Business Agility: Strategies for Gaining Competitive Advantage through Mobile Business Solutions

The concerns are similar to those of the wired Internet about four

years ago. Typical concerns back then included the primitive graphi-

cal user interface of the Web browser versus the richer user interface

of client/server applications, the lack of security, and the low band-

width. Enterprises were not convinced that the Internet technologies

were robust enough for their critical applications. In fact, I remember

many meetings with enterprise clients as a consultant where the stake-

holders questioned the need for applications such as extranets and

quite rightfully asked about the return on investment. Since ROI cal-

culations had not been extensively developed in those early days, we

tended to talk about the soft benefits of enhanced customer satisfac-

tion and improved communications.

Moving back to the present day, as the industry continues to

evolve, innovative technology companies and wireless carriers are

providing solutions to these technology obstacles—thus helping to

drive adoption. What is clear is that the enterprise cannot afford to

wait. Mobile business strategies should be crafted today in order to

target quick wins and to drive the process change within the enterprise

toward mobile business.

Even with a lack of reliable standards, inadequate bandwidth,

incomplete coverage, and a wealth of devices and software on the

market, it is possible to design and implement highly effective appli-

cations within the enterprise that provide a good return on invest-

ment. Applications can be implemented that support multiple devices,

multiple carrier networks, and can handle incomplete coverage by

offering online and offline capabilities. Typically, during offline usage

where the carrier network cannot be accessed, the applications use the

onboard database of the device and store data for later synchroniza-

tion when the wireless network becomes available or when a standard

dial-up connection or cradle connection is available.

Regulatory Environment

In addition to the major global carriers, handset manufacturers and

software companies creating the market for mobile business for the

enterprise, the global regulatory environment is also helping to chart

its course. Regulations such as the Telecommunications Act of 1996

and the Enhanced 911 (E911) mandate from the Federal Communi-

cations Commission (FCC) within the United States have helped to

bring about major change in the telecommunications industry.

40 >> Business Agility

The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 as

an independent United States government agency directly responsible

to Congress. The FCC is responsible for establishing policies to gov-

ern interstate and international communications by television, radio,

wire, satellite, and cable.

Enhanced 911

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission’s E911

mandate made automatic location identification a requirement for the

wireless carriers to implement within their networks. The following is

an extract from the FCC Web site:

“In a series of orders since 1996, the Federal Communications Commission

(FCC) has taken action to improve the quality and reliability of 911 emer-

gency services for wireless phone users, by adopting rules to govern the

availability of basic 911 services and the implementation of enhanced 911

(E911) for wireless services.”

The basic 911 rules required wireless carriers to transmit all 911

calls to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) without regard to val-

idation procedures intended to identify and intercept calls from non-

subscribers. Phase I of the enhanced 911 (E911) rules, required

carriers to provide to the PSAP the telephone number of the origina-

tor of a 911 call and the location of the cell site or base station receiv-

ing a 911 call. Phase II of the E911 implementation required wireless

carriers to provide Automatic Location Identification (ALI) beginning

on October 1, 2001 in order to provide emergency services with

greater accuracy for call origination. The ALI accuracy requirements

were as follows:

>> For handset-based solutions: 50 meters for 67% of calls, 150

meters for 95 percent of calls

>> For network-based solutions: 100 meters for 67% of calls, 300

meters for 95 percent of calls

This Government mandate has helped add fuel to the location-

based services industry as a sub-set of the M-Business market. Accord-

ing to Strategy Analytics, the market for location-based services will

reach $6.5 billion in the United States and $9 billion in Europe by

2005. Some of the potential applications of located-based services

include tracking services for locating and tracking people and assets,

Chapter 2 • The M-Business Evolution >> 41