Security solutions are targeted to a limited group of people in an occupation or situation where location brings increased security to the individual. Night watchmen and policemen are able to use location technology for higher security. This way, their current position is always known and, in the case of accidents or emergencies, additional help can be sent directly, without having to determine the location of the person first.

Construction workers seldom have an office where they keep records of their contacts, their addresses and phone numbers. Additionally, asset management is virtually nonexistant, because there are no tools for that. Therefore, companies with multiple construction sites suffer from inefficiency and underutilization of assets because of communication failures. Numerous construction sites have to have a wide selection of tools that are not necessarily needed all the time because sharing of them is inconvenient and time consuming. In addition, duplicated processes and extensive paperwork increase administrative costs.

Mobile solutions in everybody’s pocket can make the construction business more effective. Workers are able to access the corporate database to locate tools and utilities needed at the construction site. Using a mobile terminal, they plot the new location of all the assets they use and move. This way, all employees can access the location of the closest assets when they need them. As a result, redundant assets can be eliminated and use of the existing ones is optimized.

Construction workers are able to manage their personal contacts, calendar and messaging applications using a mobile terminal. Each evening, they log digital reports to the central system, describing activities and working hours. These reports are automatically processed and distributed to project management. This way, the management is able to identify and describe the progress of the project. Employees may have access to an online ordering system where they are able to place orders using a mobile device. This way, most routines of administration are taken care of by using a mobile terminal. The device is also a powerful communication tool because suppliers and management can always reach individual workers.

Remote control units can be used for various tasks:

·         Automated data reading and reporting from water-power stations, oilfields, electrical networks and other distant or inaccessible locations

·         Automatic defect control and reporting for high volume machinery such as copy and vending machines

·         Traffic control systems

·         Publicity panels

·         Weather stations

·         Location-based vehicle tracking

·         Automatic defect control and reporting for cars and trucks

Remote data terminals are best suited for locations where traditional phone systems cannot reach. Installing them exclusively for data transmittance purposes would be too costly. In addition, remote surveillance is ideal for machines that are geographically scattered in a large area and require regular service. For example, vending machines can be taken care of according to sold items. There is a remote control unit inside the machine and a sensor that sends a message to a central system when one of the items is sold out. This way, employees can fill the machines only when it is necessary.

Remote control is also used for security purposes. Mobile monitoring can be implemented in boats, trucks, cars and buildings where wired telephone lines do not exist. At the time of alarm, a remote control unit sends an instant message to the police, a security company or the mobile phone of the owner. Cost effective and easy to implement, remote security systems are likely to face an increasing demand.

Mobile devices can be used to optimize the flow of information and materials. An increased number of mobile workers and time sensitivity drives companies towards advanced mobile solutions. There are two types of SCM solutions: planning applications and execution applications. Mobile terminals are used with execution applications to provide information about the status of goods and payments. Because most processes are time critical, SCM software can be configured to inform the parties if something does not match expectations. For example, a purchasing agent can receive a message if materials needed for manufacturing are in danger of running out.

SCM applications with open data models are capable of sharing data both internally and externally. This way, the key suppliers, manufacturers and retailers share the same information which optimizes time-to-market of the products and reduce costs. Planning becomes easier as everybody in the supply chain knows the status of the others. Another trend is web-based procurement marketplaces where parties can trade materials and make auction bids with suppliers. Naturally, these solutions are highly time sensitive. Therefore, mobile terminals can be used to monitor and receive instant messages about the market situation and partners. Web-based procurement sites can offer services in which the user receives a message automatically when the price matches the offered materials. This way, the demand and supply meet without human intervention and only the final step of payment has to be taken care of by the company.

By using mobile travel management, an employee is able to access information about flight and train schedules, hotels and car rental services. After finding appropriate means for travelling, he can book the services using a mobile terminal. Within the same solution, he can also send the bookings to management for acceptance. The manager immediately receives the inquiry through a mobile network. In return, he can accept or refuse the reservations right there. This way, communication between the manager and employee becomes faster and decisions can be made within minutes. Therefore, mobile terminals enable travel management to be taken care of rapidly, conveniently and with less bureaucracy.

Another solution adapted for mobile terminals is personal training management. An employee is able to submit his personal skill profile and future development challenges to the corporate system. In return, the system can dynamically send push messages to a terminal of the employee if there is an appropriate course available. This way, the employee can concentrate on other duties while the system monitors all the information about training courses available. Watchdogs like this are suitable for mobile terminals because the owner is always close to the device and the limited form factory does not enable convenient “surfing”.

