CS 5251: Integration of IS and Business
Technologies and Controls
For
Successful Mobile Workforce Solution
Group X
1. CHEUNG SHIU KEI
2. HTOO HTET AUNG
3. KHET KHET OO THA
4. LAU GIOK YIN
5. NEO MING KAI
6. TAN TZER EN
Technologies and Controls for Successful Mobile Workforce Solution
Executive Summary
Nowadays, possessing and employing mobility has become one of the most
critical competitive advantages to a company in this ever changing world.
The world’s mobile and remote workforce expands rapidly and IDC anticipated
878 millions by 2010. How mobility helps business and its risks is an interesting
topic that we would like to explore further. After researches and case studies, we
summarize the core reasons organizations embrace the solutions to enable
mobile workforce:
a) Increase Customer Satisfaction
Enterprise Systems enable a seamless flow of information of customers, suppliers
and internal corporate information.
Today, to take full – and extended –
advantages of these Enterprise Systems, workforce mobility brings organizations
the flexibility to access the enterprise information and data remotely anytime,
anywhere.
It enables and facilitates decision making at all levels of the
organization irrespective of location.
This is the paramount to implement
workflow mobility in order to achieve better customer satisfaction.
b) Technology enabler
Workforce mobility cannot be implemented without advanced technologies. The
IT infrastructure within organization by itself is not sufficient for the
implementation. We need external factors such as popularity of wireless
technology, public hotspots, fast and easy connectivity to make it happens.
No business is without risk. We found out enabling m-workforce will impose
challenges to the organizations. Some of these challenges are malicious acts
while others are technical:
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a) Users and Supports Issues
Mobile applications are very complicated. Investing a fortune to have a system
that has no users is not effective for the organizations and is useless. We want
employees to use it and give feedback for improvements. Hence, we cannot
neglect education for users and capabilities of the IT supports to assist m-workers
when problems arise.
b) Security and Control Problems
Another critical problem that organizations cannot overlook while implementing
workforce mobility is human and technology related security and control issues.
Organizations should have imposed standard regulations, policies, and
procedures to safeguard the organization data and properties. Any lost of data or
intrusion by unauthorized personnel would cause great losses to the
organizations.
In this paper, we draw on the experiences and insights of 3 organizations – X
Research, Y Express, and Z Motors.
organization
in
Singapore
that
X Research is a non-profit research
works closely
with
other
government
organizations. Y Express is a logistics firm in Japan and Z Motors is a car
manufacturer in Europe.
The three organizations are from different business industries and regions. And,
they have their own targets including:

to improve the business processes and to stay connected even when
employees are traveling out of office

to increase the level of customer satisfaction by collecting credit card
payments at door step.
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
to improve the procedures of car manufacturing processes and
However, each organization has implemented a mobile workforce solution to
allow employees to work outside of the company boundary and to get real-time
access to their corporate systems.
The case studies briefly introduce the business nature of the organizations and
why they need m-workforce. Cases also discuss how the workforce mobility
solutions were implemented and how the m-workforce improves the business
processes of the organization. Lastly we highlight how each organization handles
their security and control issues followed by comments on the tangible and
intangible returns that we perceive these m-workforces brought to the
organizations.
Unfortunately, we do not give any financial figures to whether the returns justify
for the investment because the measurement of financial returns is not explicitly
recorded for those cases.
Our report gives an overview of the
mobile workforce technology and raises
some concerns that organizations
should consider before making a move
to enable mobile workforce. In addition,
sections with in depth discussion on
technology and control issues address
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the hidden risk of being mobility. We
believe it will be helpful for
organizations that are keen to
implement solution for mobile
workforce.Table of Contents
Executive Summary .................................................................................................. i
Table of Contents .....................................................................................................iv
1. Introduction to Mobile Workforce ........................................................................ 1
2. IT: The Major Driving Force ................................................................................ 2
3. Advantages of Mobile Workforce ........................................................................ 4
4. Challenges of Mobile Workforce ......................................................................... 6
4.1. People and Organizational Politics ............................................................... 6
4.2. Technology and Controls ...............................................................................7
5. Technologies for Mobile Workforce .................................................................... 9
5.1. Infrastructure Hardware ............................................................................... 9
5.2. Infrastructure Software ................................................................................ 11
5.3. Mobile Hardware ......................................................................................... 13
5.4. Mobile Software ........................................................................................... 15
6. Control for Mobile Workforce ............................................................................ 19
6.1. Controls ........................................................................................................ 19
6.2. Formulating Procedures ............................................................................. 22
6.3. Conducting Trainings ................................................................................. 22
7. Case Studies ....................................................................................................... 24
7.1. Case Study 1: X Research ............................................................................. 24
7.2. Case Study 2: Y Express .............................................................................. 30
7.3. Case Study 3: Z Motors ............................................................................... 36
8. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 43
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Appendix A: References......................................................................................... 44
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1. Introduction to Mobile Workforce
Depending on applications, the definition of workforce mobility will differ
reasonably. However, a crude definition can be found in [BRU1998] as
“Workforce Mobility refers to the potential for employees to work at any
location.” With a mobile workforce, the workers can work from any location –
including remote site and their own office – provided that the location in
question is suitable for their task. Bruce and Yihwa Irene [BRU1998] regarded
workforce mobility as part of the virtual workplace involving both stationed and
mobile workers collaborating.
The world’s mobile workforce is expected to grow by more than 20% in the next
four years, with 878 million mobile workers toiling away on laptops, handhelds,
and cell phones by 2009, according to a study by IDC. However, mobile
workforce is not simply giving employees a mobile gadget to use. Companies are
increasingly grappling with tough questions about how to best support, secure,
empower and control their mobile workers. Various technologies and controls
play a vital role in the success of the mobile workforce. Careful planning of
control mechanism and technology to employ trigger the success or failure of
each mobile application in the enterprise level.
For example Y Express, in Japan, has brought the billing desk to its customers’
home together with the goods to be delivered allowing the customers to order
online and make payments at home. The introduction of mobility to billing desks
had helped Y Express deliver 33% (10 millions) more packets in 2003 fiscal year
than previous year.
The reasons and obligation for the firms and large corporations to introduce
mobility into its existing workforce is that mobility is a business necessity – not
an option – in order to survive in today’s competitive and dynamic business
environment.
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Globalization has created more competitive intensity, forcing business
organizations to adapt more flexibly into unstable and unpredictable
environment. The reasons behind the environmental turbulence include
“fluctuating energy and raw materials prices, currency volatility, market
globalization and growth of free trade … and … shifting power relationships”
[BRU1998]
Increasing turbulence and uncertainty in the environment means long term
planning extremely difficult. Organizations must – in order to survive – be
flexible enough to cope with changes environment suggests. The need for faster
decision making and faster respond to changing environment dictates mobility in
the workforce. “It is necessary to empower the employees closest to the customer
to make day-to-day judgment and they also must be very knowledgeable about
company policies.” [BRU1998]
2. IT: The Major Driving Force
Looking back the history of computing, we can see mainframes, PC, the Internet
and current age of pervasive computing. [GEO2004] Mainframes allowed
corporations to stay ahead of their competitors. Personal computers introduced
office automation and simplified clerical tasks. Internet – and various
Information Systems – enabled a major leap in competitive advantages for both
large and small firms. They have all helped the firms attain competitive
advantages.
Pervasive computing means powerful embedded devices in the environment
equipping us with mobility. Flexible work practices are possible with the
pervasive mobile devices enabling mobile workforce. Various organizations are
extending their Enterprise Systems (ES) into mobile workforce to cope with
rapidly changing environment and gain more competitive advantages.
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Compared to the previous decade, wireless technology is more popular; more
affordable and easier to implement. Not only businesses are migrating to wireless
offices, the technology is also available at airports, hotels, and other public areas.
Infrastructural development has made it possible for businesses to equip mobility
to their workforce. “Dramatic reductions in the costs … have made these
developments economically feasible even for smallest of firms.” [BRU1998]
Wireless network is the easiest way to connect all the different devices to the
back-end systems. This is a push – an opportunity given – from the technical
breakthroughs. Wireless technology has become the ultimate standard for
virtually all networks. Through wireless technology, the followings are possible:

