Mobile Solutions for Improving Business Processes

Transcription

1 5 th International Vilnius Conference EURO Mini Conference Knowledge-Based Technologies and OR Methodologies for Strategic Decisions of Sustainable Development (KORSD-2009) September 30 October 3, 2009, Vilnius, LITHUANIA ISBN M. Grasserbauer, L. Sakalauskas, E. K. Zavadskas (Eds.): KORSD-2009 Selected papers. Vilnius, 2009, pp Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, 2009 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, 2009 Mobile Solutions for Improving Business Processes Tamás Réz Budapest University of Technology and Economics 1111 Budapest, Műegyetem rkp Abstract: This paper introduces mobile based solutions and analyses their business benefits why to invest into them, how they optimise the processes and what their effects are for the enterprise. Personal digital assistants and handheld devices with suitable software systems and remotely accessible databases become business tools that deliver tangible value for employees, partners and even customers, allowing them to collaborate with partners, automate data entry and manage a broad range of transactions anytime, anywhere. The research findings disclosed that it is worth to invest into direct mobile based business solutions for most companies working on the field with employees on different locations instead of using a paper and afterwards typing the data to a computer. By turning the whole process to electronic basis will radically reduce the classic paper and after-work energy consumptions. Keywords: mobile solutions, business process optimisation. 1 Introduction The mobile applications area will continue to focus on the convergence of messaging, management, security and business applications. Mobile applications convergence will enable business workflow processes to be more portable across networks, geographies, media and enduser devices (Dulaney-Blood, 2007). There are a lot of mobile business solutions including enterprise SMS messages with online auction, procurement, tender features, mobile , fax by , mobile internet, etc., still in this article I will focus on solutions based on intelligent handheld devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones. 2 Mobile solutions Today s market leaders are integrated in a single, connected team, in spite of spread employees operating at numerous different sites. They are able to immediately act in an agile way, responding in real time to customer needs. These teams are decisive, with field staff empowered to make choices and take action. This is one of the main reasons why today s market leaders need the power solutions for mobile business mostly ready-made, but always customised, connected to their existing systems/databases. These applications provide access to information and processes anytime, anywhere and on a variety of mobile devices with features and functions to support supplying chain management, business intelligence and other key areas without the need of taking lots of paper with. After collecting the required information on the field, the employer does not need to write, fill out pre-printed papers as he can enter the data directly to the mobile 143

2 T. Réz device. Even the power consumption is reduced, because there is no need to process and enter the data from the paper to the computer, which both are keys to sustainable development. Companies can get the most from their IT investments and capitalise on the solutions already implemented with middleware, interfaces or SMEs (small and medium enterprises) by introducing a standalone system with all necessary services (e.g. MIS). In most cases, it would be very difficult to prepare all the administration without a complex system (store-movements, orders, invoices) and reports to the management and the government. There are also mobile client applications from business management solution providers, like SAP: workers access to time sheet and travel management functionality, sales people who need to perform their tasks quickly and productively, field service engineers to react quickly to customer needs, in-house service engineers to access relevant business processes anywhere, anytime (SAP NetWeaver - Solutions, 2007). Among others, the following procedures and/or fields could be involved using mobile solutions: personal/group mobile IT, logistics and subsystems - distribution of goods, transportation, warehousing, sales, SFA (sales force automation), procurement, fleet/vehicle tracking, trailing (GPS) + automatic itinerary generation, industrial automation, quantitative measure collection and furthering, remote control, safe messaging, forestry, etc. (Réz, 2005) By reviewing the use of mobile solutions at different companies, it turned out that after choosing a suitable mobile software-system, it is very important to receive remote support and live install / live update possibility of the software. Collecting the devices (usually all at the same time) and doing the software upgrades offline in an office takes up important time avoiding the devices and the employer missing from work! In most solutions, the integration of a kiosk interface is a must, as this provides the only way to limit the user to access only to the specific software used for work. After analysing the reported errors to the software developer, in most cases the reason originated in false settings done by the user, e.g. communication problems by the misconfiguration of mobile internet, wireless connection, deleting necessary files, etc. There is also an important result of limiting the use of the device: the employer can focus 100% on the work and will not loose any time by sending private messages, s, browsing the Internet, playing games. Example: sales agent, distribution / Sales Force Automation These solutions are for wholesalers and distributors requesting feedback. The system helps in capturing orders accurately and the online scheme transmits them immediately, thus enabling the management of the firm to monitor the development of their own market and that of competitors, benchmark the work of an agent or a regional representative. The standard methods of collecting the necessary data (order, product information) were based on paper, however the new process eliminates any paper work as all the information are entered directly to a database using the mobile device and transferring them electronically to the data centre without transport needs serving the sustainable development. Common features: visits to partners within a region or visits based on an itinerary; review of the status of their own or of the competitive products (what can be seen, what they are interested in, prices, contracts, comments); collection of orders (also via telephone) via PDA, in a centre, via Internet; monitoring stocks and overdue customer invoices; manage and administrate the goods stock-in-trade moves (car, office), store information where, what, which best before date products were sold (serve HACCP standards); 144

