Enterprise apps go mobile

Mobile EWA: redefining how Indian companies do business

Offering access to vital enterprise wide applications through mobile devices is the latest productivity enhancement that India Inc has adopted. Tanu Talwar profiles the emerging mobile EWA scene in the country.

With India Inc’s growth trajectory heading into the stratosphere, Indian companies have realised the potential and benefits of running an anywhere, anytime business. Mobile access to enterprise wide applications (EWA) has helped transform corporate work-culture by providing valuable information to company personnel literally at the click of a button—this button’s on a mobile device though, not on a PC. Traditionally it was large enterprises that displayed an inclination towards such applications. But now the times are such that enterprises, irrespective of their size, are going in for adopting new age applications and deploying the same on their employees’ handsets so that they can manage and mobilise critical information and deliver it to the point of action in real-time.

The growing popularity of these applications is on account of a one-two punch of dropping handset prices and declining connectivity charges. Then again, application vendors, service providers and enterprises have established a well-formed network whereby service providers work in-sync with organisations in uploading applications that have been developed and provided by the said vendors.

"The need for enterprise mobility arises from the need to enhance productivity in the workplace" - Arun Ramachandran Head, Pre-Sales & Professional Services Sybase

Although the deployment of enterprise applications on handhelds is still at a nascent stage, the idea is picking up with CIOs understanding and acknowledging the requirements of mobile EWA. Says Sybase’s Head of Pre-sales and Professional Services, Arun Ramachandran, “The need for enterprise mobility arises from the necessity to enhance productivity and efficiency in the workplace.” Organisations are looking for reliable and secure solutions that help them increase their productivity by reducing turnaround time and operational costs. He adds, “Mobility provides competitive opportunities for businesses. While consumers and some industries are putting mobile technologies to extensive use, the world of business as a whole has yet to fully realise the advantage of mobility.”

For many companies, the ability to provide mobile and remote access to enterprise applications, e-mail and Web content has become a strategic business imperative. Keeping these needs in mind vendors are coming up with advanced applications to help enterprises integrate their businesses with a combination of EWA and mobile technologies, thereby ensuring a smoother workflow. Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 offers integration with SAP, and also offers features such as push mail, and support for Microsoft Office documents and a wide range of business applications such as Sales Force Automation (SFA) and mobile Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Sumeet Gugnani, Business Group Lead, Mobility and Embedded Devices, Microsoft India says, “Mobile e-mail will continue to be the most widespread application followed closely by SFA, dealer management and CRM. In the case of Windows Mobile 5.0, e-mail and other information is pushed and synchronised directly between a Microsoft Exchange 2003 server and the user’s handset. The messaging solution provides a unified device and server platform that eliminates the need for enterprises to pay for additional middleware servers—hardware and software.” Even in cases where an enterprise does not have an Exchange Server 2003, Windows Mobile 5.0 can be adopted by the mobile workforce as long as the enterprise has licensed Microsoft Small Business Server or is operating on a hosted sever solution that is running on Exchange 2003. To provide the same applications to end-users, Microsoft has teamed up with Airtel to port these enterprise applications onto HP and i-mate handsets—PDAs and smartphones.

Entering the mainstream

Though the mobile-based EWAs have existed for many years, it was only in 2005 that the concept began gaining some ground with the deployment of these applications in certain key ventures—and it is only this year that a large number of projects have gone mainstream across industry verticals. BFSI, FMCG and the traditional distribution and manufacturing companies were the early adopters of this technology. In the BFSI sector, the application that dominates is CRM that encompasses the SFA aspect. At FMCG, pharmaceutical and the conventional manufacturing and distribution companies, it’s a combination of SFA, CRM and supply chain management (SCM) applications that have proved popular. Prasad Babu, Director for Systems Engineering, Juniper Networks says, “The adoption is growing fastest in the BFSI sector. The key reason for the growing demand of these applications in this vertical is the remote and mobile nature of business and the work force. The market requirement of the business is such that a large number of the employees are field agents who are continuously on the move. The workforce at financial institutions and insurance companies needs constant updates pertaining to company data and client information, and need to file reports and answer customer queries on the move.”

