Empowering field-based employees is important to many midsized and enterprise organizations, and though many of the required productivity tools are available on devices such as smartphones and tablets, firing up a laptop and using a wider set of applications is still necessary at times.
In the past, this has been an expensive proposition. But companies have several communication options to help control costs if employees are working in areas with connectivity available to them.
With tethering, for example, field employees' phones or tablets broadcast a signal. These devices must have connectivity to the Web so they can pass along the gateway to another device, such as a laptop or non-3G or -4G phone. The number of devices that can simultaneously connect is limited based on the tethered hardware. And regardless of the number of consecutive attached devices, all those connected to this ad hoc network are limited by the total amount of bandwidth available to the host.
Many employees now have mobile hot spots, a boon for today's mobile users. I have been testing a 4G mobile hotspot by Clear. Speeds are nice, upwards of 10x1 at the peak, with 2x.5 near the slower end of the scale. I only carry four 802.x capable devices with me at any time; attaching all four simultaneously did not slow down the Clear box a bit.
Coverage in Orlando was great, fast, and low latency (with ping between 42ms and 88ms). My test in the middle of the Courtney Campbell Causeway (basically in the middle of Tampa Bay) was not successful, nor was I able to keep a consistent connection travelling at highway speeds between Tampa and Orlando. But when I was in the city itself or in a office, hotel, or restaurant, the device worked great. The cost is low, at $49 for the device and $49 a month for “unlimited” bandwidth.
Speaking of cellular service, are you still paying for separate services, such as digital navigation tools, from your provider? Don't forget to review the ever-growing menu of free or inexpensive apps available to employees. Waze provides voice-based directions and verbal feedback with the user (allowing for hands-free use), as well as real-time updates on police actions, traffic, and congestion, based on other users in your area. Waze is a cross between a social networking platform, traffic management and navigation tool, and mobile app. The price is right, as well: free.
Regardless of the budget available for your mobile workforce, you'll find a mix of services and devices to support your connectivity needs. Returns in increased sales, improved customer satisfaction, and enhanced employee productivity should outweigh the paltry costs presented by the new breed of devices and apps.
Corporate IT leaders should audit carrier agreements, test new products, and challenge historical approaches to mobile and remote users. Adhering to last year's status quo for functionality, price, and contract service level agreements (SLAs) guarantees a net loss for your IT budget expenditures -- and your organization's field employees. Challenge your budget expenditures and explore new technologies.
It is, after all, our first and most important job as IT professionals.
— Michael Starnes, CEO of Orlando-based Starnes Consulting, has been in the technology business for more than 20 years.
@pcharles: Yes you have to be accurate enough on IT budgets. I know its impossible to match the exact figure but you should be able to forecast the value
Not just budgeting, but budgeting appropriately. I have heard figures that you should alway add an extra 20-30% on top of what you expect for incidentals. Most people don't do this.
@anthony.nima: Having them in parallel lines is ok but what will go wrong if its being used in the same line ? Running a parallel line means an extra cost for the company.
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When one of my team members recently responded to network-down call at a client's home office, he quickly established, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the edge device -- a customer premise equipment (CPE) router -- had been compromised. Regaining control of the edge router proved difficult. A neighbor who was within range of the 802.11n wireless radio was actively hacking the router, overpowering the field tech with password resets in real time. In order to regain control of the network, the tech had to remove the antennas, allowing for LAN access only to the routing edge, and effectively cutting off the hack by cutting off his basic access.
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While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
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Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
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