TBS has updated their web site this week. Its worth a visit as the web site now has a project zone with video case studies of best practise in enterprise mobility and a members section complete with, white papers, PowerPoint presentations, TaskMaster demos, a Enterprise Mobility blog and a discussion forum.
Take a look http://www.tbsmobility.com/
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
The mobile phone becomes a necessity
The mobile phone becomes a necessity for ALL the but internet is becoming an increasing challenge.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation survey, published 1st July 2008, suggests that a single person needs to earn £13,400 before tax to afford a basic but acceptable standard of living. The report also states that mobile phone ownership for low income individuals has grown rapidly, indicating that the mobile phone is becoming a necessity, much like the land line telephone. The report budgeted for mobile phones on a pay-as-you-go basis (rather than on a contract basis). It identified that mobile phones are now required for special use – for example, for emergencies in the case of pensioners or in the case of parents, if they needed to be contacted during the day by their children’s schools etc. In 1998 mobile phone ownership for low income individuals was rare compared to today, however the possibility of lower cost ownership is a contributory factor to the rising numbers.
The report also suggests that internet access is only a necessity for children’s educational purposes. The government’s aim, to provide internet access for all, creates somewhat of a dilemma. My concern is that the government target for internet access is becoming an increasingly difficult goal, especially when the number of people living below the poverty line is increasing, and when this number has risen by a further 100,000 children in 2006-2007 to 2.9 million.
Even though the government has long acknowledged the role that technology can play in education and it is imperative that ‘education is for all’ in our modern society, the challenge is of reducing the number of disadvantaged children and adults requires creative solutions from government and the mobile industry. This is where mobile technology can assist, as wireless-enabled PDA’s and smartphones could bridge the gap, bringing low cost Internet access, web browsing, and e-learning applications to ALL. Internet connectivity could be delivered by either public wireless LAN (Government Wireless Cities Programme) or by a subsidised wireless broadband from a cellular network provider.
Mobile industry call to action;
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report has identified that we, as the mobile industry, need to develop creative mobile internet packages that ensure the government strategy is met and certainly as far as our country’s children are concerned, NONE are disadvantaged.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation survey, published 1st July 2008, suggests that a single person needs to earn £13,400 before tax to afford a basic but acceptable standard of living. The report also states that mobile phone ownership for low income individuals has grown rapidly, indicating that the mobile phone is becoming a necessity, much like the land line telephone. The report budgeted for mobile phones on a pay-as-you-go basis (rather than on a contract basis). It identified that mobile phones are now required for special use – for example, for emergencies in the case of pensioners or in the case of parents, if they needed to be contacted during the day by their children’s schools etc. In 1998 mobile phone ownership for low income individuals was rare compared to today, however the possibility of lower cost ownership is a contributory factor to the rising numbers.
The report also suggests that internet access is only a necessity for children’s educational purposes. The government’s aim, to provide internet access for all, creates somewhat of a dilemma. My concern is that the government target for internet access is becoming an increasingly difficult goal, especially when the number of people living below the poverty line is increasing, and when this number has risen by a further 100,000 children in 2006-2007 to 2.9 million.
Even though the government has long acknowledged the role that technology can play in education and it is imperative that ‘education is for all’ in our modern society, the challenge is of reducing the number of disadvantaged children and adults requires creative solutions from government and the mobile industry. This is where mobile technology can assist, as wireless-enabled PDA’s and smartphones could bridge the gap, bringing low cost Internet access, web browsing, and e-learning applications to ALL. Internet connectivity could be delivered by either public wireless LAN (Government Wireless Cities Programme) or by a subsidised wireless broadband from a cellular network provider.
Mobile industry call to action;
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report has identified that we, as the mobile industry, need to develop creative mobile internet packages that ensure the government strategy is met and certainly as far as our country’s children are concerned, NONE are disadvantaged.
Monday, 2 June 2008
You and your mobile phone
I am currently working on an article around mobile phone usage, for this I have created a quick questionnaire.
Please could you click the link to help me with the future article.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=MhuZJEHJOoCsHafpj2k4kg_3d_3d
Thanks in advance
Steve
Please could you click the link to help me with the future article.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=MhuZJEHJOoCsHafpj2k4kg_3d_3d
Thanks in advance
Steve
Friday, 30 May 2008
DIY versus Managed Mobility
The majority of enterprise mobility solutions deployed in the UK have been completed with the involvement of a specialist third party organisation, coming into existence as managed solutions. Yet, organisations have the option to keep development in-house, and those companies big enough to employ their own experience IT staff may feel that a DIY approach to enterprise mobility offers the best option. While each approach has merits, they share a number of important considerations.
