DemoMobile: Pulling mobile workers into the enterprise flow

SAN DIEGO -- Early wireless applications focused on pushing corporate data out to the mobile workforce, but did little to integrate those applications and workers into existing enterprise processes.

But the next wave of mobile applications is attempting to incorporate that mobile workforce into the larger business workflow, according to Chris Shipley, executive producer of the Demo conferences.

Several technologies being introduced here at the DemoMobile conference target mobile and field worker productivity, zeroing in on issues such as wireless workflow and data and application management.

According to analyst David Hayden, president and CEO of MobileWeek, many vendors are attacking a real challenge in enterprise wireless: Providing real solutions to decrease the headaches that IT managers deal with in deploying and managing mobile services.

"This is a necessary component, [and] one of the few areas in the mobile space that has not been saturated," Hayden said. Because of the problems in deployment, management, and workflow control, "IT has been dragging its feet on wireless deployments, but they are now running out of excuses because wireless deployments are being mandated from the top."

Addressing those challenges, Aeroprise at the show took the wraps off its Mobile Workflow Management Suite, designed to mobilize desktop applications for field force workers and mobile technicians. The software sits between wireless devices and enterprise software, providing to mobile users two-way actionable alerts, personalization capabilities, and VPN-level end-to-end wireless security, according to the company.

One usage problem for mobile field force workers is getting timely data in workers' hands. For example, a technician prints out a list of trouble tickets and then hits the road, but things happen en route that change the data, said Anand Chandrasekaran, product architect at Aeroprise.

"When you go out in the field, one-size-fits-all desktop apps become applications that fit no one," Chandrasekaran  said.

The Mobile Workflow Management real time wireless system automates the process of sending out trouble tickets to technicians. The software integrates with any field force automation, sales-force automation, and inventory applications and works with any carrier and any device, he said.

Also on hand at the show, Eleven Technology unveiled its Eleven SmartSelling system, handheld selling software designed for the consumer packaged goods and pharmaceutical industries. SmartSelling can boost field sales by improving the planning and management of merchandise. The system puts in the hands of mobile workers tools for real-time demand forecasting, merchandising and compliance assessment, and field rep performance.

The offering aims to go beyond the typical sales-force automation approach of data capture to give mobile workers real-time inventory information and recommendations for selling, according to Eleven Technology officials.