On the other side of the economic equation, organizations are maximizing profitability, and wireless solutions are playing an important role in:

Many wireless solutions will deliver a combination of cost-control and revenue-increase benefits. Areas of benefit include improved:

Here's how wireless technology can support core objectives and deliver significant business benefits.

Business Areas Delivering ROI
The benefits of wireless solutions to sales and engineering field forces are well documented, but areas such as warehouse management offer further opportunities for business development.

Savings can be achieved by implementing wireless for field-based employees in sales/support by:

There are several distinct business areas that can deliver ROI from wireless deployment:

SALES
Senshukai Co. Ltd, a leading Japanese catalog sales house, recently implementated a wireless e-commerce system that has returned a respectable return on investment in sales since 2001.

Philip Morris Singapore Pte Ltd, the Singapore arm of Philip Morris, the largest consumer packaged goods company, wanted an IT solution that would offer its sales force realtime access to their main office database. The implementation of a wireless solution has led to sales reps having accurate product and inventory data available at their fingertips, which has translated into better and more timely information being passed on to customers.

Remote synchronization allows diaries and contact databases to be updated, delivering a significant travel-time saving, enabling staff to utilize "dead time." This is estimated to represent a 30% gain in salesstaff efficiency.

Real-time information lets sales staff review credit status, status of last order, issues, etc., prior to visiting, and answer customer questions on pricing, inventory, and delivery times immediately. One study showed a 9% increase in sales conversions.

Real-time direct access to corporate systems eliminates back-office input of sales information, while integration with billing systems increases speed and accuracy of invoice generation, reducing bad debts. The estimated 70% saving in input time enables administrative staff to focus on more profitable or productive business activity.

Wireless solutions can directly reduce costs by reducing remote access and cellphone charges and by replacing existing paging services. Indirect cost reduction is achieved by increasing productivity, improving customer responsiveness, enhancing customer satisfaction, and improving employees' "work/life balance."

FIELD SERVICE
LVM Versicherung, a German insurance company, adopted a wireless solution for their field operatives that returned a faster delivery of data and has allowed the potential for telecomputing within the company.

Chase-Pitkin Home and Garden, USA, within the first six months of installing its wireless solution, recorded significant increases in the average number of sales calls per day and sales per salesperson.

Dynamic scheduling enables organizations to optimize task allocation, rescheduling routes in real time to meet customer demands, while in-field data capture significantly improves the quality of information fed back into billing and customer service systems.

Access to parts information and best practices, along with remote diagnostics to resolve minor faults, reduces completion time and the number of visits per problem.

HUMAN RESOURCES
In a study conducted by IBM across 25,800 employees, flexible working practices delivered clear benefits:

Source: Global Work/Life Survey 2001

"IBM is at the cutting-edge of reinventing how, where, and when employees work. In effect, we are shaping the workforce and workplace of the future for employees. The right outcome of this effort is the effective management of IBM resources, facilitating the best possible manager – employee relationships, and providing value to our customers and shareholders." – Ted Childs, vice president, Global Workforce Diversity, IBM

Wireless provides a huge opportunity to facilitate new working practices and improve morale. Flexible working practices are proven to increase productivity and reduce absenteeism. Additionally, companies report increased loyalty and a reduction in staff turnover, as well as an ability to attract new, skilled personnel.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Wireless solutions have helped the People's Insurance Company of China improve the effectiveness of their customerservice claim process. What was once a three-day task is now reduced to two hours of office work.

While the benefits of improved customer services are intangible to an organization, any developments that increase customer retention are extremely valuable given the significant cost of attracting new customers.

Real-time information access provides customers with the ability to make immediate decisions about the cost and availability of goods or services. Enhanced customer information via wireless devices reduces the cost of a customer-service infrastructure, focusing staff on more productive/profitable initiatives.

Production Services
A combination of Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tags, wearable PCs, and wireless LANs is delivering significant financial benefits throughout the supply chain for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. Unlike barcodes, RFID tags are robust and programmable, enabling organizations to track goods as they pass through the supply chain. RFID tags:

Asset Management
Airline customers worry more about lost luggage than delayed flights, so airports are exploiting the programmable nature of RFID tags to improve luggage tracking. "Smart Labels," enable tracking from check-in to destination, with alarms sounding if luggage is loaded incorrectly.

Keys to Success
Wireless solutions can be rapidly deployed to support tactical needs, but significant ROI needs wireless technology to be integral to business processes. Key factors are:

Within each, understanding and resolving the impacts on process, organization, and technology is imperative. It is important to work with an organization that not only has wide experience with diverse wireless devices and networks, but also understands business processes and how to integrate new technologies into existing infrastructure.

Integration
The most powerful benefits and ROI depend on seamless integration of this new channel across the organization, providing users with rapid access to required information. Working with experienced consultants, who have previously deployed wireless solutions, will aid the process of achieving this integration quickly and successfully.

Security
Security of wireless networks has been highlighted by the media as an issue, particularly with wireless LANs. Security is critical to the success of wireless e-business; a minor breach could undermine customer confidence and brand reputation. People and organizations must be able to trust any new solution before they will use it. However, a wireless network can be made as secure as a wired network, provided that it is configured properly and has the appropriate security processes and procedures applied to it.

Cultural Change
When wireless solutions are provided for employees or citizens, there can be significant social implications. These can be very positive. For example, the person is more able to manage his or her work/life balance more effectively, feels more in touch with the office, and can be more empowered. However, the perception of these new systems can be negative with less reason for going to an office, and so less opportunity for direct interaction with colleagues, and the potential for feeling that "big brother" is watching our movements more. As with any project, only a small percentage of reason for success is due to technology. The much greater percentage is due to people and how they are involved and educated.

Measurements
All of these aspects are key costs that need to be considered when planning the adoption of a wireless solution. Costs include:

Obviously, costs are dependent on the organization's business goals and adoption of wireless solutions. However, irrespective of industry sector, successful organizations will want to measure the ROI of wireless implementation. While financial measures can be quantified, it is also important to assess other benefits to the organization.

Conclusion
In an environment of restricted IT budgets, wireless offers organizations the chance not only to attain new levels of productivity and cost control, but also to deploy new services to customers that will play a key role in improved customer retention. Wireless technologies have come of age, and measurable ROI is a compelling argument for further exploiting existing systems and applications.

So the question is not "whether you should deploy a wireless solution," but "when?" It is also worth considering what the impact on your business or organization would be if you do nothing. Just how much business would you lose to your competitors who are exploiting this new channel, accessing vast numbers of wireless devices – not just with human interaction, but also from machine to machine. How much benefit are they getting and are you missing?