Key Issues:
Assessing skillsets and managing risk.
It’s important to closely study the capabilities of both in-house teams and third party suppliers when moving towards an enterprise mobility project. The underlying objective should be to minimise risk within the development and rollout process so the solution can be completed on time, on budget and with the support of all the field worker users. It’s therefore vital to discover whether the in-house department or supplier has the necessary technical and project management skills and experience to ensure success.
Scaling a solution.
The size and scope of enterprise mobility solutions continues to grow – just a few years ago many implementations were designed to cover relatively small numbers of users, whereas today it’s common for them to reach many hundreds. Organisations need to consider which approach to project development can help them reach the required number of users to roll-out, and also allow them to scale upwards quickly and effectively as their needs develop.
Support & longevity.
While design and implementation presents a specific set of challenges, ongoing user and technical support requires different skills and can require considerable resource. Thought should be given to how these needs can be successfully provided for field workers to cover all working hours and circumstances. Organisations also need to be sure that even if they have the in-house development skills to produce a successful enterprise mobility solution, that they are equally capable of developing and upgrading it over a number of years. Can they keep it current with business need or will they need a third party supplier to help achieve this?
Consultation and communication.
End user organisations clearly have the best understanding of their own businesses and the processes to which a mobility solution is being applied. Care must be taken in involving users at all levels - the views, experience and knowledge of the field workers themselves is critical in designing a solution that will be not only a functional success, but one which will also find support among its actual user base. Third party organisations can offer project management experience to make this process operate efficiently and ensure conclusions are properly reflected in the design of the solution.
Infrastructure & server strategy.
Whichever development route an organisation decides to take, a key consideration is how the infrastructure will be provided and where the solution will be hosted. Different organisations have different requirements – if a company doesn’t have the IT infrastructure internally, then a managed solution offers a good option. Many organisations maintain a preference to host this kind of technology themselves, not least for security reasons of having the equipment under their own roof. But building an infrastructure from scratch takes capital expenditure and some time to implement. A hosted service can be up and running quickly and can also be scaled easily as well as requirements expand.
Key Issues:
Assessing skillsets and managing risk.
It’s important to closely study the capabilities of both in-house teams and third party suppliers when moving towards an enterprise mobility project. The underlying objective should be to minimise risk within the development and rollout process so the solution can be completed on time, on budget and with the support of all the field worker users. It’s therefore vital to discover whether the in-house department or supplier has the necessary technical and project management skills and experience to ensure success.
Scaling a solution.
The size and scope of enterprise mobility solutions continues to grow – just a few years ago many implementations were designed to cover relatively small numbers of users, whereas today it’s common for them to reach many hundreds. Organisations need to consider which approach to project development can help them reach the required number of users to roll-out, and also allow them to scale upwards quickly and effectively as their needs develop.
Support & longevity.
While design and implementation presents a specific set of challenges, ongoing user and technical support requires different skills and can require considerable resource. Thought should be given to how these needs can be successfully provided for field workers to cover all working hours and circumstances. Organisations also need to be sure that even if they have the in-house development skills to produce a successful enterprise mobility solution, that they are equally capable of developing and upgrading it over a number of years. Can they keep it current with business need or will they need a third party supplier to help achieve this?
Consultation and communication.
End user organisations clearly have the best understanding of their own businesses and the processes to which a mobility solution is being applied. Care must be taken in involving users at all levels - the views, experience and knowledge of the field workers themselves is critical in designing a solution that will be not only a functional success, but one which will also find support among its actual user base. Third party organisations can offer project management experience to make this process operate efficiently and ensure conclusions are properly reflected in the design of the solution.
Infrastructure & server strategy.
Whichever development route an organisation decides to take, a key consideration is how the infrastructure will be provided and where the solution will be hosted. Different organisations have different requirements – if a company doesn’t have the IT infrastructure internally, then a managed solution offers a good option. Many organisations maintain a preference to host this kind of technology themselves, not least for security reasons of having the equipment under their own roof. But building an infrastructure from scratch takes capital expenditure and some time to implement. A hosted service can be up and running quickly and can also be scaled easily as well as requirements expand.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Benefits of Software as a Service (SaaS)
Background
Over the last 18 months software as a service SaaS has become more prevalent with major software organisations such as Microsoft offering a rental model for the majority of their software applications which are hosted and managed on third party servers. Software as a Service (SaaS) is the term used for delivering software applications using the Internet or a wide area network as the delivery mechanism. SaaS can be implemented rapidly and removes the need to purchase expensive server infrastructure. The SaaS model is being used to provide a whole host of software applications from email to enterprise mobility solutions.
