Mobilising Your Workforce: Nine Key Questions
(Toebreaker March 2006)

Mobilising your Workforce can have significant benefits for most enterprises, hence needs to be considered very carefully. Many believe that device selection is the highest priority, however it is contended that you need to start by understanding the requirements of your workforce and your enterprises long-term mobile goals

When Mobilising your workforce, device selection should actually rank lower on the list of priorities than you might think. It is tempting to start with the device, because ultimately the success of your mobilization project could hinge on how well you match your employees with the right equipment. However before you begin evaluating the latest PDAs, tablets and smartphones, you first need to understand the varying requirements of your different employee groups as well as your long term enterprise mobility goals.

Here are nine key questions that should be considered before you begin the device selection process for your enterprise.

1.	Who are your user groups?
The needs of Mobile workers can vary dramatically from one enterprise or division to another, so breaking your enterprises mobile workforce into logical groups is a sound first step. This will allow device selections to be tailored based on the needs of each group whilst balancing IT infrastructure and financial considerations. Examples of different user groups include: field support or field service; field sales staff; transportation and logistics; warehouse (both central and decentralized); executive management; and office or campus based mobile users (such as mobile case workers, healthcare workers, security and rapid response personnel). Once logical groupings are established, the needs of each group can be more easily profiled. The group's environment and how a mobile solution can improve the productivity of the group, or help solve the group's problems then becomes the focal point.
2.	What geographic areas do your user groups cover?
While the word "mobility" often suggests a wide range of locations, mobile workers tend not to roam across vast areas. Typically, the majority of mobile activity is conducted in a well-defined region-within a one-hour drive from the office, or in a specific city or multi-state region. Geographic factors affect the connectivity method. Systems such as cellular provide wide-area coverage, but data coverage is not always available outside major urban markets. For remote coverage needs, satellite systems may be needed. And if mobile users have access to fixed-line connections wherever they go, traditional landline connectivity via a modem may be a practical connectivity method, given that these connections generally support higher data rates than, for instance, cellular data rates. For users who simply need to be mobile within the office or campus area-to improve the tracking of inventory, for example-Wi-Fi connections are a popular choice. These connections are also becoming increasingly available to individuals traveling in many urban locations around the country, from coffee shops to airports.
3.	In what type of environments will the wireless devices be used?
The local environment in which the worker uses the mobile tools can vary greatly. Harsh environments that range from manufacturing sites to construction or field sites will probably require ruggedized or hardened devices. Enclosed or underground locations, where no data connection is possible, may need to store data offline, which increases the device's required storage capacity. Walking or driving affects both the connectivity and the form factor of the device. Heavy usage and complex applications require a lot of processing power and battery life, so available electrical sources and replaceable batteries need to be considered.
4.	How secure do your communications need to be?
Different organizations require different levels of security. Organizations that require a high level of security will find that higher end processors such as those provided in Windows Mobile-compliant devices may be better equipped for the job than lower-end phone-based devices. Lower-end phones are restricted in the level of security they can provide due to limitations in the processing capabilities available. These limitations preclude many phones from running the algorithms that are necessary to support highly secure applications. If adherence to standards such as the federal security standard FIPS 140-2 is important, then lower-end phone based devices will not be able to support this level of security. Of course, phone-based devices may still be suitable-for instance, if the user is simply scanning a piece of information using a bar code scanner and sending that back to a database, and not and accessing personal, financial, or military data.
5.	What applications would you like to have in the field?
There are many different wireless applications available. Some of them require devices with specific technologies such as GPS or cellular location-based services, which support directions, routing, etc. Support for newer data collection technologies such as RFID and more mature technologies such as barcode reading also impact device selection. When you need such applications, it is important to note whether the functionality is integrated into the device, or if the functionality is provided peripherally. Adding too many external features to a device will cause devices that started out small and light to quickly become heavy and unwieldy.
6.	What type of data are you accessing and entering?
Data access dictates screen size and color considerations. The more complex the data, the larger the screen size needed. For instance, for a physician reviewing X-rays using a telemedicine application, a tablet would be the most appropriate device. Color is probably going to be of primary importance to people making presentations or reading complex charts or maps. The data entry requirements of your users is going to determine whether an external keyboard will be necessary or whether pen-based or keypad input will suffice. You also need to keep in mind that users are much more likely to adopt applications if the user interface is familiar to them and is easy-to-use.
7.	Do you need to access and react to data in real time?
Many mobile applications today do not support true real-time data delivery. Instead, they simply synchronize data with back-office systems at the end of the day. While this may be fine for some applications, it is not ideal for others. For example, only with real-time data delivery can you see that the salesperson in the next territory just sold the last available replacement part in the warehouse, enabling you to immediately let another customer know that it's out of stock. With sync, that information wouldn't be available until the other salesperson got back to their office. The need to support real-time data delivery can affect device selection. Is more than one type of capability required to support the real-time resolution of problems from the field-for instance, does the mobile user need voice capability as well as e-mail? And if both of these capabilities are combined in one device, can the mobile employee use both capabilities simultaneously?
8.	What are your long-term mobile goals?
Long-term goals will have a significant impact on your device selection process. You may be starting out with a small mobility project targeted at just some of your employees, for which a single application needs to be provisioned with a single type of device-a point solution. But if you anticipate that your mobile needs will expand in future years, you'll need to take a platform approach by adopting a more flexible and scalable architecture. Why would this have an impact on your device selection? In point solutions, many of the device selection decisions are made for you. Point solutions often work on a limited choice of devices, based on criteria that the solution provider, rather than your organization, determines. With a platform approach, you maintain the flexibility to change devices as your needs change or as technological advances bring new and useful devices to market. Upgrade paths, flexibility, and scalability are all features of your mobile solution under a platform approach. This enables organizations to deploy many wireless applications and support many wireless devices while using a single integrated architecture. As applications are rolled out across time, an organization's incremental cost of ownership decreases, instead of increasing. Put simply, an organization's long-term benefits are dramatically higher with the integrated mobile platform approach.
9.	What are your organization's financial limitations?
The financial factors that determine the total cost of ownership for a mobile device are very similar to those for desktop-based devices. Consider more than the initial device cost: what are the costs for maintenance and support? You must also consider how to navigate the trend toward "convergent" devices and the impact this may have on hardware upgrade cycles. Using the Swiss Army knife approach may help reduce the number of devices a worker needs, but it may have significant cost implications. If, for example, one piece of the converged device becomes outdated or obsolete, you may be required to replace the whole device to maintain the functionality that you need.

Conclusion

Proper planning is the key to your mobilization success. It needn't delay your rollout-in fact, it should save you from making expensive and aggravating missteps. Many of the above points are common sense. It's only when they're missed or overlooked that they garner attention (and not the kind you're looking for)!