FMCG and distribution follow close on BFSI’s heels. Chakrapani G K, Country General Manager, Nokia Enterprise Solutions (India) says, “FMCG and distribution companies deploy mobile applications to integrate their various branches and field personnel. The applications largely help in providing customers with field service such as notifications and approvals. Then again, they facilitate inventory, asset and expense management.” Among other verticals, the service industry like the IT services sector is a budding market for the adoption of these applications. Chakrapani adds, “As these applications mature they can be used without hassles. Features such as secure Internet browsing, wireless corporate e-mail, voice mail and video conferencing, calendaring and contact synchronisation cover every aspect of an enterprise user’s needs.”

Mobile applications at India Inc

"In a pharmaceutical company, the daily stock inventory report is the most vital piece of information" - Altaf Halde Country Manager Pointsec Mobile Technology

Organisations are offering handheld devices to their employees with the objective of providing connectivity on the move, instant remote access to information, and getting sales staff to upload daily reports from the field. Altaf Halde, Country Manager, Pointsec Mobile Technology cites an example: “In a pharmaceutical company the daily stock inventory report is the most vital piece of information. When a pharmaceutical executive goes for his daily round of calls, he needs information regarding the current stock status. This is provided instantly via an SHD, which connects to his office network and gives him the required information within minutes.”

Although enterprises are adopting a wide range of mobile applications, the only EWA that has truly gone mobile is SFA. Almost all enterprises employ a large number of field and sales representatives. The function of these personnel is to reach out to a wide range of customers. Babu says, “The SFA application allows representatives to increase customer contact time rather than wasting time on paperwork.” Besides SFA, the adoption of other applications such as CRM, ERP and SCM is picking up. Ajay Vaishnavi, VP and Head, Business Operations, Cellnext says, “Of late industry adoption of mobile value-added enterprise applications has gone up in verticals such as services, airlines and consumer durables.” CRM applications that by and large are a component of SFA have gained ground within the retail, pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries. Another application that is picking up is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which is proving handy for enterprises that have deep supply chains and where suppliers need to streamline the physical aspects of shipping and receipt between a supplier, buyer and end-customers. The application greatly improves visibility and helps reduce shrinkage and theft. Deploying RFID is not for the faint of heart, however, and it is best accessed within a Wi-Fi network. But Wi-Fi is still restricted to hot spots and some areas within a company’s premises or campus, unlike GSM and CDMA that have a much wider reach.

The primary reason for the popularity of SFA and CRM mobile applications is growing recognition among corporates that it is their mobile and remote workers such as the sales and field service representatives, onsite consultants and managers, branch and retail personnel, who have a direct link with customers and market conditions. They are the ones on the frontline. Ramachandran says, “The frontline workforce is the lifeline of any business. They present a tremendous opportunity for businesses to increase productivity and reduce cost by revamping slow, error-prone paper-based processes around emerging mobile and remote technologies.” As shrinking margins make quality customer service elusive, companies can differentiate themselves from the pack by empowering frontline staff so that they can, in turn, provide well-informed and responsive service to customers as well as top management. In order to enable frontline employees to capture critical business information in real-time and route it to decision-makers, they need to be armed with mobile EWAs that will help them access valuable yet selective corporate data as well as give them the capability of filing reports and answering inquires while out on the field.

A competitive weapon

An enterprise looks to mobility to gain a leg-up on its competitors and it unwires for three basic reasons.

The first is to push e-mail onto mobile devices; this is relatively easy to implement and the security safeguards are understood and in place.

Next comes the deployment of mobile business applications; this is a step up in terms of sophistication, therefore it usually begins with either a single critical application or a suite of not-so-critical ones. These deployments put vital applications into the hands of workers in the field with the goal to intersect the decision point with the place where data is collected as well as used.

Lastly, mobility can be used to bring about a change in the overall business model. Unwiring mandates re-thinking core business processes as wireless data is now accessible at the point of customer interaction, which thereby completely transforms an enterprise’s work patterns and processes.

