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GLOBAL SUCCESS CALLED MOBILE E-MAIL
IDC projects that by 2009 there will be more than 878 mn mobile workers worldwide demonstrating that mobility is going mainstream. This estimate comes from Worldwide Mobile Worker Population, 2005-2009 (Forecast and Analysis, IDC, October 2005). Mobile workers represent a significant portion of a company's overall staff, and these workers who are often responsible for making critical decisions or providing specific expertise
With e-mail being the main way by which teams collaborate with each other in the enterprise. And with those teams often being geographically dispersed beyond the corporate network, it is no longer sensible or acceptable for mobile data capabilities and remote access rights to be the preserve of executives and niche workers. Mobile e-mail will benefit all employees.
Mobile e-mail increases productivity during what otherwise might be idle time: waiting for a meeting, or during travel. Using mobile e-mail, users can keep in touch with their clients, partners and colleagues, receive important information from the office, and respond more rapidly when action is required
Today, 60% of all work is carried out via e-mail-making it the predominant mobile business application (Source: Gartner)
Nearly 80% of large corporations consider e-mail a driver for deploying wireless wide-area data solutions (Source: Yankee Group)
This indicates that mobile e-mail devices should have full attachment support: read, edit and create MS Office attachments; also support for Acrobat reader, ZIP, MP3, JPEG and video clips; support for several third party e-mail solutions and support for several e-mail standards: POP3, IMAP 4 with idle, OMA Data Sync 1.2., MS ActiveSync.
APPLICATIONS DRIVING ENTERPRISE MOBILITY
The mobilization of applications is currently in many companies' plans and strategy for competitive advantage. This goes beyond simply providing secure remote-access or offering web-access to corporate intranets/applications. Applications such as multi-party (up to six way) conference calling, integrated hands free and conference call, dedicated voice key, internet call (VoIP over WLAN), push-to-talk over cellular, other SIP-based rich call services, enhanced voice commands, speed and voice dialing and car kits will bring a rich calling experience in reach of every mobile professional.
Technology convergence impacting these two business mobility trends is fixed-mobile convergence and voice-data convergence. Businesses are looking to increase their competitive edge through improved cost efficiencies by leveraging their existing IT investments. There is also a growing trend of integration of business devices with voice, messaging, email, intranet and Internet access to allow maximizing productivity while on the move.
Application mobility brings support for popular business applications to the devices to increase employees' interactions with colleagues, partners, and customers and provide them access to key company information.
58% of large corporations consider Personal Information Management (PIM) to be a key driver for wireless wide-area solutions (Source: Yankee Group)
As companies mobilize key business processes, they will expect mobile devices to evolve in step-providing a reliable delivery platform for business applications. (Examples include SFA, CRM and ERP)
MAJOR DRIVERS OF ENTERPRISE MOBILITY
The major drivers of enterprise mobility are reducing the number of devices per employee (easier management); increase accessibility and productivity of employees; avoid missed revenue opportunities; improve customer services; and improve work/life balance among employees. The key industries adopting enterprise mobility will be banking financial services and insurance segments, BPO's and software houses followed by manufacturing and the large PSU's and the government sector.
With more and more international players entering India, there is an increase in user expectations and changing business models are demanding that Indian businesses now be agile, adaptable and right time.
Field service and the sales applications are obviously largest opportunity for mobility applications, as this is the segment with most of the staff in field. India is just beginning to adopt mobility solutions and this would be the first thing enterprises would want to go for. The field service opportunities exist in many industries eg home repair, IT/office automation, industrial equipment repair, courier services etc. Transportation and distribution could be another driver apart from field service and sales. Asset tracking as a functional area is gaining ground.
Other Drivers are:
Hardware pricing, multipurpose devices–one device for voice and data access at economical pricing will lead to mass adoption of services
Data Access Speeds-with edge on GSM the access speeds are much faster than traditional GPRS deployments-user access to applications is faster
Data Access Charges-Mobile Data Access charges are one of the lowest in India
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