Access up-to-date business information (sales, finance and stocks etc)

Access corporate network facilities (email, internet, intranet etc)

Deploy rapid communications between employees with instant messaging

Employees could stay connected for continuous availability
The viability of using information
technology is widely aware in every
industry and applications such as online
package tracking have been commonly
used. Information technology removes
the bound to office place and the time of
work thereby leading to
anytime/anywhere workplace.
Moreover, it is the major contributor to
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speed the processes up by assisting in
collection and processing of data and
producing output faster enabling to
quickly respond changes.3. Advantages
of Mobile Workforce
The competitive advantages workforce mobility brings include:

Less production costs through cutting overhead costs

Faster responds to changes in environments through flexibility

Timely
and
efficient
information
access
(anytime/anywhere
communication with corporate information systems)

Shorter processing/information updating time leading to less turn-around
time and increased customer satisfaction

Increased productivity by cutting the processing overheads and bottlenecks

Enhanced cooperation with remote partners and win niche markets
Organizations, a major portion of whose workforce is expected to travel a lot,
waste office spaces. Mobility, along with Information Technologies, helps reduce
the expenses by attaching the office – as a hand-held device – along with the
employees. At IBM, most sales representatives no longer have assigned offices.
Andersen consulting firm has reduced the amount of office space devoted to each
professional from 250 square feet to only 75 square feet by exploiting mobile
technology effectively. [BRU1998]. Less office rental (less overhead) means lower
production costs, thus obtaining an advantage.
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Putting sale representatives and consultants out in the field – rather than getting
them stationed in the office means more aware of the customers’ needs,
competitors’ actions and changing trends leading to faster reaction to changes.
This is made possible as the mobile enterprise solutions ensure the mobile
workers access the corporate information systems anytime/anywhere thus loosen
the string that tied them down to a stationed office.
Since the employees spend most of the time in the customers’ site, since there is
no need to travel back to the office to complete a business transaction, and get the
work done there, the customer satisfaction improved. Customers feel a sense of
security for they are paying – in cases involving sensitive business transactions
like X Research and Y Express – to a person not to a website.
It also increases the employees’ productivity for there is no processing overhead
– like traveling back to the office – and communications bottle-neck – like
waiting for a postal mail to complete a transaction. Instead, employees are using
various mobile technologies to work from remote locations while staying
connected to their corporate networks.
Some companies render services for clients in different locations within countries
across the world. Professionals – equipped with their mobile devices – are
expected to travel frequently to the niche market – the market of one. Mobiles
workers are connected on the roads through e-mails and voice communications.
This flexibility of the workers has helped organizations grasp geographically
diverse market, which are unreachable in the past.
Multinational companies with shared resources across the globe can utilize
mobile technology for its cooperative projects around the world. For example, Z
Motors shares a plant in the Czech Republic with Toyota, and shares diesel
engine products with Ford. Mobile workforce is an essential element to enable
such cooperation, which in-turn reduces overhead costs.
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4. Challenges of Mobile Workforce
Workforce mobility and remote access allow organizations to expand
exponentially and to serve customers better. However, despite political, technical
and operational challenges, the organizations concerns:

