Foil Competition
How do you cook an egg with only solar power? help me with my project!? Solar Egg Cooker Competition Your Mission: To cook a single egg using only a solar power device of your own design, manufact...
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How do you cook an egg with only solar power? help me with my project!? Solar Egg Cooker Competition Your Mission: To cook a single egg using only a solar power device of your own design, manufactured using only recycled materials. The Rules: would aluminum foil work? hey you can use a old metal box as metal heats up really fast |
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Reaping the Rewards of a Mobilized Enterprise
Ping Bo (not his real name) works as an insurance agent at one of the largest insurers in China. On any given day, he meets two existing clients and up to three prospects. He carries with him a personal digital assistant (PDA) with wireless connectivity and a few paper brochures. He spends a considerable amount of his time listening to his clients and presenting investment options. He ends his day by sending a quick report to his supervisor on the day's progress. He visits the office three times a week mostly to attend product trainings and sales strategy meetings. His life today is very different from just over two years ago when he joined the company.
Back then, he would come to the office early to check messages and talk with colleagues on the latest news. He would go out to meet clients and prospects carrying a hefty bag filled with brochures and colored presentation foils. Often after meeting a client, he would call the office for additional information and perhaps pick up some new sales materials or reports that his client asked for. He would close his day by returning to the office and spend an extra two hours filling in a report, put together the materials he promised to deliver to clients the next day, and prepare for new client meetings the next day.
His supervisor, Jin Po (not his real name) praises Ping for his hard work. Ping is one of ten agents that Jin manages. His productivity has improved dramatically from his early days at the firm. What made the difference? Ping is one 250,000 sales agents equipped with a custom PDA. New sales are entered into the PDA and uploaded immediately to the firm's sales management system.
Today, the company reports agents are serving customers better and closing sales faster. Agents equipped with the mobile technology sell 2.2 times more insurance than average, and their per-policy premium is four times higher than average.
Wireless technologies have matured to the point where practical solutions have been field tested. Companies from industries as diverse as manufacturing, healthcare, retail, education, logistics and government are benefiting from the wireless technologies. The benefit of a mobile workforce has expanded beyond the confines of a campus or office corridors to reach virtually any place where a wireless signal permeates the airwaves.
Companies with mobilized workforce are reporting greater overall business productivity, improved customer service and satisfaction, better use of existing infrastructure and increased revenue. Wireless solutions are being deployed to make organizations better, faster, easier to do business with, and generally more efficient.
A survey by the Aberdeen Group shows that field service staff equipped with mobile productivity tools are achieving more than 85 percent customer retention and resolving 90 percent of problems on the first call. The survey compared the gains made using conventional computing technologies such as email and spreadsheets.
Source: Field Service Optimization Benchmark Report, Aberdeen Group, June 2004
According to Larry Crooker, owner of Lenon Implement Company, a thriving John Deere dealership located in the heart of Oregon's grass-seed growing country, "We have a clear competitive advantage because of wireless mobility and the capabilities John Deere's information technologies provide us. Our whole operation is more professional and efficient. We get the job done faster for the customer, and show them we value their time. We've increased sales and expanded our service operations without adding personnel. We can service 400 work orders with the same size workforce that five years ago could only handle 100 or 150 work orders. And we've seen numerous situations where we've won sales because we have better, faster information than the competition."
"As broadband wireless networking becomes increasingly pervasive and secure, more businesses will see the cost and productivity benefits of deploying enterprise-wide mobility solutions that empower employees with real-time information access at the point of activity, where they have an immediate impact on sales, customer satisfaction, inventory management and vendor and partner collaboration. In Asia, Symbol customers such as Asiana Airlines, Coca Cola, DHL and Hong Kong Airport have benefited from Symbol's enterprise mobility solutions, which have led to greater productivity gains and reductions in information error," says Mike Muller, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Symbol Technologies.
CALL TO ACTION
Introducing a wireless solution into the existing infrastructure may not necessarily require a redesign of existing applications. Tim Sheedy, Research Director, Software and Services for IDC, notes that "We now have standard business applications that come out of the box with wireless connectivity capabilities, including pre-designed interfaces for PDAs and mobile phones, security capabilities for wireless networks, and follow-me capabilities for the mobile employee."
IDC suggests organizations considering the move towards wireless-enabled solutions take the following actions:
Conduct a mobility audit. Identify business processes that would benefit being unwired.
Weigh costs and benefits. Conduct a ROI analysis to determine the feasibility of the project. This should be conducted at regular intervals to monitor the value a mobile solution brings to the business.
Evaluate options and standardize. There are many solutions out there. By standardizing on one set of standards you are minimize interoperability issues, achieve economies of scale (with your suppliers) and minimize costs.
Assess security ramifications. Identify which systems will be accessed wirelessly and determine the enhancements needed to be introduced to maintain security.
Educate users and manage change. User trainings will need to be introduced not only on the benefits of the added mobility but on the security issues that needed to be undertaken by those gaining from the mobility.
About the Author
Jose Allan Tan is a technologist-market observer based in Asia. A former marketing director for a storage vendor, he is today director of web strategy and content director for Questex Asia Ltd. He also served as senior industry analyst for Dataquest/Gartner and was at one time an account director for a regional PR agency.