Mobile Enterprise
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mobile Enterprise (Mobile ERP) is a collection of Online Interactive Business Applications made possible by Mobile Broadband. Cellular Networks with GPRS and UMTS are connected to the Internet via Media Gateways. Mobile Enterprise serves HSDPA and HSUPA. Mobile messaging technologies, such as SMS and E-mail, also support enterprise mobility.
Business modules, functions and operations executed using Mobile Enterprise include Collaboration, Document management system (DMS), Customer relationship management (CRM), Point of sale (POS), Human resource management systems (HRMS), Accounting software, Enterprise resource planning (ERP), including sales order, sourcing, tender, request for Quotation, purchase order, shipment, receiving, warehousing, inventory control, delivery order, invoicing, customer service order, production monitoring and control, work order, as well as basic utilities such as corporate calendar, corporate address book, corporate bulletin board, notes and internal messaging.
The next phase of mobility for business will go considerably beyond e-mail. Businesses need their employees to access from their phones the same line of business applications they access from their PC today. Mobile workers should be able to search their network for information just like they do from their office PCs and IT administrators need to know they can securely manage mobile devices on the network in the same way they manage PCs today. All of these advancements will promote a deeper partnership between businesses and operators who offer these new types of services and mobile devices. (Delivering the Platform for Next-Generation Mobile Communications Services - Pieter Knook, senior vice president, Mobile and Embedded Devices Division, Microsoft)
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[edit] Benefits
With the Mobile enterprise platform in place, entire businesses can be easily, quickly and economically moved onto the internet. Enterprise databases can be remotely accessed and updated from anywhere in the world, at anytime, with any device equipped with a Web Browser and by anyone with permission to access the service. Mobile Enterprise is real-time and fits the Just In Time (JIT) business strategy. Mobile Enterprise leverages existing Internet infrastructure and TCP/IP installations. It is economical to implement and easy to use. Mobile Enterprise is not limited to mobile handsets. It is convergent technology, whereby the applications are, at the same time, accessible using laptops and desktops over land lines and Wi-fi networks.
On mobile decision support, Linus Parker, UK managing director of ERP company Intentia, says: 'Sales teams will be able to check stock levels, undertake product configurations and order processing - all in real time. In the area of finance, there will be the opportunity to check the status of debtor days and cash flow.'[1]
The future is mobile. As workforce mobility takes on a bigger role in Asia, SMBs can no longer afford to ignore the critical business benefits of going mobile. Their employees get to make use of their time effectively, and also remain relevant in the ever-changing marketplace. It is important for SMBs to embrace the concept of workforce mobilization if they want to remain competitive in the future. Says Grace Ho Director, Business Segment Solutions, Asia Pacific for Mobile Communications Business Division at Microsoft in her article "The power of mobile computing for SMBs" (06-Aug-2007)
'The ability to provide services over the air affords a competitive advantage in the speed to deliver, and the pricing of, services. This untethered connection has a broad appeal to both the consumer and the enterprise. It enables the delivery of business, personal, social and entertainment services to areas that would not normally have been able to receive such services. In business, the benefits of a ubiquitous network connection lie in the immediate access it provides to corporate networks outside of the office walls. The untethered feature of wireless extends the enterprise and aids productivity'[2]
SMS is also a good tool for enterprises to enhance corporate communications. Because SMS is ubiquitous, simple and a low-cost technology, as well as having a large user-base around the world, companies can implement SMS tools easily, through PC-based SMS tools and/or integrated SMS applications (through API - Application Programming Interface). Enterprises can integrate SMS also into mission-critical processes and applications in several fields, such as logistics and operations.
[edit] Disadvantages
The Mobile Enterprise depends entirely on the Internet as its infrastructure. The system breaks down when a user cannot connect to the Internet. The system does not work in places where Internet service is not available. The system is disrupted whenever the Internet suffers a disruption such as when underwater data cables are damaged by earthquakes as in the case of the 2006 Hengchun earthquake or 2008 submarine cable disruption in the Middle East that disrupted internet service between the Middle East and Europe.
[edit] ASP revival
Corporate databases and business applications can now be hosted as Software as a service (SaaS), giving a new lease of life to the Application service provider (ASP) business model. The ASP Business model, in turn, enables ERP On Demand.
[edit] How it works
The back-end of a Mobile Enterprise is a Web server and a Relational Database such as MSSQL, MySQL and Oracle Database, hosted in a Data Center with Internet connection.
At the user end is a Web Browser such as MSIE, Mozilla Firefox, Opera (web browser), Safari (web browser) and NetFront.
Menu items are linked to programs written in Perl CGI (Common Gateway Interface), Java, JavaServer Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages (ASP) and PHP, JavaScript and AJAX, with embedded HTML form elements and database queries. When the form is submitted http requests are sent to the web server using the HTML post or get functions. With the help of ODBC, JDBC or DBI database connection interface, the web server runs the program, executing the database query to the database. The program is also responsible for channeling the query results as an HTML file and sent back to the user. The applications can be used to read, add, update, delete database entries.
[edit] Minimalistic approach
As for all mobile applications, simplicity and minimalism is of utmost importance to minimize upload and download time for best user experience. Images are best avoided because of the client devices such as mobile handsets and PDAs display size limitations. Icons may not be readable in small displays.
[edit] Security issues addressed
Security is enabled by the use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL), with 128 bit encryption, a client-less security solution supported by most Web Browsers and Web servers. Additional wireless encryption layers can be added. Since the Server is hosted in a Data Center under lock and key and subject to stringent access control imposed, with 24 hours' CCTV surveillance, moreover, the data can only be accessed via the applications, it is considered to be more secure than traditional hosting in the customer's own premises using IPsec VPN. A Server Log provides added security assurance. In short, it is, at least, as secure as Mobile Banking.
[edit] References
Chapter 3 Mobile Computing
Muller, Nathan J. (1998). Mobile Telecommunications Factbook. ISBN 0-07-044461-7.
Chapter 6 Online Auctions, Virtual Communities, and Web Portals
Schneider, Gary P. (2004). Electronic Commerce The Second Wave. Course Technology, a division of Thompson Learning, Inc.. ISBN 0-619-21331-0.
Part II Wireless Internet Applications
Beaulieu, Mark (2002). Wireless Internet Appliactions and Architecture. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-73354-4.
9 Applications
Whyte, W.S. (1999). Newtorked Futures. John Wyley & Sons Ltd.. ISBN 0-471-98794-8.
Chapter 4 The World Wide Web without Wires
Rischpater, Ray (2000). Wireless Web Development. Apress. ISBN 1-893115-20-8.
H.M. Deitel, P.J. Deitel, T.R. Nieto, K. Steinbuhler (2002). Wireless Internet & Mobile Business. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-009288-6.
10.4.4.6 Mobile Integration
Beth Gold-Bernstein, William Ruh (2005). Enterprise Integration. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-321-22390-X.
- ^ Mini case 7.2 Mobile decision support
Graham Curtis and David Cobham (1989). Business Information Systems. Financial Times Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-27365130-7. - ^ Characteristics of Wireless Access Networks Chapter 6: Wireless Access Networks
Carty, Glen (2002). Broadband Networking. ISBN 0-07-219510-X.