The security of organizational data and information

The problems from operating and managing the mobile workforce

The costs and ROI – which sometimes difficult to assess directly
With heavier reliance on remote access and mobile devices to hold sensitive
corporate and customer data, organizations are facing challenges to secure and
control mobile workforce. Data security is the most important concerns for the
case study 1, X Research. Moreover, organizations are expected to have strong
IT capabilities to support mobile workforce. Finally, organizations would have
tough time to measure the financial impact of the investment. This is crucial for
organization to analyze the investment of mobile workforce implementation is
worthwhile.
Taken as a whole, organizations are exposing to variety of risks at different stages
during and after the project of mobile workforce implementation. Detailed of the
challenges are discussed in the followings:
4.1. People and Organizational Politics
The first challenge that the proposal for a mobile workforce will encounter in
most organization is the financial challenge – or the economic feasibility. Like
any IT projects, the introduction of mobility to the workforce undergoes the
vigorous process of accessing the Return On Investment (ROI). However, since
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most of the benefits the mobile workface are intangible or wrapped in operational
overheads, it is very difficult to access ROI prior to the implementation.
Moreover, there are challenges of developing new and altering existing business
processes, conduct accurate and meaningful performance measurements and an
introduction of a completely new management culture that supports a mobile
environment. Employees whose work practices are substantially changed will
resist the mobility.
Since mobility introduces changes not only to the work practices but also to the
organizational structures, the system integrators have to face both challenges
from the old-fashion strategic and tactical management teams. “Many business
firms will have to make substantial changes in their organization structures ….
The most difficult task may be to persuade business executives to relinquish
traditional methods of organizing their workers” [BRU1998]
The last but not least challenges the system integrators of the mobile workforce
face is the lack of necessary skills of the workforce. Bruce and Yihwa Irene
described this as: “The skills required are increasing and … education … systems
have not been effective at developing the necessary qualification for mobile work.
Industry and [academic people] will have to work together to develop more
appropriate educational curricula and teaching techniques.”[BRU1998]
4.2. Technology and Controls
4.2.1 Common risks and Problems:
Incidences of laptop theft or loss and network security breaches are occurring at
an alarming rate. Mobile devices often carry sensitive customer information,
which, if lost or stolen, can lead to brand damage. Over 1/3 of the enterprises
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confirmed their mobile workers have sensitive customer information on their
mobile devices1.
Wireless protection for the mobile workforce is required since mobile workers
regularly access wireless networks outside of the secure and monitored enterprise
perimeter.
4.2.2. Challenges during implementation phase:
During the implementation of the change, the organization should continue to
run at its near capacity. To keep the balance between the project deadline and the
need for continuity is often overwhelming. There must always be a back-up plan
before – and even after – the implementation of what to do if the mobile systems
are not available. Regular drills should be formulated and carried out based upon
the importance of the mobility to the business.
4.2.3. Post implementation mobile technology support:
Business executives and managers are optimistic on mobility, but less sensitive to
the increasing demand for support. The demand for the IT supports accelerates
parallel with the accelerating usage and growing complexities in remote devices
and applications. Mobile workers expected real time access and 24/7 IT supports
for the mobile devices and applications are required. This effect multiply since
the average workers uses multiple devices, each carrying multiple new
applications accessing the corporate network. It is putting more pressure on IT
organization to troubleshoot, manage, control and protect remote devices.
Survey respondents identified the most pressing issues as an increasing number
of security threats (18%), more complex applications (16%), and errors and
vulnerabilities in remove device operating system and software (15%).
1
Source: Osterman Research Survery “ Mobile Workforce Security”, Sept 2006
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5. Technologies for Mobile Workforce
As the business world evolves, the ways people work together are very different
today from even a couple of years ago. A key factor is the rapid evolution of
technologies that enable much greater mobility in the workforce. It is no longer
just a toy for technology-savvy group but it greatly improves mobility which is
rapidly becoming a significant component of how people do business.
Technologies completely transform the ways in which many of us do our work
and communicate with our employers, colleagues, customers, suppliers, and
others. Many organizations are looking at the advantages of mobility in their
workforce and developing effective business processes and strategies to deal with
increasingly mobile employees. Let us look at the various infrastructures and
mobile applications that enable companies to push towards a mobile workforce.
5.1. Infrastructure Hardware
Infrastructure is generally a set of interconnected structural elements that
provide the framework supporting an entire structure. A wireless infrastructure,
used for mobile workforce, transforms operational processes at an organic level
and changes the organization to an on-demand operating model. Hardware
infrastructure is the physical aspect of computers, telecommunications, and other
networking elements.
5.1.1. Wide Area Network Jet (WANJet):
WANJet is an application-based solution that delivers Local Area Network
(LAN)-like application performance over the Wide Area Network (WAN).
Basically WANJet accelerates applications such as file transfer, e-mail, clientserver applications, data replication and others, resulting in predictable, fast
performance for all users. F5 Networks, Inc (in the US) designed and
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implemented WANJet to upgrade its information systems as part of their
business strategies.
WANJet is capable of supporting data centers where the most fundamental
component of an enterprise’s information system lays. WANJet features fault
tolerance and scalability for up to 14,000 optimized connections. It is also
capable to work seamlessly across all wide-area networks including dedicated
links, Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN) and even satellite
connections. Nevertheless WANJet is compatible and it enables the nextgeneration services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
With WANJet's site-to-site Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption, users
experience transparent operation and high speed operating networks. IT
managers rest easy knowing that corporate data is protected, and their
organizations ensure compliance with regulations such as Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States.
5.1.2. WiMAX:
WiMax is initially aimed at providing last-mile broadband solutions to services
providers who want to sell Internet access to customers where conventional
cables cannot be run. It is able to provide network access data, voice and video at
speeds of up to 70 Mbps at a range of nearly 50 kilometers.
Intel’s David Johnson (interim chair of the IEEE Working Group) commented
that WiMAX is designed to tackle today’s wireless networking problems such as
when we hop from one wireless network to another, the entire connection will be
reset. WiMAX is intended to enable users to roam seamlessly from one wireless
network to another as well as across 3G networks. Hence mobile professionals
while working on the move will not face any disruptions in their work when they
travel across several wireless network regions.
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5.2. Infrastructure Software
Software infrastructures are part of the enterprise systems that allow huge
enterprises to minimize their business costs and maximize their investments.
5.2.1. Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise:
Microsoft provides a wide range of infrastructure software allowing enterprise
systems to connect to their networking infrastructure efficiently. Microsoft’s
software products include team collaboration tools such as Microsoft Office Live
Communications Server, and line-of-business applications such as Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 3.0 Mobile.
In 2006, the Windows Vista Enterprise is designed to meet the needs of large
global organizations and enterprises with highly complex IT infrastructures.
Windows Vista Enterprise provides higher levels of data protection using
encryption technology. It also includes the Windows Mobility Center that allows
employees to be more responsive in and out of the office where business
collaborations and customer contacts can be enhanced. Furthermore, it can be
more cost-effective to enterprise users where time and expenses associated with
managing mobile PCs or other portable devices linked to a central network can be
minimized.
Hence, Windows Vista Enterprise gives mobile employees more secure and
versatile ways to access their company’s IT resources so they can collaborate with
colleagues, on and off the company network and across geographic boundaries.
5.2.2. Mobile Customer Relationship Management (CRM):
BlackBerry Mobile Data System is an approach to CRM systems accustomed to
the ease of users. Since this mobile system is able to access and update
customers’ data at any time, from anywhere, it increases system adoption and
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improves the timeliness of customer data captured within the BlackBerry MDS
software.
The BlackBerry MDS has application development flexibility where it uses
standards-based mechanisms and protocols to simplify integration with existing
applications and systems. It simplifies wireless application development by
making the complexities of wireless networking transparent to application
developers. A centralized wireless application management is developed to
reduce development time, complexity and operating costs.
Various encryption protocols such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
and a two-factor authentication using the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) are
implemented to secure the communication between the BlackBerry devices and
the BlackBerry Enterprise Server in the corporate network. Additionally, if a
BlackBerry device is lost or stolen, system administrators can send IT commands
wirelessly to lock the device or to delete the user and the corporate data from it.
In 2005, Putnam Investments, a global money management firm, with an
estimated of USD187 billion in assets under management deployed their existing
wireless CRM application (mWholesaler) on BlackBerry Enterprise devices. They
achieved outstanding results after the deployment where they simplified their
information management, improved customer satisfaction and ease in IT
management and administration.
5.2.3. Virtual Private Network (VPN)
A VPN is an extension of a private network that encompasses connections across
public network such as the Internet. Organizations often use a VPN to
communicate confidentially to their intended users over a public network. They
allow employees to work remotely while maintaining a secure method to access to
a remote corporate server.
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To ensure that confidentiality of information is maintained, the data to be sent is
encapsulated with a header before it is allowed to traverse through the public
network. Even if data packets are intercepted, on the public network, they are
indecipherable as hackers do not have access to the encryption keys.
It is much more profitable for organizations to replace with a cheaper solution
based on Internet technology rather than developing their own. With an addition
of a few Internet connections through Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the
VPN server, computers can serve the remote networking requirements of many
remote users.
There are two ways to implement remote access VPN: IP Security (IPsec) and
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) VPNs. IPsec requires a specific client to be installed
on the user’s computer. Hence users are limited to that machine that the client
had been installed to. SSL VPNs do not require any clients as they make use of
encryption and authentication capabilities from Web browsers to provide secure
remote access to corporate information.
A lot of organizations implemented VPN to ensure that a virtual private network
is established between employees’ computer and the organization’s server. Both
the organizations in our case studies (Z Motors and Organization X) showed their
