10 years of mobile evolution
Anders Heick
CTO, HandStep
ah@handstep.com
21-04-2009
Contents
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The Mobile Market
About HandStep
The mobile evolution
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10 years – so what?
Challenges
Mobile Applications Today
Looking ahead
Advices
The market
 27 % of European enterprises has more
than 1,000 mobile workers (Gartner,
November 2008)
 Strategy, architecture and device
management are the most important
issues for companies (Gartner, November
2008)
 40 % of Danish companies plan to
increase investments in mobility in 2009
(IDC, September 2008)
 Nine out of ten Danish companies believe
mobile solutions will increase business
benefits (HiQ, September 2008)
About HandStep
HandStep in brief
History
Founded in 2001
Position
Leading provider of mobile software solutions for
public sector and private enterprises
Focus
Growth
Volume
Dominance
User-friendly and simple mobile software solutions for
Windows Mobile Devices
Nominated Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young (2008)
Received ‘Børsen Gazelle’ Award for four years (2004-2007)
Solutions are used by more than 50,000 users across
20 countries
Awarded ‘Best in Class’ by Microsoft and Sybase iAnywhere
Our business model
Business solutions
Solutions
Infrastructure
Business Critical Applications
•
Device Management
Bespoke solutions
• Deployment
Standard products
• Managed services
.NET
Integration (MS, SAP…)
Strategic partner:
Strategic partner:
12 certified employees
Beta test and development of
3 partner awards
new products
’Best in class’
Our approach
8. Evaluation and
future development
1. Business
objectives
7. Support
2. Strategy
Business
process
6. Education
5. Infrastructure
3. Application
development
4. Implementation
Our solutions
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Solutions for public transport
50% of all public commuters in Denmark are affected by HandStep’s
mobile solutions
Sales solutions
More than 25,000 customers across nine countries are serviced with a
sales solution from HandStep
VITAE Handheld
Mobile care solution for more than 7,000 users
Labka II PDA
Laboratory solution, handling 6,000 blood samples per day!
Infrastructure
Design and implementation of the largest mobile infrastructure solution in
the Nordics with more than 15,000 mobile users
TaskManager
More than 900 users register time and materials with TaskManager on a
daily basis
Enterprise customers
Public sector
Customers in public sector
Århus
Kommune
Brøndby Kommune
The mobile evolution
The challenges 10 years ago
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Bleeding edge technology
Immature hardware, software and tools
No really working synchronization technologies
Very few hardware vendors / low device availability
Loss of all data when battery died
Limited hardware features and 3rd party devices
• Scanners, RFID, Cameras, GPS, GSM modem, low performing
CPUs, very limited memory, Bluetooth anarchy, no built-in
GSM/GPRS/Phone
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First generation OS
High cost for wireless data transport
Low (advanced) device penetration to end-users
Lack of enterprise readiness
Lots of security concerns
The challenges today
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Still new technology
Mature hardware, software and tools
Working synchronization technologies – but still not perfect
Lots of hardware vendors / high device availability
No loss of data when battery dies but…
A lot of hardware features and 3rd party devices
• Drains the battery even faster… 
• First generation OS – new players: iPhone, Android
• Medium cost for wireless data transport
• High device penetration to end-users – but a scattered
consumer market
• Lack of enterprise readiness – for some new players
• Still some security concerns
• The Danish multimedia tax
The mobile evolution...
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and
over and expecting different results.” - Benjamin Franklin
Mobile trends
Strategic enterprise
enablement
Primary focus:
• Mobilising multiple
business processes
Project enablement
Primary focus:
• Deployment to
multiple business
groups
Mobilize PIM & e-mail
• Field sales
Primary focus:
• Field force
• Key infrastructure
• Legacy applications
Stakeholders:
Stakeholders:
Stakeholders:
• IT
• IT, LOB
• C-level, IT, LOB
• Re-invent/reengineer business
processes
Identifying potential
Look for
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Groups of mobile co-workers
Employees performing tasks in
the field
Large (central) administrative
tasks
Sales process – knowledge in the
field?
Competency gaps
Manuals and guidelines
Recruitment challenges
Areas with strong growth
Use of paper and forms
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Phone calls and bills
Intensive email communication
Data entry
Employee churn
Deviations / customer complains
Lost orders
Delivery time
Error rates
Time used on transportation
Waiting time
Communication flow and stops
A strategy workshop can help you identifying your potential!
