Feature:

Move IT

4 May 2007

When, in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted the patent for the telephone, little could he have imagined the revolutionary effect long-distance communication would have had on our lives only 130 years later.

And when he spoke the first ever remotely-communicated words: "Mr Watson, come here. I want you", it would have seemed inconceivable that today we would be conducting entire conversations, entire relationships, entire businesses processes, without ever coming face to face.

Mobile communications and storage devices - mobile phones, PDAs and MP3 players - are ubiquitous consumer favourites. You would be hard pressed to find somebody on the street - of any generation - who doesn't own some sort of mobile gadget. Businesses, too, are rapidly waking up to the benefits of mobile communications and, by extension, mobile computing. And yet there is a certain timidity in the widespread adoption of mobile working practices that does not seem consistent with its potential and versatility.

Businesses are increasingly becoming aware of the advantages to be gained in encouraging employees to work outside a single physical location. It is now possible to be 'at work' while a hundred miles away, or even on the other side of the world.

Recent advances in mobile software include instant messaging systems and mobile versions of corporate applications like customer relationship management (CRM) software, as well as more general advances in areas like data security and recovery, which protect against increased risks of data loss when mobile devices are widely used. Mobile hardware continues to develop according to Moore's law, with mobile PCs and other devices becoming ever more sophisticated - lighter, cheaper, faster and more versatile.

Seventy-five per cent of businesses support wirelessly connected mobile PCs, and research analyst Gartner names mobile workforce enablement as a top three technology priority for CIOs. The Business Performance Management Forum says that 71 per cent of businesses report a rise in their number of remote workers.

However, a fair proportion of this increase may be unofficial, with employees using remote computing devices on their own initiative, without the initiation or even the approval of their IT department. This can be as simple as employees accessing e-mail remotely from PDAs or mobile phones, or using flashdrives or wireless access to get a head start on their work while commuting.

IT departments may even be reluctant to propose a formal mobile computing initiative, and for a variety of reasons - the first being that they believe employees are already using mobile communications effectively.

However, while wireless access and consumer mobile communications devices are tools that can be used to great effect, there is no doubt that there are more benefits to be gained from a coherent mobility plan including the implementation of connected enterprise applications, of which there are many and varied, and more coming to market every day.

Mobility at its most successful is an integral part of the organisation's IT system, with devices connected to the back-end. Further, this kind of approach can help to streamline existing processes, leading to reduced man-hours and cost savings. The entire infrastructure gains, which makes a nonsense of another commonly given reason for delay - the need to update or consolidate the system before implementing new initiatives. Companies can invest in flexible, scalable solutions that can be adapted to changing business needs. Businesses must realise that mobile solutions can be used to gain competitive advantage, and as such should be urgently addressed as an IT priority.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle, however, to an integrated mobility policy for many companies is concern over data security. What about lost laptops, intercepted e-mails, even corporate espionage?

With the right policies, software solutions and encryption strategies in place, this need not be an insurmountable concern. For example, companies using Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 devices can use the Windows Messaging and Security Feature Pack to help IT staff mitigate these risks.

Microsoft is one of the companies making great strides forward in addressing mobile computing concerns. Enable Your Mobile Workforce is a mobility solution that includes infrastructure software such as Microsoft Exchange Server, team collaboration tools such as Microsoft Live Office Communications Server, and business process software such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Mobile, as well as mobile PCs and handheld devices.

"Windows Mobile supports device choice, providing customers with a range of device options - from 48 device makers and 125 mobile operators in 55 countries - but with only one software platform for an IT department to manage," says Jason Langridge, UK and EMEA mobility business manager with Microsoft's mobile and embedded devices division.

More and more advanced security solutions, which encompass mobile computing, are coming onto the market. For example, ScriptLogic's recently released Security Explorer 6.0 includes centralised management of file security on workstations as well as servers, more extensive security controls, interactive enhancements for increased productivity and Windows Vista support. In addition to centralising management of security controls and settings, IT professionals can now use Security Explorer to manage services and tasks on multiple servers and desktops, thereby reducing administration costs.

Dave Burton, director of product marketing at Check Point, indicates that new vulnerabilities are appearing: "Organisations are adopting media-rich applications such as VoIP, video and software-as-a-service over the internet at an increasing rate for efficiency and cost-savings, but these programs open new avenues for denial-of-service attacks on a network." Check Point's own products are specifically designed to improve security and management capabiliites to match these threats. It is clear, therefore that mobile computing is easy to implement, offers a host of peripheral benefits and can, with a little thought, be made secure. But managers may worry that, unsupervised, staff productivity may drop. Ironically, absence from the office can improve the productivity of business professionals of all kinds, not only those who traditionally work in the field. As well as reducing time lost to travel, mobile computing can decrease business process times, allow greater collaboration both within and between teams, reduce response times to key customers and suppliers, and reduce or replace paper-based processes.

This last consideration is part of a greater whole. With businesses under increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, fewer paper-based processes is only one environmental advantage to a mobile computing policy. The terms 'telecommuting' and 'telework' were coined by Jack Nilles as early as 1973, but it is still an underused opportunity. As well as the obvious benefits to the environment, anecdotal evidence suggests that employees who telecommute for part of the working week suffer from less stress and are more productive than their in-office counterparts. Business executives, whose work often puts them on the road, are sometimes pioneers for for this kind of working (see panel on True mobility for executives).

The final issue, of course, is choosing the mobile environment that is best for your particular business needs.

You may only need occasional remote e-mail access for key staff, or you may have a large contingent of employees who regularly work in the field, in which case you may benefit from mobilising key business applications.

Scalability and consistency are key here. Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza says, "When an IT manager chooses a device for different needs among the workforce, the platform needs to have consistent software across all devices and have application portability."

Where specific applications are not yet commercially available, Microsoft's development environment Visual Studio .NET includes mobile development capability, so developers can convert PC applications to mobile. In other words, there is no business critical process, no matter how obscure, that cannot theoretically benefit from a mobile computing strategy.

For developers who want to quickly design and operate SMS and MMS services, there are applications platforms such as Derdack's message master xsp. Derdack's own message master Enterprise Alert 2007 is a good example of an enterprise-critical solution for workers away from the office. It combines mobile messaging like two-way SMS, MMS, e-mail, automated voice calls and instant messaging for rapid alerting and notification of service staff and field force, and IT administrators. Derdack claims the greatest advantage is the complete automation of these alerting processes. Enterprise Alert automatically evaluates incoming data and events, finds the responsible persons and the proper, most effective communication channel, notifies via SMS, MMS, email, voice or instant messaging, processes replies and undertakes necessary, subsequent actions, for example alerting additional field force or higher management or updating the initiating systems. It not only supports alerting of single persons but also of groups and escalation chains.

Proactivity is key to a successful mobile computing policy - Alexander Graham Bell told us that "before anything else, preparation is the key to success" - but once implemented the benefits, in efficiency, in security, in cost, and in employee morale, are too important to ignore.