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02 February, 2009 15:07

Mobile phones: the smart choice

by Robert Munro

Mobile communications have never been more important for small to medium enterprises. The increasing degree of hot-desking, the use of contract and agency staff and cutbacks in office space mean that being able to contact staff quickly and efficiently is of paramount importance.

A business guru recently outlined the importance of mobile communications in a study commissioned by T-Mobile. Dragons Den regular and private equity mastermind James Caan now sees himself as entirely reliant on mobile technology.

"It's not until you actually add up all of the time spent out of the office that you realise it has the potential to put a real strain on business resources.

"I literally could not run my businesses without mobile broadband and email. It is critical to my employees' ability to react quickly to opportunities and to ensure the right people can be reached at a moment's notice when important decisions need to be made," said Caan.

The T-Mobile survey found that 60 per cent of small business senior decision makers spend a minimum of five hours out of the office a week - equivalent to 32.5 working days a year.

Phone launches

So the new raft of mobile devices set to flood the market in 2009 is particulary welcome. It is probably no overstatement to suggest that the new phones currently being showcased by the major manufacturers represent a quiet revolution in what is possible.

The much-hyped 3G technology that allows fast data transfer has finally come of age with hardware and operating systems being announced that realise the full potential of the networks that cost the operators so much to roll out.

‘This changes everything' - Apple's ad slogan for its phenomenally successful iPhone is for once more than mere hyperbole.

"I literally could not run my businesses without mobile broadband and email. It is critical to my employees' ability to react quickly to opportunities," said James Caan

The ability of hardware to combine with innovative applications on a fast data network makes for some stunning functionality.

Look up your contacts on an iPhone and it will also tell you how far you are from them and provide you with a detailed route on how to get there. Or maybe you would prefer a high resolution aerial photograph of the new office building you are considering? No problem, it is on your screen in seconds.

The other new player in town is the T-Mobile G1 phone, using Google's impressive Android operating system which has been made open source to allow third party developers free rein in producing applications.

So far their endeavours have been aimed squarely at the consumer market but it is not hard to see how a GPS-enabled camera phone with a powerful processor and innovative operating system could produce some useful functionality for a mobile sales force.

Shrinking market

Despite some great technology hitting the market, it is of course a far from rosy picture for phone manufacturers. In January, a poll of market analysts conducted by news agency Reuters outlined a particularly grim year ahead.

Respondents further cut their market estimates for 2009, with the average forecast now for a 7.9 per cent fall in market volumes.

In a similar poll in mid-December analysts on average had forecast a 6.6 percent fall, while Nokia itself said on 4 December its best estimate was for market volumes to fall 5 per cent or more. When the company reported Q4 results in January, year on year device and services volumes were down 6.9 per cent. The fall was marked by a 26 per cent drop in volume sales in Q4.

In a shrinking market, handset makers are battling for the only remaining growth area of smartphones, where they face newer rivals such as Apple, with its iPhone, BlackBerry maker RIM and Google.

With tech-savvy consumers more reluctant than others to cut their spending, and many buyers of the latest top-end phones relying on operator subsidies, analysts say smartphones should weather the downturn best and continue to grow.

But with all vendors battling for a bigger share of the smartphone business, prices for more advanced phones are also set to fall fast, said analysts quizzed by Reuters.

So this is a great time to get a good deal on the latest technology and bring your workforce up to speed in the mobile communications arena.

What to look for in a smartphone

With all the major manufacturers set to bring out new models this year, one could be forgiven for feeling a little confused.

But there are some general trends and features that define the 2009 smartphone and buyers should be familiar with them.

The slide-out QWERTY keyboard is now considered a must for many users and is the one chink in the iPhone's armour. The T-Mobile G1 may not be as cool or sexy with its thick form factor but once you slide out its keyboard, it is a whole lot easier to send emails than tapping a screen with your finger. This has clearly influenced other manufacturers such as BlackBerry, HTC and Motorola who are releasing new keyboard phones this year.

GPS is another sine qua non for the phone market in 2009. Until you use a device which has it you may not quite get the point but once you have easily and quickly found the nearest restaurant, bar or coffee shop to meet a client, it all becomes clear.

Touch screen technology came of age with the iPhone and set the bar for all other manufacturers. The sleek wow-factor of swiping, flicking and shaking your way through Apple's software made it an object of extreme phone envy. Buyers now expect no less from other makers and they will not be disappointed.

Mobile cloud computing

Push email that appeared unbidden on its devices was what made BlackBerry's impact in the mobile marketplace and led to the familiar site of besuited workers wearing their thumbs out hammering away at their ‘Crackberries'.

Mobile cloud computing offers a truly integrated future, where users can access all their data at any time, anywhere in the world via multiple devices

With the advent of cloud computing, where emails, spreadsheets and documents are stored on remote servers and accessed via the internet, phone developers can now offer ‘always on' access as a matter of course.

Mobile cloud computing offers a truly integrated future, where users can access all their data at any time, anywhere in the world via multiple devices.

Google, for example, is able to configure a G1 within seconds to access your Gmail and Google Docs.

Answer an email anywhere, on any platform and it will be accessible via your phone without any intervention on your part. Ditto for updated contacts, revised documents and your diary.

Of course, not everyone loves Google's ad-ridden interface, but a lot of businesses see cloud computing as the future.