awareness towards security and hence implemented a VPN into their information
systems. An additional layer of security such as a firewall can also be
implemented to deny any access to hacking and sniffing.
5.3. Mobile Hardware
Mobile communication is essential for everyone especially in the era today.
Mobility adoption can start with accessing e-mails on handheld devices, such as
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or editing documents on a mobile PC on the
go. All of these mobile devices should be updated to meet enterprise
requirements.
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5.3.1. Smartphones and Pocket PC phones:
Smartphones and Pocket PC phones can be equipped with Windows Mobile
applications such as Microsoft Word Mobile and Microsoft Excel Mobile. They
usually come with Wi-Fi to enable us to connect to the Internet whenever we are
in a wireless hotspot. Hence we are able to compose e-mail messages and send
them wirelessly as long as there is Internet connectivity.
A high-spec mobile Pocket PC, o2 XDA Orbit, was released in November 2006. It
carries the latest Windows Mobile 5.0 software, has a built-in GPS receiver for
satellite navigation, has a built-in Wi-Fi and supports USB connectivity. With
such a Pocket PC, employees are able to communicate with clients and access
corporate information anywhere while on the move, thus creating great
enhancements of mobility as well as productivity in the workforce.
Y Express Co. Ltd, a mobile-technology-powered home delivery service in Japan,
uses internet-based smart phones for the confirmation of delivery information
with offices and the sales drivers. The delivery employees are able to send the
delivery status back to their headquarters once they received acknowledgements
from the receiving party. Hence tracking of the delivery status of all the parcels
are sped up and thus improve their work productivity.
5.3.2. Ultra-portable PCs:
The fast evolution of technology made it possible to develop laptops with greater
capabilities and much faster processors all packed into the minimum size. An
excellent example of highly compact device is the SONY VAIO UX series is an
ultra portable PC, having decent specifications, weighing merely just half a
kilogram and about the size of a small notebook.
Today's technologies improves handwriting interface tremendously especially
with the new Microsoft handwriting recognition engine designed in 2005. For
instance, a sales representative can use a pen interface to get a signature from the
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client when a deal is done, which can be sent to the server immediately for
safekeeping. Bruce McCabe, a Technology Industry Analyst at S2 Intelligence,
believes future mobile device interfaces will offer a wider range of input and
output options.
5.4. Mobile Software
Mobile communication software has always been the main focus of
telecommunications and predicted to become partially or completely wireless
within the next decade. This section provides an overview of the evolution of
these mobile communications systems.
5.4.1. Mobile Communication Systems:
5.4.1.1. Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN):
PSTN is a communication system that interconnects users and brings each user’s
line into a centralized switching system. This centralized switching system
removes the requirement of having a physical connection line from each
individual user to another.
This existing PSTN technology has proven to work reliably and the cost of
implementing PSTN is minima. However each access point has to be installed
and connected via wires. Once these wires had been installed, breakage of these
connections will definitely cause great inconvenience to the users.
Z Motors (as discussed in Section 7.2) saw the crucial need to switch from its
existing PSTN to other better flexible networks such as GSM and UMTS in order
to achieve growth with economic efficiency.
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5.4.1.2. Global Systems for Mobile Communications (GSM)
GSM is a standard developed by the Europeans to allow flexibility and
competitive innovation among suppliers and yet guarantee proper networking
between components in the system.
A GSM network includes three broad parts namely the mobile system, base
station subsystem and the network subsystem. The base station subsystem
controls the communications with the mobile system while the network
subsystem performs the switching of calls between the mobile users as well as
fixed network users.
GSM network introduces the SIM card which implements personal mobility in
addition to terminal mobility. Since the radio medium GSM uses can be tapped
and accessed by unauthorized users, authentication and security is important.
The Authentication Center (AuC) employs a ciphering algorithm and a set of
encryption techniques to verify each user’s authentication.
GSM network is able to provide a widespread coverage and has a high level of
availability and reliability. Since the connection is wireless, there will be no hassle
of installing connection wires in the infrastructure and it highly enforces mobility
in its applications.
5.4.1.3. Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS):
UMTS is a third generation (3G) mobile communications system which provides
a range of broadband services to wireless and mobile communication
applications. UMTS is developed by extending the second generation (2G)
systems, such as GSM, with the help of Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA) technology. Therefore it preserves the global roaming features of 2G
networks and enhances them with new capabilities.
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UMTS is designed for transferring graphics, video communications as well as
other multimedia information across mobile wireless users at the minimum
implementation cost. It is able to support mobile communication data rates up to
2Mbps.
5.4.1.4. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP):
The ability to use the Internet to carry voice has been around for some time. With
the emergence of wireless networks, the same telephony services can be extended
to wireless devices. Due to its cheap phone-compatible service, everyone is
starting to use internet phone (or IP phones) for telecommunication purposes.
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and notebooks offers integrated VoIP software
which enables them to act like telephone handsets.
VoIP can be especially useful when a business executive, situated overseas just
simply pop into an Internet hotspot and make an inexpensive call from their PDA
or notebook back to his central office. Hence technologies such as VoIP increase
employees’ productivity especially when they need to access certain information
across geographical locations.
Type of mobile
communication
systems
Optimum data
transfer rate
PSTN
(traditional)
33.6kbps
Optimum network 10km
coverage
(wired network)
Cost
Low cost
GSM (2G)
UMTS (3G)
VoIP (3G)
64kbps
2Mbps
400Mbps
30km
(from base
40km
200km
station)
Medium cost
(from base
station)
Medium cost
Low cost
As long as the As long as the As long as
Ease of mobility
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Not portable
area is covered area is covered broadband
by the GSM
by the UMTS
access is
network
network
available
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Ability to
Main advantage
High availability
and reliability
Mobile and has access the
good
Internet and
availability
other
applications
Main
Access points
disadvantage
are not mobile
Limited areas
due to network
coverage
Much cheaper
in making
overseas calls
as compared to
traditional
telephony
Additional
Sound quality
hardware
and reliability
resources are
cannot be
required
guaranteed
Table 5.1. Comparisons between mobile communication systems
Hence all of these mobile communication systems allow mobility in their
workforce and ability to access their usual applications from any locations. This
definitely boosts the company’s workforce productivity as well as promotes
interaction between employees and customers.
5.4.2. Ultra-wide Band (UWB) Wireless Communication:
UWB is developed with the aim to support the growing demand for multimedia
rich transmissions such as broadcast-quality video files.
UWB is ideal for short range, highdensity areas where radio-frequency
interference is more common. It is also
capable of speeding data through the air
at an amazing rate of one gigabit per
second which is more then enough
bandwidth for television, telephone and
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Internet traffic to smaller offices and
homes. Besides those technologies as
mentioned, which are meant for large
area networking implementation, small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) are
able to select the type of technology
optimized for their business processes.
Thus SMEs are able to maximize their
returns of investments (ROIs) by
implementing the
UWB wireless communications.6.
Control for Mobile Workforce
Companies must be focused in organizational purpose, mission, values and
strategies. They need to define, represent and symbolize a shared identity, and
they need to create a team culture. Mobile workforce strategies must be inline
with the overall company strategic strategies. If not, companies will not get
maximum return from the mobile workforce solution. In the worst case, the
newly introduced solution might even lower the productivity instead.
6.1. Controls
To enable and encourage mobile workforce, the management team of the
organizations in question need to have clear objective and impose strong support
for the program. Sometimes, it may involve changing the mindset of the work
environment and attitude. “The organizational climate must be encouraging and
supportive…. It is vital to establish an atmosphere of trust and that offsite
employees do not lose status.”[BRU1998]
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6.1.1 Security Controls
Companies need uniform protocols and standards to govern the storage and
exchange of information. They need to document a thorough communication
plan. They also need to provide an online presence for all key business processes.
X Research in case study 1 has uploaded all these policies onto the organization’s
Intranet, thus every employee has access to these important policies. In addition,
X Research has an independent department to take in charge of all security issues
in the organization. Regular security checks are conducted to randomly mobile
stations to organization’s security will never be compromised.
Companies must develop, implement, upgrade, and regularly monitor security
policies and train users in proper security procedures for business information.
They must establish policies and accountabilities particularly related to signing
authority and financial matters.
6.1.2 Policies Communication and Feedback Controls
Companies need to establish rigorous performance standards and then monitor
those standards through customer and peer feedback. Employees need to
communicate their activities to their managers. Remember — if management
knows nothing of what you are doing, then management may suspect that you are
doing nothing. In case study 1, X Research constantly uses knowledge managers
and seminars to communicate between top management and employees.
In addition, companies must anticipate and plan well in advance for information
and resource needs. Establish a work buddy system so team members will not
feel isolated. Provide guidelines on how to set up a mobile office and manage
time.
Solution policies must be well communicated and disseminated throughout the
organization. If not, poor policies communication will become the bottleneck for
the successful program launch. In case study 1, X Research has clear security
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policies on what type of information are allowed to be processed and sent across
the public network. Anyone violate this policy will be severely dealt with.
6.1.3 Technologies Controls
The solution implementation team must verify that compatible technology
options are available to everyone and are operational. All participants should be
skilled and comfortable with the technology; with this in mind, training should be
mandatory, universal and continuous. In case study 1, X Research has explored a
few technologies options before it has finalized its choices of what techologies to
be adopted. In addition, X Research organizes many seminar and appointed
many people to provide necessary training to all employees. Feedbacks are
collected and are used to fine tune the solution. These make sure all adopted
technologies are fully compatible.
6.1.4 Performance Controls
Companies must celebrate successes and analyze failures, barriers and challenges
in meaningful ways. Check with end users regularly to monitor engagement,
activity, and satisfaction. Periodically conduct organizational scans to identify
strong points and issues for improvement. For X Research in case study 1, a
special Intranet website is created and end users and email any solution bugs so
that the IT department can react promptly on any bugs.
In a case study on Z Motors a case study, 4 critical success factors (Timing and
Requirement Specification, Organizational Structure, Infrastructure, and Support
and Training) were listed. Three of them relate to people in the organization.
They are:

