Once an organisation switches to MyMobility solutions, users quickly embrace the advantages of true ‘enterprise mobility’; thrilled at of having access to information anywhere, anytime. However, what good is a mobile solution if you’re without the mobile device on which it runs because the device is in for maintenance or repair?
- For this reason, MyMobility consults with organisations and often recommends that the customer keep spare devices (typically between 5-10% coverage is suitable or one spare device for every ten-twenty devices in the field). These would be used as swop-out devices if a users’ device is booked in for maintenance, repair, upgrade or whatever reason. We help to ensure that the business user is never left stranded with a pile of paper files, resorting to tedious manual methods, unable to get the job done because the technology solution is unavailable.