3 MOBILE SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING BUSINESS PROCESSES invoicing; history (seen/ordered earlier); barcode reading, GPS option; signing orders on the screen / printing, invoice option; managerial maintenance via Internet, reports, etc. It is worth implementing a mobile solution, if there is a need for the company s (Réz, 2006) sales force to have the information at their finger tips to make the best use of the time in front of the customers, vendor to have the statistics necessary for the anticipation of the needs, retail team to be creative about their environment and selling strategies as the gathered on-field information can be adapted immediately! Mobile device based data collection can stay offline (location-bound, the data will be transferred by wire/docking station) or go fully mobile by going online via GSM/GPRS+/WLAN connection (not location-bound) Some companies offer access to their server, thus it is enough for the customer to buy or lease software licence/palmtop computer, giving also the chance for low-budget microcompanies to use the emerging technology (Réz, 2009). Business benefits for investing into mobile solutions Handheld devices become business tools that deliver tangible value for employees, partners and even customers, allowing them to collaborate with partners, automate data entry and manage a broad range of transactions anytime, anywhere (SAP NetWeaver Business Benefits, 2008). The main reasons to invest into mobile solutions are the following: reducing total cost of ownership, reducing solutions-induced labour costs, increasing customer satisfaction, faster responsiveness, improving information quality (direct data, no paper!) by setting the data focus to the direct point of action, controlling and checking the effectiveness and efficiency of the employee, increased resilience, the promise of enterprise information integration. My research asking numerous companies who decided to invest into mobile system, resulted in the following aspects: a company should consider when preparing a decision for choosing a mobile solution to minimise downtime and maximise the efficiency of the system while serving the sustainable development: use online software install / update technologies, limit usage with kiosk surface, always ask for after sales support, when introducing the system, training is very important as it can radically reduce the misuse at the beginning, choose an application that is modular-built for the easy implementation of later additional developments, user friendly: easy to understand and use of the graphical user interface (GUI), especially due to the limited screen the use of tap & hold functions, 145