Apple's competing MobileMe offering is aimed at the consumer market and is paid-for rather than free but offers very similar functionality for iPhone owners, this time without the ads.

And third party developer Soonr (CORR) http://public.soonr.com/home.html is offering a sophisticated cloud-based document management system that overshadows Google Docs rather cheap-looking option.

iPhone users get a crisp, clear view of all their documents - whether they are Word, Excel, PowerPoint or virtually any other file type - along with the ability to collaborate and share, and even print to a remote printer from their iPhones.

Soonr automatically maintains the latest versions of all your key documents in the cloud. Its powerful rendering software works across a wide range of document formats, so mobile workers do not have to download specific programs to view their documents as required by other applications.

"With Soonr on your iPhone, your computer files are always available to you, right in palm of your hand, where you can take action on them. By harnessing cloud computing and making it mobile, Soonr on the iPhone provides a seamless way to have better productivity and control while on the move," said Soonr CEO Patrick McVeigh.

And big things are expected from the Palm Pro which will utilise the new webOS operating system to run a cloud application called Synergy to store emails, contacts and calendar. Rumoured to be available in the UK via Vodafone, it is anticipated that the Pro will revive Palm's flagging fortunes.

It remains to be seen how other operators will adapt to the cloud revolution but it is the future and a level of functionality that will become mandatory for devices aimed at the business market.

Social networking - the new marketplace?

The world is divided into two kinds of people - those wo have no idea what Facebook is and those who have embraced social networking and are using it to boost their business profiles through traditional pay-per-click advertising and viral campaigns that cross the boundaries between marketing and social interaction.

Smartphones that allow access to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are a growing breed.

Paying too much?

Many firms do not bother to review their expenditure on mobile communications and as a consequence pay more than they have to.

According to independent business mobile specialist, Jelly Communications (http://www.jellycoms.co.uk/), a staggering third of UK businesses pay too much for their business mobile phone bills.

Jelly suggests that in today's current economic climate, when businesses are looking to cut back on costs, the mobile phone bill is one of the first things that should be addressed as it is an obvious target for cost-cutting.

"We constantly come across businesses that are over paying as much as 40 per cent for their business mobiles due to them being on an incorrect tariff. The mobile phone industry dreams of retaining 50 per cent of its customers. Consumers are generally quite good at shopping around for the best value tariffs, but businesses tend to renew deals that are uncompetitive year after year without a second thought," said Jelly Communications managing director Gareth Limpenny.

"Businesses should bargain harder to take advantage of savings they can make, either by reviewing their tariff with their existing network provider or switching to a new one," he added.

And the poll conducted by T-Mobile found that 42 per cent of small businesses consider they pay too much for their mobile communications plan and yet 77 per cent do not have a plan that balances the cost of phone calls, mobile emails and text messages.

"Mobile communications has moved on from bundles of minutes and texts - now it is about mobile internet, email and data sharing," said Oliver Chivers

T-Mobile UK head of business marketing Oliver Chivers said: "SMEs are either paying too much or do not have policies in place to control the cost of mobile communications. This technology is there to support the business, not place a strain on the bottom-line. The survey uncovered that nearly a quarter of small businesses have not reviewed their mobile comms plan in over a year, with 17 per cent completely unaware of when it was last checked."

He said that businesses need to understand the nature of the mobile revolution in order to take full advantage of what is on offer and effectively manage costs.

"Mobile communications has moved on from bundles of minutes and texts - now it is about mobile internet, email and data sharing. Any business must ensure its mobile plans include quotas for voice, email, texts and international calls in order to support their employees' changing needs and to guard against unnecessary bill-shock," he said.

Using mobile applications

Despite the costs and complexity of mobile computing, it is undoubtedly the medium by which increasing amounts of business are being conducted and SMEs who take their eye off the ball are risking more than a missed call.

A YouGov survey of UK SMEs for BlackBerry manufacturer, Research In Motion, conducted in December 2008 shows the extent to which mobile technology is transforming the business landscape.

Nearly half (46 per cent) of SME decision makers think they can be more productive by using a smartphone, with 60 per cent of young entrepreneurs claiming they save up to two hours productive time each day compared with 45 per cent of older SME decision makers. These findings resonate with previous independent research undertaken by Ipsos Reid that stated that a typical SME end-user converts 60 minutes of downtime into productive time per day. A quarter of SME decision makers are already using or are considering using their smartphone to access company systems such as accounting and CRM databases with the figure increasing to nearly half (47 per cent) for 18 to 34 year olds.

When considering the benefits of mobile applications, SMEs rated banking facilities, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and conference calling as the most useful tools to increase productivity.

Research In Motion (EMEA) director of solutions and alliances marketing Rory O'Neill said: ""More and more SMEs are realising that mobile technology is not just about communications and email on the go - it can improve overall business efficiency. With eMerit, a live 24/7 credit card processing solution, you can take payments in the field while CRM applications such as salesforce.com, SAP and Maximiser give access to orders in real-time with the most up to date information available to the sales force. Our emphasis is to get more focused on servicing customers and we have seen an uptake in customers wanting to use the mobile platform more. People are getting laser-focused on return on investment. The smartphone category is very important and we spent 2008 broadening the range. In 2009, we will invest $193 million in research and development."

With budgets under pressure and finances stretched in 2009, there is more incentive for companies to review their working practices and improve productivity levels. The swathe of new mobile applications which help to automate business processes on the move is one way to build market share and grow your business.