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Mobile applications today
- architecture challenges and customer demands
Standard Mobile Infrastructure
Intranet
Device
Management
Server
Mail Systems
DMZ
Internet
Device
Management
Client
PIM Sync
LOB
Applications
Secure
Tunnel
Data Sync
ERP & CRM
Systems
Databases
Internal Services
External Services
Mobile
Database
Challenges when building mobile solutions
• Our customers are very diverse
• Different requirements for every customer
• Functionality, documentation, validation, test, user interface,
backend, etc.
• Backend-systems
• Axapta, Navision, C5, XAL, SAP, CRM-systems, Oracle, SQL
Server, Sybase, Scala…
• The technology is still young and volatile
• Hardware changes every 6-12 months
• Choosing the right data synchronization technology
• Size of data, filtering, near real-time or not, conflict handling,
seamless online vs. offline
• Customer maturity
Slide 19
Challenges when building mobile solutions
• Primary customer challenges
• The customer’s lack of knowledge about own business processes
• Integration to multiple systems
• Typically the biggest challenge for a customer
• Availability of knowledgeable backend resources?
• Limited knowledge about cross organizational business processes and data
• Corporate security – choosing the right device
• Windows Mobile, Android, Symbian, iPhone, Tablet
• More challenges
• Changing requirements
• Agile vs. waterfall project model
• Usability
• Lack of functionality/features
• Performance
HandStep Mobile Framework
HMF
• Tried and tested
components
• Optimised development
process
• Short delivery time
• Higher RoI
HandStep Mobile Framework
Application - Error Reports
45
40
# of errors
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Date
# of errors per month
160
140
120
Errors
100
80
# Of E
60
40
20
0
1
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4
Month (2006)
5
6
Application and Synchronization Architecture
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Web Services?
Enterprise Message Bus?
.NET Sync Services?
SQL Server Merge Replication?
Sybase MobiLink?
SOA?
Direct Data Access?
REST?
And many, many more…
JDI KISS!
• Is the online/offline application architecture still an issue?
Business Continuity
Mobile service solution
Mobile service solution for ticket checkers
650 users in Denmark and Sweden
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Passenger count
CPS verification
Quality control
Coordination
Time management
• Phase 1: Introduction of mobile workers
• Phase 2: Work planning
• Phase 3: Quality control
• Device Management: Afaria
Connection Lost...?
Deviation reports
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
SE
800
DK
600
400
200
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2007-09 2007-10 2007-11 2007-12 2008-01 2008-02 2008-03 2008-04 2008-05 2008-06 2008-07 2008-08 2008-09
Managing the mobile infrastructure
Post Danmark
Largest mobility solution in the Nordics
Mobile infrastructure
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Solution for 15,000 postal workers
Real-time route planning
Registration of mailbox pick-ups
Electronic payment
Scanning parcels
PIM – Calendar, email, contacts
• Device Management tool - Afaria
Result:
• 15,000 mobile postal workers
• Only two administrators
• 2,000 sessions per hour
• <5 errors per day
• 135 units implemented per working day
Largest Afaria solution in
the Nordics
Supports different mobile
standards:
• Windows Mobile Standard
devices (SmartPhones)
• Windows Mobile
Professional devices
(Pocket PCs)
• Windows CE devices
(wall terminals with
barcode readers)
Application deployment made easy...
Looking ahead
• Changes in infrastructure and services
• Cloud Services, Hosted Device Management, fully out-sourced
DLM (Device Lifecycle Management)
• More advanced devices
• Companies will see mobility as a key business driver
• Mobile strategy and mobile architecture will be corporate
decisions
• Managed diversity will be a common scenario
Advices on building mobile business
• Decide upon one or two corporate platforms
• But be sure that the platform is manageable
• Let LOB own the business applications / projects
• But the IT-department should help in planning
• Address security and device management at the start of the
project
• A corporate IT-project
• Dedicated ownership, support, monitoring and change
management is key to success
• Spot business problems and act BEFORE they become critical!
• Plan for changes…!
• "Plans are nothing, but planning is everything", Eisenhower
Anders Heick
ah@handstep.com
Questions?
Bregnerødvej 139
DK-3460 Birkerød
+45 30 38 90 00
www.handstep.com