4 T. Réz speed of the application (always test with large amount of data!), use of multiple threads, continuous memory and storage usage, the easy access to the data on the server: maintenance and report best via web browser (available everywhere, no need to install, operating system independent), generating reports using flexible queries for decision making and exporting the results to different file formats (xls, csv, xml), automatic daily, weekly, monthly reports by , automatic alerts and notifications (stock quotes, etc.). From increased customer responsiveness and reduced cycle times to improved collaboration and faster decision-making, many companies have experienced the benefits of providing users with mobile access to . As a result, organizations are now looking for ways to deliver mobile access to a much larger employee population rather than to the selected few. In addition, they are looking for ways to expand mobile access beyond to include line-ofbusiness applications (Minden, 2006). Many companies have taken the first step in untethering the physical organization, these solutions stop short of making the data and the processes in their organizations mobile as well. It is essential to shift relevant information down to the actual points of action in an organization from sales, decision support and manufacturing, to supply chains, field service and retail sales. The widespread use of information from multiple sources coming together in new ways may come from web services, mobilised client software, composite applications, networked data applications, or federate data systems. Now, the stabilisation of data standards and the increased portability or liquidity of information is creating new means for productivity for the user and new business models for many of the organizations coming together to supply the resources. From identity to supply-chain, we can see how the nature of dynamic data usage and enhanced wireless connectivity are prompting new mechanisms for creating trusted data partners and the means for exchanging data (Lemmey Beard Thomas, 2004). Future systems will use hybrid solutions to provide the best services for the users. The improving mobile infrastructure, mobile data access for online services, devices and technology have matured to the point where it is easy for SME to deploy and realise benefits. Small and midsize companies, with fewer resources, should see the user of mobile solutions as a way to grow to the level of bigger competitors and to differentiate themselves from same-size businesses. Mobility allows midsize companies to better serve customers while in the same time improve the productivity of employees and save costs. As a small company is growing, dealing with more and different customers, serving them person by person with the same number of staff would be impossible. They have the choice to increase the number of employees linearly or wish to save costs by introducing business systems, using the power of mobile data exchange. Businesses use mobile devices to help their employees keep in touch while out of the office. Employees may use the devices to check , track sales, check inventory, place orders, route transportation, etc. by using a variety of custom line-of-business applications. 3 Conclusions Earlier the moving employee could only take some limited pieces of books as additional knowledge that according to and depending on technology and need was not always up to date. Ten years ago with the use of Internet lots of separate data could already be retrieved dynamically online while one was just sitting in the same position at the same table. Using today s available technologies, all necessary information for decision making can be obtained anywhere, anytime without the need of paper. The small, pocket-sized, wearable de- 146

5 MOBILE SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING BUSINESS PROCESSES vices that are always with us and ready for use to retrieve, edit, calculate data on the run, initiate and keep up changes, similar events have happened only a few times in history as even typography could only achieve static information storing instead of the dynamic possibilities mobile present. The number of the offered and available mobile based business and public solutions will grow exponentially due to the evolution of technology that initiates itself: even faster and faster, lower consumption processors and larger storage spaces, lighter weight, cheaper devices become available, new databases can be processed on the device and extended, served online via user friendly and fast applications. Research findings have disclosed that it is worth to invest into mobile based business solutions even for companies having few employees who work as a team but on different locations, where response time, real time information is critical. By introducing mobile solutions and reducing the costs and taking the other advantages with the use of the system gives a competitive edge to the company. There is no need for paper for gathering the required information on the field, the employer does not need to write, fill out pre-printed papers as he can enter the data directly to the mobile device. Even the power consumption is reduced, because there is no need to process and enter the data from the paper to the computer, which both are keys to sustainable development. The governments and the EU should take care by investing much more funds to support SMEs reorganising their processes using the new mobile technologies, that might be one of the main catalysts for survival and future growth. References Cozza, Roberta. Dataquest Insight, Gartner, 6 March Dulaney, Ken Blood, Steve Key Issues for Mobile Applications, Gartner, 28 February Lemmey, Tara Beard, Marty J. Thomas, Chris Sybase and Intel: The Unwired Enterprise, Sybase. Minden, Cathrine M Mobile Messaging and Business Application Solutions with Windows Mobile. Addressing Key Questions, White Paper, Microsoft. Rastall, Steve Ricart, Marc Broix Learn Windows Mobile, idata, igroup, Wrexham. Rastall, Steve Mobile Data Collection on Pocket PC, Windows CE and Palm, Mobile Collaboration, igroup, Wrexham. Réz, Tamás PDA-val támogatott üzletkötői és vezetői rendszer tanulmány, szeptember. Réz, Tamás Digital quality assurance by applications on PDA devices for freight forward controlling and communication, Information Technologies for Business, May 2005, Kaunas. Réz, Tamás Professional mobile solutions, pdasolutionscenter.com. SAP NetWeaver Product Management, SAP USA: SAP Solutions for Mobile Business: Solutions That Keep Your Business in Motion, SAP NetWeaver Product Management, SAP USA: SAP Solutions for Mobile Business: Business Benefits,