| March 1, 2009 11:00 PM PST | |
Address the business drivers and the challenges that enterprises face when deploying mobile applications. Technology for its own sake cannot justify the implementation of mobilized applications. It is necessary to quantify business value in order to facilitate adoption. A successful mobilized solution begins with an analysis of existing processes to determine which can be automated and what the return would be on mobilizing this process. Understanding what technology is available, such as the ability to wirelessly connect remote users to a central database, also aids in the return on investment (ROI) analysis.
Identify security and management issues, and solve them in terms of ROI analysis. It is valuable to consider the need to define a solid ROI before moving too far forward with the deployment of a mobile solution, for example, a mobile asset-management system. This is necessary to ensure adequate buy-in from upper management, which of course directly impacts long-term funding. With mobile asset management, it’s fairly easy to define business drivers, such as the ability to increase efficiencies and accuracies. Just the concept of inputting information by scanning the item rather than writing down the information by hand has significant benefits because it speeds up the transaction and substantially reduces human error.
As part of determining the benefits, it’s important to perform time studies before and after implementing the system. Think about starting with a prototype or small pilot implementation in order to conduct trials for the time studies. This will help you validate expected ROI before spending a lot of money and rolling out the system to the entire company. This also helps in the understanding and mitigation of risks, and helps ensure that you don’t end up with a system that has an unacceptable ROI.
Mobile asset-management solutions bring about change to the organization; therefore, you need to fully prepare users. In fact, you may find it extremely worthwhile to include users in the deployment process early on, while you are defining requirements and performing initial testing. Be sure to include those who are negative about the system deployment in order to make them part of the team.
Effective security and management are extremely important for realizing a solution that has maximum ROI. Because mobile devices are relatively small, they can be easily misplaced or stolen. This not only involves replacement costs, but it also introduces a security risk.
To counter this risk, some companies practice device wiping, which deletes data and applications on the mobile device. The user can contact the system administrator when the device can’t be found, and the administrator can issue a device wiping function from the network. Since some devices may not be within range of the wireless network, you can also implement a device wiping function that initiates on the mobile device itself if someone mistakenly enters the wrong password when trying to activate the device.
Battery management is also of concern to most companies, especially with mobile devices that operate over wireless networks. The radio in a barcode scanner, for example, decreases battery life by approximately 50 percent, depending on the utilization of the application. Thus, companies should have a battery management strategy, such as installing battery-charging stations that are easily assessable to users and able to manage multiple batteries. The user should be able to efficiently swap batteries in their devices for operating over extended periods, which are only several hours for some devices.
The user device significantly impacts the usability of the application and the corresponding ROI. You need to think about the weight, keypad, and ruggedness of the device, and ensu re that it fits well within the user environment. User devices in warehouses, for example, will probably undergo more physical abuse than those used in a typical office setting.
When choosing user devices, make sure that you thoroughly consider the usage environment in addition to strictly the application functionality. Since the cost of the user device hardware is generally the most expensive element of an asset-management solution—and it’s what users touch—it’s important to get it right.
Mobile Asset Management: The Corporate View
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Ron Ogan
I had seen an article previously but could not find technical information on your website.
Best Regards,