So what are the benefits ?
Revenue based payments
SaaS is delivered to organisations as a subscription model, usually billed on a per user per month basis for a fixed term of usually 3 years. Billing is on a “pay as you go” basis, that is, businesses only pay for the users who have benefited from the software during each billable month. Naturally this removes large upfront payments and potential annual licence, support and maintenance charges.
Third party hosted
Investing in expensive infrastructure is no longer required since SaaS software applications are now third party hosted. As a result there are no capital costs for hardware, licenses, databases or ongoing overheads of either third party or internal IT support staff or software and hardware maintenance and upgrades. Software applications are accessed via a web browser or a mobile device via a wireless network connection keeping your user IT requirements simple and low cost and easily managed.
Predictable costs
SaaS provides agreed pre-defined fixed charges. This enables you to project and predict your annual costs and helps with annual budget provisioning.
Multi-Tenant Efficiency
Some SaaS solutions use secure multi-tenant architecture (for example Microsoft Exchange email SaaS). This means that the cost of all software, infrastructure and expertise is shared by a large number of customers. This multi-tenant architecture offers reduced implementation times and economies of scale making the overall solution more cost effective
Increased Accessibility
Being Internet based, your applications are accessible not only in the office but from home a hotel room or from any of your businesses international locations if you have them.
Flexibility and Scalability
SaaS, provides businesses with a high level of flexibility. Since, the software solution is delivered via the Internet; SaaS completely eliminates installation and setup at the customer’s end. Users can be up and running very quickly. Also as your business grows all you need to do is request your service provider to add more users. Because hosted solutions are designed to scale, initially you could start with 10 users and after 1 month add say another 3,000 users without any issues, thus providing your business with ultimate flexibility.
Availability and Security
SaaS providers are in the business of providing uninterrupted reliable services. Vendors understand that data must be backed up religiously, and information security is a paramount concern. Skilled resources, network redundancies, stand-by power, up-to-date security and intrusion detection are a necessity in providing an enterprise class service.
Over the last 18 months software as a service SaaS has become more prevalent with major software organisations such as Microsoft offering a rental model for the majority of their software applications which are hosted and managed on third party servers. Software as a Service (SaaS) is the term used for delivering software applications using the Internet or a wide area network as the delivery mechanism. SaaS can be implemented rapidly and removes the need to purchase expensive server infrastructure. The SaaS model is being used to provide a whole host of software applications from email to enterprise mobility solutions.
So what are the benefits ?
Revenue based payments
SaaS is delivered to organisations as a subscription model, usually billed on a per user per month basis for a fixed term of usually 3 years. Billing is on a “pay as you go” basis, that is, businesses only pay for the users who have benefited from the software during each billable month. Naturally this removes large upfront payments and potential annual licence, support and maintenance charges.
Third party hosted
Investing in expensive infrastructure is no longer required since SaaS software applications are now third party hosted. As a result there are no capital costs for hardware, licenses, databases or ongoing overheads of either third party or internal IT support staff or software and hardware maintenance and upgrades. Software applications are accessed via a web browser or a mobile device via a wireless network connection keeping your user IT requirements simple and low cost and easily managed.
Predictable costs
SaaS provides agreed pre-defined fixed charges. This enables you to project and predict your annual costs and helps with annual budget provisioning.
Multi-Tenant Efficiency
Some SaaS solutions use secure multi-tenant architecture (for example Microsoft Exchange email SaaS). This means that the cost of all software, infrastructure and expertise is shared by a large number of customers. This multi-tenant architecture offers reduced implementation times and economies of scale making the overall solution more cost effective
Increased Accessibility
Being Internet based, your applications are accessible not only in the office but from home a hotel room or from any of your businesses international locations if you have them.
Flexibility and Scalability
SaaS, provides businesses with a high level of flexibility. Since, the software solution is delivered via the Internet; SaaS completely eliminates installation and setup at the customer’s end. Users can be up and running very quickly. Also as your business grows all you need to do is request your service provider to add more users. Because hosted solutions are designed to scale, initially you could start with 10 users and after 1 month add say another 3,000 users without any issues, thus providing your business with ultimate flexibility.
Availability and Security
SaaS providers are in the business of providing uninterrupted reliable services. Vendors understand that data must be backed up religiously, and information security is a paramount concern. Skilled resources, network redundancies, stand-by power, up-to-date security and intrusion detection are a necessity in providing an enterprise class service.
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