Timing and Requirement Specification

Organizational Structure
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
(IT training of staff)

Support and Training
Z developed specific documentation and had a dedicated change management
and support team. The focus on training helps technology adoption and success
of the initiative.
6.2. Formulating Procedures
Formulating policies for the mobile workforce is an integral part of introducing
the mobile technologies. Key procedures include
●
Ensuring that data is protected even if mobile devices are stolen. There
should be mandatory encryption of data and use of authentication tokens.
●
Archiving of messages for auditing purposes.
Regulations such as
Sarbanes-Oxley require corporations to archive all corporate messages
including e-mail Regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley require corporations
to archive all corporate messages, including e-mail, text messages and
instant messages.
This information is to be made available for audit
purposes.
●
Sensitive information must be encrypted before sending them over the
network.
●
All mobile devices must be security compliant, with the latest firewalls and
antivirus updates. A group of security professionals should be tasked with
this critical job.
6.3. Conducting Trainings
“Developing an environment which facilitates the performance of work
which does not require travel to a certain office and then designing a
training program that does require such travel is inconsistent, especially if
the tele-workers are widely dispersed geographically…. The training should
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provide the workers with a good understanding of the objectives of the
Telework program…. At the end …, the workers should already have a high
degree of confidence in their ability to operate the hardware and software
and to find information on how to perform a task quickly and easily.
Training should be … on-going with updates at periodic times or whenever
system components are changed.
There should be training for managers as well. Managers … must be
carefully chosen…. There must be an emphasis on measuring outputs rather
than attempting to control exactly how workers operate. Managers may
need to think of themselves as facilitators rather than as order givers. Their
function is to monitor the system, to make certain that the correct outputs
are being produced, to provide information as necessary and to ensure that
the workers have whatever they need to do their job…. Managers must learn
how to supervise employees that cannot directly observe and how to
conduct regularly scheduled … meetings.”[BRU1998]
As part of training, companies must communicate news across the organization
promptly and fully. Company conference calls, meetings, and in-person
gatherings are scheduled regularly to ensure that employees are up to date with
the latest policies and procedures.
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7. Case Studies
7.1. Case Study 1: X Research
7.1.1. Organizational Background
Organization X is a non-profit public organization that is one of Singapore largest
organizations to provide capabilities to ensure nation’s security. The organization
has approximately two thousand employees and they are deployed at many
different places over the island.
Due to sensitivity of the job nature, security is always the main concern for
implementing any IT programs.
7.1.2. Setting the Stage
One of the services provided by organization X is technical consultancy and
project management. Thus, employees have to work outside office very often for
work like specification gathering from customer and user acceptance test. In
addition, a significant number of the employees are being deployed permanently
over customer’s premises so as to serve the customer better.
Prior the mobile office, the above mentioned groups of employees can only access
to organization resources like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications
using non-mobile Intranet access point located employee’s deployed location.
The cost of getting each non-mobile Intranet access is both time-consuming and
costly. This is because the Intranet runs on an isolated and secure network which
cannot be mixed with any external network.
Another problem is that significant numbers of employees in the organization are
required to travel for oversea business trip once in every few months. They
cannot access to organization’s ERP applications except email. This lowers the
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productivity of the organization when the employee is on a long business trip.
Furthermore, customer might experience non-promptly reply when employees
are on their long business trip.
As a result, a mobile and secure office solution was supposed by organization’s
Chief Information Officer (CIO) office to enhance organization’s productivity and
customer satisfaction.
7.1.3. Case Description
7.1.3.1. Current Challenges/Problems Facing the Organization
Organization’s CIO office identified the following challenges when introducing a
secure mobile office solution to the organization:
7.1.3.1.1. Security
Since the organization’s core business is related to national’s security, security is
always on the top of the priority list when implementing any solutions in the
organization. CIO office has to balance between security and user convenience.
7.1.3.1.2. User Resistance
People are always the most important factor for success of an IT program launch.
Since the organization has wide range of employee profiles ranging from highly
IT savvy people to people who are not proficient in using IT products. Thus, CIO
office has to ensure the proposed solution is user friendly enough so that those
not so IT proficient employee will not resist the propose solution.
7.1.3.1.3. Cost
Since the organization’s operating fund comes from the tax payer’s pocket, CIO
has to ensure the propose solution is cost effective and is not a “white elephant”
solution. Thus, CIO office has to balance between cost and security.
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7.1.3.1.4. Execution
The execution of the propose solution would not be an easy because there are
more than two thousand employees in the organization. Moreover, not all
employee are located in the office, CIO office has to roll out the solution to reach
each of the employees in the organization.
7.1.3.2 Proposed Secure Mobile Solution
Organization CIO office proposed a secure mobile office solution whereby all of
employees who require mobility get a laptop as their mobile workstation. All
these laptops are able to connect to the organization’s server through any
Internet connection. As a result, employees can access to any organization’s
resources using their laptops.
7.1.3.2.1. Detail Implementations
7.1.3.2.1.1. Hardware
There are two types of workstations, or access device for connection, to cater the
needs of each individual in the organization.
Intranet notebook (mobile)
Intranet desktop (deskbound)
The reason for having two types of workstation is to minimize the risk of
employees
losing
their
laptops
unnecessarily
and
thus
compromising
organization’s security. Only employees who require mobility are issued with
mobile notebooks and they are supposed to follow organization’s new mobile
office policies strictly so as to safeguard data stored inside the mobile notebook.
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To enhance security further, CIO office issues each employee with a personal
smart card and employee has to use the smart to log in workstation. This smart
card also serves as employee’s personal organization pass, thus employee has to
pull out workstation and lock the workstation whenever they leave their
workstation. This ensures no one can gain access to the workstation when the
authorized person is away from it.
7.1.3.2.1.2. Software
To ensure on one can sniff packets when employees are connecting to the
organization server outside the office, Virtual Private Network (VPN) is used to
ensure a virtual private network is established between the employee’s notebook
and organization’s server. Firewall is installed to defer hackers from getting
access to the server.
All files created in the notebook are encrypted and thus only that particular
workstation can decrypt the files. This prevents anyone steal the mobile notebook
can copy files out of the hard-disk.
7.1.3.2.1.3. Infrastructure
All mobile workstations can connect to organization’s Intranet through both
wired and wireless access. As long as there is an Internet connection, employees
can connect to organization’s Intranet wherever they in the office, from home, at
wireless hotspots in public places or from oversea during work assignment.
Internet is inherently an unsecured network, thus organization’s CIO office
decided to keep the most sensitive information in a separated Intranet whereby it
is not connected to any external network, like Internet. Thus, minimizes the risk
of exposing sensitive information unnecessarily.
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7.1.3.3 Policies and Guidelines
To ensure the successful launch of the secure mobile office program, organization
spent a lot of effort to disseminate program details like program objectives,
motivations and implementation details.
7.1.3.3.1. Implementation policies
Organization CIO office appointed one person from each department to be the
knowledge manager. Knowledge manager’s responsibilities are to ensure each of
the people in his department migrated to the new platform successfully.
Organization CIO office first conducted training sessions for each knowledge
manager so that they can help their departments to migrate to the new platform
smoothly. Knowledge managers lighten the load of the IT department for going to
each individual in the organization. This shortened the implementation duration
significantly.
Concurrently, implementation policies are disseminated through organization
Intranet, posters, emails and seminars.
7.1.3.3.2. Security Policies
The security department in the organization takes up the responsibility to enforce
IT security. Periodic security checks are performed to ensure security of the new
mobile office solution will not compromise organization’s security.
Employees are only allowed to use the new platform to process information up to
a certain security classification only. If employees need to process sensitive
information, they have to use the separated Intranet.
7.1.4 Conclusion
Research X has successfully launched its mobile workforce solution. In year
2006, almost 100% of its engineers and managements are equipment with the
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mobile solution. It took almost 3 years from the introduction of this solution to
complete implementation. Research X has invested substantial resources in
terms of money and man effort to disseminate the mobile workforce objectives
and how each employee can contribute to the success of program launch. The
seamless flow of program policies is one of the factor contribute to the
successfully launch of the mobile workforce solution in X Research.
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7.2. Case Study 2: Y Express
7.2.1 Organizational Background
Y Express is a delivery company, which started home delivery service in 1998 and
grown rapidly by utilization of information technology, including mobile
technology. Y Express’s e-Collect service is a payment-on-delivery service which
can accept payment with credit/debit card, which is an application of mobile
credit/debit card processing technology. Y Express also uses mobile network
technology to enable real time update of package tracking information. As a user
of mobile technology which has improved its logistics operations and enhanced
mobile workforce automation, Y Express has gained the leading position in the
home delivery service industry in Japan.
7.2.2 Drivers to the Mobility
(a) Cash-on-delivery service is one of viable money collection channels for those
small-sized commerce services. However, a crucial disadvantage is that it only
accepts cash, not payment by credit card and debit card because it requires a
network connection to credit card companies and banks, which is usually not
available at the front door of the customers’ houses.
With the help of mobile credit card processing terminals and mobile network
platform for enterprise use, mobile credit card processing has become a
reasonable choice for commerce in every industry in Japan.
(b) The viability of using information technology is widely aware in every
industry and now the online package tracking service has become common in
many countries, including Japan. Y Express takes competitive advantage with the
use of mobile technology for real time update of package tracking information at
the point of delivery which makes Y Express’s services quite unique, while other
delivery services have to update the information after the delivery agent goes
back to the office.
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7.2.3 Case Description
7.2.3.1. Current Challenges/Problems facing the Organization
Usually, small- or middle-sized online commerce face difficulties in the adoption
of online credit card payment as their money collection channel because of:

Security issue (customers do not want to type in their credit card number
on the web sites)

Customers’ doubt on online payment (some customers feel uneasy to pay
by credit card without a plastic card and a printed transaction slip)

Higher commission fee (because of lack of bargaining power in small-sized
commerce and online credit card commission fee costs higher as the
higher rate of fraud transactions)

Technology adoption cost (it costs high to develop an SSL-secured online
credit card processing web site).
7.2.3.2. Applicable structure of Mobile-enabled services
Rapid development of mobile technologies produces challenges as well as
chances for businesses. No company can be profitable solely by technologies; a
company can be profitable by values created by technologies.
7.2.3.3. Detail Implementation
7.2.3.3.1. Overview of Mobile Credit/Debit Card Processing
E-collect service is a Cash-on-delivery (COD) service that broadens business
opportunities through convenience of credit card payment and assurance of cash
on delivery shipment. With mobile credit card processing system, Y Express’s
home delivery agents can accept payment by credit card and debit card just like
clerks in stores and restaurants. Their portable device (NEC Infrontia, PE3000
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w/printer, PE3000 w/GPS) is equipped with a magnetic stripe reader to read
cards, a printer to print out transaction slips and a mobile network connection
(NTT DoCoMo’s DoPa Network) to transact with credit card companies and
banks (J-Debit, Visa, JCB, MasterCard, UC, etc.)
The following are the features of e-collect service:

Accepts payment by debit and credit card

Issue of transaction slip at collection of payment on behalf of sender

Payment of shipment costs at time of delivery

Revolving payment and easy payment choices for more convenience
Credit Card
Companies
Y
Express’s
Computer
System
CAFIS
Computer
System
Banks
NTT Docomo’s
DoPa network
Figure 1 Architecture of Mobile Credit Card Processing (http://www.sagawaexp.co.jp/business/ecollect-shukka02.html)
7.2.3.3.2. Overview of Y Express’s package tracking system
Y Express utilizes the mobile terminal for package tracking service. Like other
home delivery services, Y Express is offering that service in their fixed and mobile
web site. The interesting part is that Y Express’s delivery agents update package
tracking information right on the point of delivery, using their mobile terminals
equipped with a barcode reader.
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Because of this activity, the sender of the
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package will immediately know that the receiver have accepted the package right
on the time. This makes Y Express’s service quite unique and competitive.
Delivery agent scanning the barcode on a package for
updating package track information
(1) Reception
(2) When Bringing (3) When loading (4)
When (5) when loading to (6) Delivery
it back to logistics to a truck for long unloading from a a truck for delivery
center
distance transport truck
for
long
distance transport
Figure 2 Package Tracking System (http://www.sagawaexp.co.jp/communication/hyakka/hyakka03.html)
7.2.3.3.3. Advantages of using mobility
We have learnt that mobility bring the following advantages to the logistics and
other similar industries:

Support total solution for sales force automation by utilization of the
toolkit integrated with the credit card processing terminals, such as a
barcode scanner, a transaction slip printer and a GPS unit

