How would it professionalize the skills of the delivery-driver? What was the business case for this incredible investment that was presented and approved by the board that would revolutionize how service was performed? UPS is now distributing the fourth generation of its handheld empowered drivers beefed up with advances not practical during the era of version one. Regular users of UPS shipping, or shipping services from many other transportation logistics companies realize daily benefits of knowing where our packages are nearly instantaneously. The advertising refrain of "Brown helping you" is improving many of our own customer relationships. Can the mobile handheld device help our businesses?

For those already using RIM devices and wireless enabled PDAs, your immediate reaction is we already are enabled. Still, the transformational power of mobile computing in transportation logistics, mobile service centers, for trades like electricians and plumbers, and many more industries with applications designed to make processes more efficient, increase employee accountability, and improve transparency to the customer, is not as common for small and mid-size business.

The value of replacing a paper system with a battery powered computer that is running software and capturing data specific to our business can include one or more of the following:

• Greater mathematical accuracy
  
  
• Better inventory control
  
  
• Increased sales tax compliance
  
  
• Improved customer service with fewer handwriting based mistakes, especially for follow up notes or order items
  
  
• Enhanced performance by the drivers in doing their jobs. Handheld solutions can reduce their day ending paper work significantly, thereby allowing them to stay on the road and make more stops daily.
  
  
• Better customer approval capture and storage. Lost paper based signatures obtained from customers deteriorate into more frequent customer disagreements and dissatisfaction.
  
  
• Faster access to activity. For example, the wireless elements of the UPS system allow us (the primary customer) and our customers (the secondary customer) near real-time access to information instead of waiting until day's end or even worst, until a data entry clerk catches up.

Functionality of solutions
Because enabling a route salesperson, a plumber, or a delivery person will dramatically change how work is performed, we must carefully consider in our work environment what these devices will do, what they will look like, and what new software features we are likely to integrate into a solution over time. In defining our criteria for a solution, we recognize that an off-the-shelf device and software is going to be most affordable, but that changes introduced by this type of solution will influence transactional process much more than any changes in back office operations.

Some questions to consider:

• Must the device be ruggedized to withstand abuse in use? What sort of user environment is it going to be used in? Some standard PDAs offer cost per unit that appear deceptively attractive. The device is cheap, but useless if it will be out of service, needing to be regularly repaired or have its software reloaded.
  
  
• Should the device use an off-the-shelf unit or be more customized device your purposes? This decision will be driven by the need for integrated bar code scanners, active Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality, and, in the future, RFID scanning capability.
  
  
• Is there a business reason to include wireless now? A common use of wireless functionality would be quick email communication, but the accountability and driver dispatch value of GPS or the just in time inventory management for fleet stored inventory can enhance the ROI of the additional investment. Also, researching the wireless data network quality and reach, especially in rural areas in America, can quickly result in a better decision on wireless.

Implementation to-dos:

• Build a help desk. Even those of us using computers for years in a more homogeneous, less disruptive office environments have application problems. Reliable servers have problems. Mobile handhelds with mission critical applications will certainly have problems. Successful implementation will be accompanied by an emergency triage protocol and more long term process for handling them.
  
  
• Motivate, not frustrate. Some businesses use heavy-handed self-defeating techniques that frustrate adoption. An edict like, "You must only use the handheld to transact business," is issued. When the handhelds fail, there are no or few backup procedures for dealing with those failures. You want adoption, but you also must be reasonable in meeting user expectations for uptime and workarounds for failures. Consider sharing some of the dollars earned and saved with employees, rewarding them for at least for a period of time it takes to embrace the technology.
  
  
• Define responsibility. A project like this will succeed or fail based on people. In addition to assigning a project leader to this project, the users themselves must be responsible for assimilating the new way of doing things and integrating the technology into their routines. That responsibility must include a feedback mechanism to the project leader and even management to inform what is working and what needs improvement. Users must also protect and safeguard the equipment, as they would their truck or van from theft, damage, or failure due to inadequate availability to maintenance.

Mobile computing has reinvented our expectations of shipping and receiving our packages. It has the same transformational potential in many of our business. When my company adopted handhelds for a business unit, we found that the number of stops sold increased by over 20 percent and pricing became more rigid, leading to greater profitability. Are you ready to make your business more competitive?

CHAIM YUDKOWSKY, CPA, CITP, is president of Byte of Success Inc., a technology consulting company specializing in helping small and mid-size business grow using technology. He is available for both consultation and speaking. He may be reached at cyudkowsky@byteofsuccess.com.