Using a mobile terminal, employees are also able to update their personal information in the corporate database. Updating bank account information, address and emergency contacts is a small task for the worker, but organizations with thousands of employees are able to save substantial amounts of money by offering a mobile channel for that. Some other small applications for mobile self service are simple administration duties such as travel expense reporting and short ordering forms for lunch vouchers and similar issues.

Mobility has been an important part of customer relationship management for a long time. Therefore, most CRM software providers, such as Siebel and Clarify, offer various deployment options for their products. Siebel, for example, has five deployment options ranging from PC to WAP-enabled mobile phones. This way, the field and office workers have an ideal set of tools regardless of their location or environment. Mobile data has become more important in recent years because the development of mobile networks enable new, innovative concepts. Therefore, more and more business is being conducted outside of traditional corporate walls. With mobile terminals, companies are transferring their business information to the locations where transactions actually occur. Marketing departments are able to identify and target the best customers and generate quality leads with information provided by the mobile salespeople. In addition, sales management is able to forecast the demand because information from the field is always accurate. Duplicated processes can be streamlined with mobile channels because information inserted at the client site doesn’t have to be typed into the system again. Therefore, operational and administrational costs are cut down.

Salespeople are some of the most highly leveraged workers in a corporation. Incremental revenue in sales makes a significant increase in the bottom-line revenue of the corporation. Manufacturing and numerous other processes are totally dependent on sales. Simplistically, profitability of a company is based on two main issues: extensive sales in the upper part of the value chain and cost savings focused on primary processes such as manufacturing and administration. Mobile devices should be used to realize both of these goals.

Maintaining customer satisfaction depends, partly, on shortened cycle time from order to delivery. Response and confirmation time is shortened when mobile terminals are used by customers and salespeople. A salesperson is able to close deals and make orders at the client site. On the other hand, the customer can receive order confirmations on his mobile device and respond to them immediately. As a result, order processing is streamlined and optimized for the various needs of client organizations.

With a mobile CRM extension, a salesperson is also able to perform the following tasks:

·         Access inventory availability and convey the information directly to the customer

·         Interact with customers, suppliers and management with a real-time connectivity

·         Provide on-site price quotes

·         Confirm appointments

·         Access personal information management tools such as contacts and calendar

·         Maintain personal sales records

Field service is another important part of mobile customer relationship management. While traditional voice-based dispatching works with some smaller companies, large corporations with a massive number of field engineers and mechanics are able to generate substantial cost savings by implementing mobile data solutions. A centralized call center is used to receive customer requests and insert them into a corporate database. The requests are automatically dispatched to field workers based on their skill profiles, location or pre-defined customers. The field worker receives the new request as soon as it is inserted into the system. Before heading to the customer, he updates the status of the request to assigned. This way, the system does not assign a new job to him while he takes care of this one. At the client site, he is able to browse information about customer history and other issues relevant to service delivery. Using a mobile terminal, he can also order spare parts and forecast the time needed to repair the machine. Before heading to the next place, the field engineer updates the status of the request and takes care of billing procedures. This way, the workflow of service delivery can be monitored all the time and information for billing is generated automatically. On the other hand, management knows the locations of the field workers all the time and they have a wealth of statistical information in the central system to plan for future improvements.

The advantages of mobile field services are:

·         Faster response times

·         Less resources needed at the call center

·         Improved dispatching process

·         Streamlined workflow

·         Increased efficiency of the field workers

·         More statistical information available for planning

·         Accurate and fast billing

·         Less paperwork – less duplicated processes

·         Improved communication

·         On-site technical support and trouble shooting databases

Enterprise Resource Planning software can be accessed using a mobile terminal. A company’s customers may have limited access to the system and they are able to order goods using a mobile channel. However, the workflow of such an action has to be simplified since mobile terminals are not very convenient for inserting a lot of text. Therefore, the use of drop-down menus and radio buttons is recommended. Customer interaction could also be enhanced by providing an array of value added services. An ERP solution could send a notification to the customer as soon as the product he ordered leaves the factory. This way, the customers know the status of their order all the time and they are able to plan their own deliveries in a more precise way.

A mobile ERP solution can also be used to provide information internally. With a such service, sales representatives are able to monitor the stock situation better and inform the customer whether they will receive the product immediately or if they would have to wait for delivery. Mobile workers can use ERP software to place orders and see the history and current situation of the client.

Another feature of an integrated ERP solution is a management reporting tool which provides time critical information about the key figures of the company. With a mobile management reporting tool, executives are able to monitor the processes of a company in real-time. Various watchdogs can be set and they are activated when certain figures increase or decrease to a certain level. The activated watchdog sends an instant message to the mobile terminal of the executive. This way, he is aware of the key figures regardless of his current location.