Eliminate hassle of registration by sender at Y Express’s branch offices at
low card processing rate
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
Increase customer benefits (Shorter payment transfer cycle) & satisfaction
(customer feel more relax and secured for private card information being
viewed by third parties)

Shorten processing/information updating time (High efficiency)

Reduce costs of collecting cash (security cost & cash holding cost)

Make customer’s adoption easier and the fee of service cheaper
7.2.3.3.4. Effectiveness of mobile technologies in Y Express
With the use of mobile phone, sales drivers in the field can communicate closely
with the office via Internet-based mobile phones and confirm information of
delivery frequently. Communication with the office became possible in a timely
manner, anytime and any place. Information transmissions from the office
regarding pick-ups, requests or information transmissions from the drivers
advising of receipt of instructions or the completion of a run, communications are
made more efficient via the Internet.
The real time update of package tracking information is also enabled by mobile
technology thus the delivery agents can access their network system at the front
door of customers. They use barcode scanners with mobile network capability to
update the information. When delivery, they just scan the barcode of the package,
and then the information is uploaded to the network system at their office.
Senders can check the information at their mobile or fixed-line web-sites just at
the point of delivery, which is such a benefit for the senders anticipating if the
packages are actually sent to the receivers. This can only be possible with mobile
network technology in terms of work force automation and customer satisfaction.
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7.2.4. Control Mechanism
When discussing mobile payment, we just consider about “customer-side
mobility” (i.e. customers can pay anywhere, using mobile network, e.g.
subscription fee of i-mode web-sites collected by NTT DoCoMo) or “payment
with mobile devices”.
For example, FeliCa may be the first thing to remind for mobile payment in
future as it can be used both for “payment with mobile devices” in brick-andmortar shops and payment with “customer-side mobility” in online stores, but it
is not intended to have “business-side mobility” functionality (i.e. businesses can
collect money wherever they are, using mobile network, e.g. mobile credit card
processing such as Y Express’s e-Collect service).
How Y Express can adapt to this trend will be the key issue of the sustainability of
its e-Collect service or it may completely be obsolete when an effective measure
for online payment fit for small-sized businesses is developed.
7.2.5. Conclusion
Through our research on Y Express, we have analyzed its mobile technology
adoption in gaining competitive strategy and enhancing work force automation,
and evaluated its efficiency. Y Express’s mobile credit card processing coupling
with logistics operations like package-tracking system as the most effective
mechanism offered through their fixed and mobile website makes them
successfully growing upward than the other delivery companies. To maintaining
this growth, Y Express should exercise its package tracking system and e-Collect
payment system properly and to create some new ideas related to mobile
technology to update their business.
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7.3. Case Study 3: Z Motors
7.3.1 Overview
Z (also known as Z Motors) is a French car manufacturing group which has 2
brands of passenger and light vehicle commercial vehicles: Peugeot and Citroen.
It is the second largest car manufacturer in Europe, behind the Volkswagen
Group, and has operations in more than 150 countries around the world. It
employs about 17000 engineers and technicians. In 2005, Z made 3.4 million
vehicles worldwide, with a European market share of around 14.3%.
The automobile market is intensely competitive and increasingly global. While Z
has a presence in growth markets like China, it also face competition from China
and Korea brands such as QQ, Cherry, Kia and Hyundai. Z is continually looking
into tapping new markets such as Argentina and Brazil in South America.
Z aims to achieve growth with economic efficiency by engaging with other car
manufacturers on cooperative projects. It shares a plant with Toyota in the Czech
Republic, and diesel engine projects with Ford. Renault and Fiat are also among
Z’s business partners.
essential products.
These collaborations help ensure rapid renewal of
To support global markets and partnerships, Z need to
support employee mobility globally.
7.3.2 Objective
To support increasing global collaboration and business operations, Z aims to
provide an easy-to-use global service offering mobility, access to corporate
network and security at a reasonable cost.
7.3.3 Challenges
Z started with a solution (Z v3) that used the public switched telephone network
(PSTN), and calls that were made to the company information system used a
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secure identity card.
It is a Windows 2000 solution, and there were 300
applications packaged in each of Z’s 80000 PCs (about a third of which are
laptops), depending on the working requirement of the employee. The problems
with the initial solution include:

High complexity due to different software packages and configurations in
80000 PCs.

Management issues as security cards such as lost cards.

Insufficient bandwidth due to PSTN.

High costs.
7.3.4 Approach
The IT division of Z is tasked to spearhead this initiative. Realizing the need to
consolidate all stakeholders’ views and opinion before proceeding with the
project, the gathering of requirements is done by the business-to-employee (B2E)
team of the e-business competency center.
The business-to-employee (B2E) team represents all main organizations in Z,
excluding technical operations. It is responsible for ongoing discussions with all
business units on their requirements, and has the authority to make decisions on
their behalf. The team also liaises with the IT department, infrastructure and
network personnel to ensure capabilities is aligned with end-user requirements.
After discussing with the opinion leaders across the organization, the specific
requirements consolidated by the B2E team were:
7.3.4.1. Reduction of cost.
Each business area had to manage its own costs, even for a centrally-sourced
solution. This was very important because Z committed each division's costs to
its relative usage instead of to a global cost center.
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The need for security in areas such as design is imperative for Z. There is a need
to ensure only authorized people had access. The previous system suffered from
management issues with the security cards used to call in to the IS systems, such
as lost cards, for example.
Bandwidth requirements were not met through the previous solution and needed
to be enhanced.
7.3.4.2. Simplicity.
The need to switch easily between different methods of access, such as personal
asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), Wi-Fi Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM), and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS).
A single package from a single provider was less expensive and required less
processing effort and the provider negotiate with third-party providers. A single
provider was also preferred from an invoicing perspective.
7.3.5 Implementation
With the requirements in place, Z launched the Z Connect project was launched
in the second half of 2003. The initial phase took place between October and
December 2003, and involved specifying the requirements in more detail. The
second phase, which took the first six months of 2004, involved investigation of
solutions and discussions with several vendors. During this phase and for the rest
of the year, Z also worked on the internal impact of the rollout, such as the
technical impact on the infrastructure. It found that minor changes to the
infrastructure were needed, and put a virtual private network (VPN) solution in
place in January 2005, with the permanent solution rolled out in June 2005.
In the end, Z had two options from two alternative providers to choose from, with
the solution from Orange Business Services favored, because it was deemed a
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more cohesive service.
Business Everywhere is a service that allows mobile
employees to access their usual applications from any location, using a range of
access technologies. There is connection software, a single password and wide
geographical coverage. Access options include: dial-up, mobile (UMTS, Enhanced
Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE), general packet radio service [GPRS]),
public Wi-Fi or digital subscriber line (DSL) with IPsec, the Internet security
protocol. There is a security suite, including VPN gateways and managed user
authentication.
Once the decision was made, Z dealt with the constraints of terminating its
existing secure solutions contract by overlapping the new and old providers'
services during the latter part of 2005. The interim time was spent revisiting the
specification to align it better and to change the organizational cost structure
from the IT division, which had carried the cost of the old service, out to the other
divisions, now bearing the cost of the new service. Structural changes were also
made to the supporting teams within the IT division, as well as the embedded
support teams. The change and support management was emphasized and
regarded as critical for this project to help remote users, such as those based in
hotel rooms, for example, to access support services, easily and cost efficiently. A
lot of time and effort was spent on producing training and support
documentation and the project team also took into account the suggestions from
the opinion leaders, as well as testing the services between September and
December, before the rollout.
There are 30 people in the e-business team. Seven of these are dedicated to
change management, which is perceived as a success. Two people on the change
management and support team are dedicated to VIP support for any e-business
service, which includes dedicated emergency lines.
Initially, it was difficult to make the solution as transparent as required in some
markets. In China, for example, the roaming agreement France Telecom's group
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had with China Telecom was not fully operational. However, that issue has been
resolved and the solution now partially operates in China.
7.3.6 Results
The result of Z Connect is widely regarded as a success. 9000 Z employees now
use Z Connect, and about 90% of them express the view that the current service is
better than before.
Costs have been reduced by a third after the organizational cost structure from
the IT division was changed. The initiative to task business areas to manage its
own costs is an effective cost-driven and self-regulatory approach.
The Business Everywhere solution from Orange Business Services was less
expensive, and required less effort, and is far simpler to manage.
Business
Everywhere will negotiate with third-party providers on behalf of Z.
Users can choose between a far larger range of different method of access suits
their needs.
These methods allow users to connect from a much larger
geographical area, as well as address their bandwidth needs.
7.3.7 Critical Success Factors
1. Thorough Planning and Requirement Specification

