Enterprise Mobile Technology

When I think about mobile technology, a handheld device is only a part of the solution. The unit may or may not have a touch screen, and may or may not have wireless capabilities. There is no "perfect" device, as every user and application has unique requirements, and depending on the specific technologies that your particular solution requires, the best tools to meet your needs might be a very interesting combination.

By the time you finish reading this article, I hope you’ll have a new appreciation for often-boring technologies in your toolbox, and the potential that these technologies have to drive significant return- on- investment for your mobile business solutions.

Barcode Scanning

Many devices have integrated lasers for barcode scanning, but there is also a plethora of add-on scanners that connect to just about any device through an expansion slot, cable, or Bluetooth.

While laser-based barcode scanners are certainly the standard within the industry, there is a flurry of innovation around optical "scanning" technologies that would allow a device to recognize a barcode through an image captured by a regular digital camera. In addition to a handful of SDKs that offer this capability, Motorola launched the MC35 with optical-only scanning and has really done a lot to raise awareness about this emerging technology. Even so, there are still challenges to reliably scanning 1D barcodes optically, which are partly why many companies are focusing on 2D barcodes for optical scanning on mobile devices, including Microsoft’s new Live Barcode standard.

Another twist we can put on the barcode discussion is actually displaying a barcode on the device that isbe scanned by external readers. While this may seem cutting edge, it is already being used for baseball and movie tickets, and the airlines are working together to create an industry standard for wireless boarding passes.

Biometric Authentication

While some devices like the Toshiba Portégé G910 have built-in fingerprint scanners, there are also a variety of add-on devices that provide fingerprint scanning capabilities. Privaris offers a Bluetooth-enabled scanner, and Veridt has a scanner that can plug into a Compact Flash slot.

In addition to authenticating a user for security purposes, this same biometric fingerprint scanning technology can be used for many other purposes as well. For instance, a nurse could scan a patient’s fingerprint to pull up their medical history and make any necessary observations.

Other types of biometrics besides fingerprints are retinal, facial, gesture, and voice. Oki Electric has a retinal scanner for use with mobile devices, and VoiceIt Technologies has a mobile SDK product for voiceprint-based authentication. It is only a matter of time before all of these biometric technologies become commonplace.

GPS Integration

Beyond traditional GPS applications like basic mapping and navigation, this technology is capable of contributing to many more types of solutions. For instance, take a simple positioning function—, and a field survey application can capture the GPS coordinates of where the data is physically being captured. In a twist on navigation, a field service solution can hold the location of the where the physical items are that need to be repaired, and can lead the technician to the exact spot to do the work. In a delivery solution, the mobile application could optimize the route to minimize drive time, and in a dispatch-automation solution, the mobile devices can all upload their current positions in real-time to the central system that can quickly identify the worker that is best located to be assigned the job. Although these GPS-centric implementations are not necessarily complex, a little innovation can drive enormous return-on-investment. And with more devices arriving with integrated GPS all the time, and literally dozens of plug-in or wireless GPS add-ons, there is no reason not to embrace this innovation.

Image Capture

Over the last few years, the integration of a digital camera has become a commonplace addition to virtually every handheld and smartphone. When cameras first started to appear in mobile devices, many people struggled to grasp why anyone would use them. Now, but as time went by they have been adopted into the core of our culture. Celebrity rants, customer service blunders, and disasters are now captured instantly, and within seconds are e-mailed around the globe, posted on blogs, and displayed on news television. Just as these scenarios have become so commonplace in our personal lives, so will enterprise-oriented mobile solutions be able to leverage this technology. From attaching images of damaged property when processing an insurance claim, to taking pictures of products being delivered or services being rendered, mobile applications can truly utilize the capabilities of built-in cameras. Even real-time streaming video conferencing is possible, and as wireless bandwidth continues to increase, so will the usability of those applications.

Even beyond that, image capture technology can be used for object, character, and even facial recognition. Much in the same way that barcodes can be "scanned" by processing the image of a barcode in the software, so can other types of recognition technologies use the same capabilities. Optical character recognition can convert an image of printed text into actual text that can be formatted, processed, e-mailed, or saved in a database. By passing the captured image on to a network of back-end servers for heavy processing, wireless devices can even act as the mobile interface to sophisticated facial (or other types of) recognition systems.

Magnetic Strip Reading

There are not very many mobile devices with integrated magnetic strip readers, but thankfully there is a very wide selection of add-on readers. Given the standards in the various types of magnetic stripe cards, it is relatively easy to write applications thato take advantage of this technology. One of the most common uses for this is capturing credit card swipes for processing payment at the point of sale. Another very common magnetic strip standard is for driver’s licenses. Imagine applying for credit by swiping your license, inputting your social security number and income, and digitally capturing your signature for instant approval. Beyond that, there are infinite applications that could be implemented with brand loyalty cards from airlines or hotel chains. Even many tradeshows record attendees’ contact information on a swipe card to allow for easy capture of data at exhibitor booths, and rather than using a "dumb" print terminal, a powerful mobile application could be used to capture additional customer information requests or even process sales orders.

