HOUSTON BUSINESS REVIEW

COST-EFFECTIVE IT: CELL PHONE APPLICATIONS
By Richard Sonnier

Houston Business Show Commentator Richard Sonnier, of the Information Technology Services firm Nimble Services, provides weekly information on our show about information technology issues. Mr. Sonnier can be reached at 281.445.4800 x 250 or via email.

Last week I reviewed some of the latest features of the cell phone. This week I will discuss how to use the new cell phone technologies in your business.

Cell Phone as Application Platform

The cell phone is merging with the palmtop computer or PDA to become a business-computing platform. Many cell phones support the Java programming language. Java enables business applications to run right on the cell phone and to communicate messages and data back to a central server. Thus, business functions that previously required a PC to access can be moved to the cell phone. Today's cell phone is as powerful as the original DOS PC and perfectly suited to text-based applications. Higher-end cell phones can even provide graphical applications. My Treo 650 features a graphical music player from Real Networks that looks similar to the Real Player on the PC. The cell phone has become a business application platform extending the reach of your business system to the world.

For example, in the delivery services business companies are using the cell phone for job processing, delivery tracking and communications. One Nimble Services client uses Nextel i58 cell phones. Using the Nextel phone's GPS capability and Cloudberry, an Internet service from Air-Trak, the company can track where all of its delivery vehicles are. This real-time tracking to allows you to make the most efficient use of your vehicle fleet. Adding in the data handling capabilities of the cell phone and the delivery jobs can be dispatched to the nearest vehicle. When the delivery is completed, the driver can close out the job on the cell phone that sends the data back to the central office.

Real-Time Information from the Source

Using cell phone applications is part of a bigger trend in business IT: obtaining business information from the source in real time. You want to capture business information at the point where it is created with as much automation as possible. This reduces errors and allows you to make business decisions with the most accurate information. Anytime you have employees filling out paper forms that are later entered into a computer system you have an opportunity to improve that process and automated it. In the delivery service example, the new automated system using the cell phone replaced a manual paper and voice process that was hectic and error prone. Another example of this idea is that most retailers use point of sale terminals to keep their inventory and sales information up to date.

Next week, I will discuss RFID wireless technology that can automate inventory tracking.