Requirements were painstakingly gathered by the B2E team from opinion
leaders across the organization.

Sufficient time was allocated to revisit requirements in-between stages.

Careful planning, preparation and testing were done before rolling out
project.
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2. Organizational Structure and Politics

The B2E team at Z allows central decisions to be made with the approval
of business areas and the support of opinion leaders.

Constant communication between B2E team and business units ensures
constant tracking of requirements and construction of project schedule.

Support units were reorganized.

Cost centers were constructed.
3. Technical Infrastructure

The network is upgraded with a VPN solution.

Single software solution (Business Everywhere from Orange Business
Services) is used.
4. Support and Training

Developed specific documentation.

Dedicated change management and support team.

Streamline business processes.

Users are actively encouraged to adopt new and better ways of doing their
jobs.
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7.3.8 Conclusion
Z has implemented the Z Connect initiative successfully through the critical
success factors mentioned above.
The project was carefully planned,
requirements clear, constant communication with the stakeholders, change
management streamlining business processes to reduce costs and used
technology effectively. As a result, they are able to rapidly renew their products
at low costs, which allows them to be competitive in a demanding automobile
market.
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8. Conclusion
Business environment has become more and more competitive because of
globalization. Business has to focus and allocates more resources on customer
satisfaction in order to retain and find new customers. Advancement in IT and
communication technologies drops their costs significantly. As a result,
businesses can use these technologies to enhance their competitive advantages.
In this report, we investigated how the concept of “mobile office” can enhance the
competitive advantages and what factors contribute to the successful launch of
the solution.
Based on the three case studies, we realized that careful planning, competent IT
team and effective policies communications are critical for the success of mobile
workforce. In case study 1, X Research spent a lot of effort in making sure all
policies are communicated effectively to all employees. As for Y Express in case
study 2, the implementation team is competent enough to tackle the complexities
of the real time and mobile IT system. Z Motor in case study 3 has spent
significant effort in requirements gathering to ensure what it is developing is
what its employee really needs. This contributes to the success of the program.
With successful program launches, all companies in the case studies enhanced
their competitive advantages and productivity significantly. These mobile
workforce programs enhance their chances of surviving in today’s highly
competitive and dynamic business terrain.
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Appendix A: References
[1] [GEO2004] Mobile Commerce and Wireless Computing Systems
By Geoffrey Elliott and Nigel Phillips
Published by Pearson Education Limited
NUS Library Catalog QA 76.59 Ell 2004
[2] [BRU1998] The Mobile Workforce: Strategic Opportunity, Competitive
Necessity
By Bruce Rollier and Yihwa Irene Liou
Appeared in The Virtual Workplace from Idea Group Publishing
NUS Library Catalog HD 2336.3 Vir
[ANS1979] Strategic Management
By Ansoff, H. I.
New York: J. Wiley and Sons
[3] WANJet: LAN-Like Application Performance Over the WAN
F5 Networks
http://resources.technewsworld.com/technewsworld/ActivityServlet?ksAction=o
ptInReq&solId=83953&trkpg=scname&pos=3&spId=F5NETWORKSWANLAN&
trkpg=scname&referer=null
[4] Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise – Enable Your Mobile Workforce
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/enterpris
e/default.mspx
[5] Financial Company Switches to BlackBerry for Mobile CRM Functionality
http://www.blackberry.com/products/pdfs/putnam_tech_casestudy.pdf
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Technologies and Controls for Successful Mobile Workforce Solution
[6] Virtual Private Networking: Overview
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/plan/vpnov
erview.mspx
[7] Overview of the Global System for Mobile Communications
John Scourias, University of Waterloo, May 1995
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~mrbohlen/PPPYYYUUUOO/MachineCulture/GS
M.pdf
[8] The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using VoIP
Thomas Schueneman
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-UsingVoIP&id=147921
[9] The Future of Mobility – White Paper
Toshiba Australia Pty Limited, 2004
http://www.isd.toshiba.com.au/sem/whitepapers/wp_futuremobility.html
[10] Universal Mobile Telecommunication System
http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/wireless/moblwrls/cmx/m
mg_sg/cmxgsm.htm#18958
[11] NEC Infrontia Corporation, Credit card processing terminals. Retrieved
January
11th,
2005,
from
http://www.necinfrontia.co.jp/products/debit/debit_index.htm
[12] NEC, Case studies – Y Express. Retrieved January 21st, 2005, from
http://www.sw.nec.co.jp/english/library/jire/Y Express
[13] Sagawa Express Co. Ltd., Company Prospectus – History, Products and
Services
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–
e-collect
services.
Retrieved
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January
19th,
2005,
from
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Technologies and Controls for Successful Mobile Workforce Solution
http://www.sagawa-exp.co.jp/english/main.html and http://www.Y Expressexp.co.jp/
[14] Entrust – Securing Digital Identities & Information - Don't let security go out
the door with your mobile workforce
https://www.entrust.com/contact/index.cfm?action=wpdownload2&tpl=resourc
es&resource=EntrustMobileWorkforce_wp.pdf&id=22661
[15] Entrust 2006 Mobile Workforce Security Survey
https://www.entrust.com/contact/index.cfm?action=wpdownload2&tpl=resourc
es&resource=Entrust%202006%20Mobile%20Workforce%20Security%20Surve
y.pdf&id=22721
[16] Mobile Workforce Security: Protect against Evil Twin Attacks & Hotspot
Phishing
http://www.airwire.dk/pages/_filer/AirDefense_Wireless_Protection_for_the_
Mobile_Workforce.pdf
[17] The remote revolution – Uptime issues, implications & Imperatives in
mobile workforce
http://www.bitpipe.com/detail/RES/1134477154_806.html
[18] Article: IDC: Mobile workforce growing but without support
Backing up workers in the field using mobile devices could become a headache
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/mgmt/E31442B3AE1CDBA3CC2570C300
74CFD4
[19] [Gartner 2006] Case Study: How PSA Deployed a Global Telecom Solution
to Cut Costs by Katja Ruud.
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