Printing

There are actually several different types of mobile printing technologies, and although they are similar, they are all designed for different purposes. On one hand, there are small mobile printers like ones made by Epson and Zebra that allow users to print small items like tickets or receipts. On the other end of the spectrum is the ability to print on any printer from anywhere, and software from companies like PrinterOn allow you to connect to their service wirelessly over the Internet and print to your printers at home, the office, or even your hotel when you’re travelling. In the middle of that spectrum, there are medium-sized printers like the HP Officejet H470 Mobile Printer or add-ons from Anycom that let you print directly to the printer via Bluetooth. However you might need to print from a mobile device, thankfully there are powerful tools available to help you achieve whatever want. Projection

How often do you lug your laptop halfway across the country just so that you can give a PowerPoint presentation? When I talk with serious road warriors, I regularly hear that if it wasn’t for the presentation, they would just as well prefer to leave their laptop behind. With technology from companies like Impatica, this is available today. By connecting a small video adapter to any VGA projector, a mobile device can transmit the presentation over Bluetooth or USB connection. But even beyond giving PowerPoints, this same technology can be used to show off the screen of your mobile device, in order to demonstrate a particular application or perform training.

Further down the road in the next few years, tiny projectors will actually be embedded in your handhelds and Smartphones, where they will be able to project an image onto a tabletop or a wall. Companies like Explay and Microvision are making significant progress in reducing the size and power requirements of the projection mechanism, and eventually this will make the physical the screen size insignificant as you will be able to use virtually any surface as your mobile display.

Radio Frequency Identification

While Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has achieved much of its current adoption as a result of mandates from Wal-Mart and others, the potential for this technology stretches far beyond supply chain management. Most of these deployments revolve around fixed-mounted readers that automatically scan items on pallets as they move by.  Even beyond that, RFID can do things that are not possible with barcodes. First, RFID tags can be authenticated, unlike most barcodes which are easily replicated.

Additionally, RFID can store information in the tag and perform both read and write actions, while barcodes can only be read after they are printed, and the information in the barcode cannot be changed.

Specifically from a mobile perspective, handheld RFID scanners are not line-of-site, which can be both a challenge and an opportunity. If tags are close together, they can be rapidly scanned in sequence, but the problem is that the user does not necessarily know which physical tags have been scanned or in what order. While this could present issues in certain applications, it also allows a mobile application to scan tags that are not visible. For instance, this could be tags that are inside a closed box, a sealed surgical instrument tray, or even inside an animal. And since data can actually be written to the tag, a mobile field service automation solution could actually store a record of the repair on the tag itself. While it will certainly take a long time to reach the level of ubiquitous adoption as the barcode has done, RFID’s impact on the efficiency and workforce productivity of many business processes will be no less significant.

Signature Capture

Even though signature capture has traditionally been one of the most basic components of many mobile solutions since the time handheld business applications were first deployed, the importance of this capability is nonetheless extremely significant. With recent legislation upholding the validity and legally-binding nature of electronically-captured signatures, the ability to capture and store these signatures is incredibly important for a wide range of mobile applications.

Many sales force automation solutions need to capture a signature to close a sale, delivery applications must capture a signature to provide proof of receipt, and point of sale solutions need to capture a signature in certain cases to fulfill their merchant agreements when processing credit card transactions. There are limitless numbers of applications that require signature capture, and thankfully any device with a touch screen is capable of doing that.

Voice Recognition and Transcription

When it comes to voice recognition, there are two distinct types of applications. First are command-driven applications, like the new Microsoft Live Search Mmobile that allows you to say "Coffee" into your device and it will show you where the nearest Starbucks is. This type of technology has been around for a very long time, and is reliable as long as there is little background noise.

The other type of application is transcription or dictation, and although people have been trying to do this for a very long time as well, the results have traditionally not been as good as voice commands.

Additionally, the processing requirements of these solutions are quite high, and are therefore not very open to mobilization. That is, until now. A company called Simulscribe offers a powerful service that will automatically transcribe your voicemails and e-mail them to you as text, which will not only change the way you deal with voicemails, but it also demonstrates how voice transcription technologies can work today with mobile technologies: by passing the audio on to a server for heavy processing.

Accenture’s R&D labs have even been working on a mobile application that can "coach" a salesperson through a conversation by recognizing the voice of both the salesperson and the customer;, the system could then pass tips or advice wirelessly through a Bluetooth earpiece worn by the salesperson. Wherever these voice-driven technologies go, the future will be quite exciting.

Realizing the potential

While all of these technologies by themselves can offer great capabilities as you build mobile solutions for your organization, the true potential is realized by combining these technologies in your toolbox. For instance:

•    GPS Positioning + Biometric Authentication = Secure timecard that proves identitfy and location
•    Barcode Scan + Magnetic Strip Reading + Signature Capture = Completed sales transaction
•    Voice Recognition + Projection = Interactive mobile sales demonstration

As your company explores its own potential for mobility, refer to this technology toolbox for ideas that might jog some of your own inspiration and innovation.

Author :
Nathan Clevenger is an expert in enterprise mobile technology. He is currently the Enterprise Editor for Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine and runs the Enterprise Mobility Solutions practice at ITR Group, a Microsoft Gold Certified consulting firm. He writes for a variety of technical and business publications, and speaks at industry events.

By: Nathan Clevenger
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