The only exception to the picture above are those pull services that spot the location of other people or vehicles. In these cases, the mobile network can monitor the location of all the parties on regular basis, or the service can be controlled by the users. In a user-controlled solution, instant messages are used to notify the parties and authorize the users.

Locate your friends and family

Location-based entertainment and community services require less collaboration between different providers. Therefore, some of them can be produced by mobile operators wanting to increase customer loyalty by offering exciting premium services. Basically, the service provider offers a framework for the service. The users actually create the content they desire. Therefore, the operating cost of the service is low while potential revenue expectations are high.

What kind of entertainment and community services are possible with location technology?

·         A group of people decide that they will “see” each others’ positions. Therefore, everyone needs to give permission to the other members of the group. Those having permission can request location of the other members and arrange meetings according to information provided by the service. For example, Jeff is able to see the location of all the members in his family. When they go shopping on Saturday, he can constantly keep up with the others and suggest meeting points based on the location of the others. Additionally, an alarm service is able to notify him when some of the other people belonging to the same location service and group are close by. Therefore, his mobile handset beeps when Joe Copper, his uncle, is within a radius of 200 meters. Using his mobile phone, Jeff can call him up and arrange a meeting point immediately.

·         A shooting party is heading for elk hunting. Everyone knows the position of the others based on the location service. After the elk has been shot, the location of the animal can be communicated to everyone. Also, some of the members could monitor the hunting situation with their laptop computers and communicate possible security risks.

·         Amy belongs to the Redwood Stamp Collectors Club. She has agreed to use a location-based community service with her friends. On Friday night, she enters the password-protected web site of the group and checks where everybody is hanging out. Using her personal computer, she is able to see a graphical map and the location of all the friends within the location service. After a quick look, it seems evident that most of the friends are hanging out at the local McDonalds. Amy sends a short message to the friends suggesting a visit to the stamp exhibition not far from there.

For entertainment and community service, the operator has to provide a secure connection between all the participants. In addition, a Web interface, together with integrated message capabilities, is useful. It is very likely that location-based entertainment and community services will be a killer revenue generator for mobile operators. In addition, they are a way to differentiate mobile operators from each other. Young people, especially, are likely to choose their mobile operator according to the services they are able to offer. If all of their friends are using the location-based community service of a particular mobile operator, it is highly unlikely that someone would choose another operator just for lower prices. The same applies to families and other closely related groups.

Mobile data solutions are targeted for:

·         Doctors, ambulances, visiting nurses

·         Physicians

·         Psychiatrists and psychologists

·         Police

·         Fire stations

Private hospitals can use portable terminals in order to increase the efficiency and service level of mobile workers. A hospital with several dispersed properties is able to maintain the resources and assets with a central information system. The system can be used with a handheld computer, accessible from an ambulance or anywhere else. When there is an emergency call for an ambulance, employees are able to locate free resources at multiple hospitals. Based on the information in the central system, ambulance workers know beforehand what hospitals have available doctors to offer appropriate treatment. Therefore, they can avoid time-consuming mistakes that cost the lives of the patients.

Visiting nurses are able to receive their next assignments using a mobile terminal. Before entering into the homes of the patients, they can also review medical records and get additional information about medicines and dosage instructions. The call center uses mobile data solutions to control multiple workers at the same time. Additionally, representatives are able to provide better customer service because they can monitor the status of workers in real-time and forecast the arrival times better. Another improved area is billing because all patient related costs are captured at the point of care. Therefore, the company knows exactly how much time has been spent with a certain patient.

Instant messaging and cell broadcast can also be used for communicating critical emergency situations to individuals or masses of employees. Cell broadcast is used to send the same message to all employees within a certain area. This way, policemen and firefighters can receive notifications in real-time and access resource databases for additional information.

In some countries, fines are imposed based on salaries. Therefore, policemen have to call to a call center every time they impose a fine on somebody. This ties up a lot of resources and increases operational expenses. Using a mobile data solution, policemen are able to access the databases for information about the salaries. This way, the process of fining can be streamlined and hastened.

Location-based services are able to provide security and efficiency to a mobile workforce. With a location-based solutions, the call center is able to assign new jobs depending on the location of vehicles. For police, this means faster response times and the ability to control ongoing situations in real-time. Because the call center knows the location of each police car at all times, even when there is a chase going on, it is able to manage critical situations better. Security is also enhanced in unexpected situations.

Companies use technical analysis in order to monitor the usage of the applications. Similar to mobile commerce, technical analysis is not very complicated. The challenge is to put the information into a format where trends and differences in application usage can be identified. The log files of Web servers are generally used to analyze the usage of e-commerce applications. The same files are generated when mobile applications are used because the information goes though a Web server. Therefore, information about access times, concurrent users and transferred data can be processed and printed out for review.