Journey from being wired to wireless

thinkingaloud.in : Dec 22, 2010

Do you imagine the days where we literally used to book a trunk and wait for our turn to talk to our loved ones? Gone are those days where communication is a barrier. Today, with a tiny little mobile gadget, you can tweet, chat, call, SMS and communicate simply and yet efficiently.

Wired to Wireless in my mind is most revolutionary advancement of the last decade. Being wireless means being free from the clutches of desk, cables and cabin. Oh! What a freedom!

Yes, we are living in a dynamic world where the freewill can be exercised without a question.

Why is mobile so special? Take a typical household. The number of mobiles in the household surpasses the number of computers. Why? It is simple, PCs are fixed, laptop is carried but mobile is attached. Mobile has become part of the attire and not an accessory.

Mobile brings the world to you and the work closer with you. You can almost do anything at your fingertips, literally.

Mobile is an all-in-one device. It has in-built support for communication (call, chat, SMS), entertainment (audio/video player, games), utility (navigator, address book, e-bill payment, banking) and productivity (email, CRM) applications and all at an affordable price. Mobile platform is ready to meet the needs of basic consumer. Here are some of the interesting questions.

• How about mobile for business?
• Will it replace PCs and laptops?
• Will mobiles improve business productivity?

I do sincerely believe that mobile platform helps corporate to go one step closer to their customers. Netbooks, SmartPhones and iPads have become common and would someday replace PCs and laptops out there.

Here I would like to highlight some of the benefits of using mobile platform for business.

Information collection is made simple

The information gathering process would become simpler as the number of touch points needed in recording and transmitting the information would be reduced.

Jokingly, I told a reporter once that a day would come, when recording over the phone would automatically be uploaded to web. With 3G and WiMax, that day is nearer.

Just picture this scenario... An electricity board official is walking to each house in the neighborhood to record the power consumption. He reaches the office after a long day, uploads the information to the system, and prepares the reports and mails to the customers. This system is prone to manual errors and high processing time.

If it was mobile...
This task could be easily simplified with the mobile having an enterprise application that allows him to search the house and record the information. Not only that, he can SMS the bill right away and collect the amount from the customer and send the acknowledgement receipt through SMS instantaneously.

Information searching made simple

The relevant content at the right context helps business decision making faster.

Sales associate is walking to a customer location and customer needs 30 days credit to place an order. If the customer is given the credit, he is ready to place a PO immediately for a sizeable order. Customer wants it right away, as he is bound by a tight delivery schedule. Sales associate is in a dilemma whether to take the order or not. He reaches out to his finance department and the finance clerk is on leave. The sad news is that the sales associate loses this order, as he could not make a call on the payment terms.

This situation could be simply avoided, if the sales person had been equipped with a mobile application that can access the corporate ERP to check the credit worthiness of the customer.

Mostly connected

Gone are those days, where you have to open your laptop, switch on the system, wait for it boot, login-in, put in your wireless modem and connect to Internet.

Your mobile is an instantOn device and it connects to your world right away.

How is the mobile market?

• It is estimated that total wireless subscribers in India is to reach 876.6 million in 2013 (Source: Reuters)
• Wireless subscriber growth in India continues to be one of the fastest in the world, with +50.1% industry- average subscriber growth in 1Q.2009 (Source: Reuters)
• Eighty-five per cent of businesses anticipate that the number of their employees accessing enterprise apps via mobile devices will increase next year.
• The number giving employees access to supply chain, human resources, and financial apps from mobile devices will more than double in two years.
• Companies allowing access to supply chain apps, will rise from 19% today to 44%. (Information Week)
• The mobile enterprise application market reached $1.24 billion in 2005, and is likely to rise to $3.50 billion in 2010. (IDC)

We at AMI focus on development of mobile and Internet solutions in various platforms. Our Mobile Application group MAG focuses on Android™, iPhone™ and Windows Mobile™ based enterprise applications for corporates. The division works with OEMs, who manufacture mobile platforms by providing various solutions such as board support packages, device driver development and boot loaders. The division also looks into custom application development in mobile platforms for OEMs and secondary market. AMI has released several mobile applications in the market place. Some of them include:
Morning Cup: An Android application running in Android Smart phones. It is compatible with Android 1.5, 1.6 and 2.0 versions.

Daak™ - Email application for Android phones: The all-in-one email client for Microsoft Exchange 2003/2007 servers for your official mails, contacts and appointments. Never miss a mail or an appointment. Easy and hassle-free configuration gives you instant access to your corporate mails, contacts and appointments.

Falcon-i™ Mobile: This application runs on Windows mobile to help fleet operators to track and monitor their vehicles. This application communicates with the AMI’s Falcon-i device to provide the location, fuel, speed, distance and other sensor parameters.

The world is changing and mobile is here to revolutionize it once again. After all, no one wants to be locked in the tiny corner of space. Go Mobile and Go Experience the Freedom you earned.