To address these requirements, Sybase evolved its iAnywhere suite. The application incorporates various features such as mobile e-mail, device management, enterprise-to-edge security and enabling back office applications. Ramachandran states, “Information Anywhere provides a powerful out-of-the-box solution for mobile delivery of e-mail and PIM (calendar, contacts, tasks) data to mobile workers anytime, anywhere, regardless of the device, connection method or groupware application. Unlike other mobile e-mail solutions that may be limited to a single e-mail application or device, the suite provides access to Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino and Novell GroupWise.” Further, the application leverages OneBridge technology and eliminates device compromises, offering connection to essentially any back-end data source by GPRS, CDMA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cable or cradle to virtually any intelligent device including Windows Mobile Smartphone, PDA, Palm, tablet or laptop.

Ramachandran cites the case of 13 Hyundai department stores in Seoul, South Korea. Prior to adopting the iAnywhere suite, sales representatives at these stores relied heavily on a one-way flow of product and data information. After switching over to point of sales (POS) wireless devices with an embedded iAnywhere adaptive server, the sales personnel were able to walk customers through purchases, up-selling and cross-selling. The mobile data management solution adopted extends the reach of corporate data, promotions, product information and other required applications to wherever business transactions occur. Customers can complete transactions within 10 seconds with the counter time reduced by 1-2 minutes. The end-result was higher net sales, with Hyundai registering a 40 percent reduction in total POS hardware costs compared to the expensive stationary POS systems, and a 30 percent reduction in administrative costs.

SMS fever’s all around

By and large, SMS continues to be the lingua franca of mobile EWA in India. Vaishnavi states, “Almost all current EWAs are based on SMS. The easy and fast nature of this technology makes it extremely popular among enterprises that have a large sales and field workforce. Further, as even the simplest handset supports this feature, the service has become a part of every mobile user’s life.” The technology is chiefly adopted for group messaging and sending alerts.

Vish Bajaj, CEO, ValueFirst Messaging explains, “We are a mobile virtual network operator for data services. Our core business is carried out using SMS. It is through this technology that we enable our customers to communicate with their IT departments. The technology plays an important role in advertising campaigns, events and alerts.” Using SMS for EWA is becoming increasingly popular, as it’s the fastest means of sending information back and forth due to strong network coverage and handset support.

That said, although SMS is the most popular technology for mobile EWA today, it has limitations. Chakrapani feels, “Using SMS for EWA is useful as long as the data to be transferred is short. Long inquiries, reports and data cannot be sent via SMS. It is for this reason that enterprises need to shift to e-mail. However, the usage of this technology is still at a nascent stage due to weak network converge. Although voice is the principal function when it comes to handheld usage, organisations need converged devices that can not only carry out primary functions such as instant messaging but can also be used simultaneously for data browsing and other personal applications like calendar and contact synchronisation.”

A variety of handset options are available in the market, the latest being smartphones. Babu states, “Organisations are looking at devices that provide a variety of applications and contain the fundamental elements like a large screen, built-in keyboard, high resolution screen, USB memory stick, and a high download and memory capacity to store permanent and temporary information.” However, the type of handset largely depends on the requirement of the organisation and the personnel using them.

The two road-blocks that come in the way of integrating enterprise applications with mobile devices are bandwidth and memory constraints.

Base Information, National Head, Enterprise Solutions, Manoj Karnik reveals, “Mobile Internet bandwidth is still a constraint, more so in the GSM space. Another limitation is the memory available on hand-helds, which limits the extent to which data can be stored locally.” The answer is to develop a framework that leverages a mobile device's resources, and that enables fixed and volatile memory.

Karnik adds, “To facilitate the same we have developed a platform that optimises the usage of resources, and does dynamic On The Air deployments. This enables the device to intelligently run large applications with limited resources. Further, the platform works on the ‘Request Response’ model rather than the typical ‘online’ connectivity model wherein you are required to be continuously online.”