Mobilizing Applications

According to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide, smartphone sales will grow by 29% year-over-year to reach 180 million units in 2009, overtaking notebooks in total unit terms. By 2012, smartphones are expected to outnumber all PCs.

In other words, smartphones are everywhere. Unlike PCs and even laptops, smartphones are accessible to their users almost 100% of the time. "Mobilizing Applications" leverages these facts to improve productivity and response time, according to some estimates, by over 60%.

Take the example of a request to approve a purchase order. If the approving manager is on an extended vacation, the request can be stuck for days. If, on the other hand, the application is modified so that the manager can be notified through his/her mobile phone, the approval can be almost instantaneous and the business of the company can continue without delay.

The above is an example of an existing application being modified to integrate the mobile phone. Many of the newer applications are designed from the ground up to make the best use of the mobile phone. A good example is the electronic medical records application, “Abbo EMR”, currently being developed by Zco Corporation for Abbo EMR, LLC. It blends the anywhere, anytime mobile phone with the universal connectivity of the Internet to help the patient and the doctor to collaborate, manage and share the patient’s medical information. Please watch www.zco.com for announcements regarding this state-of-the art and timely product.

Whether you are modifying your existing application or building a brand new one, please bear in mind the following:

1. Even though you may start the project by supporting just one mobile phone (say, the iPhone), it is important that you plan to support most major smartphones including BlackBerry, Android, Nokia, Windows Phone and Palm Pre for the following reasons:
   1. It is becoming increasingly difficult to mandate a single type of phone for all employees. Most people do not want to carry two phones, one for work and one for personal use. So, the trend is to let the employees use the phones they are most comfortable with.
   2. Some applications bring the customers or even the general public into the loop. In those cases, you would want to support as many devices as possible.
2. When you select a vendor, you should choose one who not only has the reputation and integrity of developing high quality software but also has the unique expertise of developing applications for all the mobile devices as well as the backend systems. Using one developer to build the iPhone app and another to develop the Android app will not be cost-effective since the developer needs to relearn your requirements and reestablish the working relationship.

Mobilizing Applications can result in phenomenal efficiencies and savings. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact us at www.zco.com or 603-881-9200.