The Changing Work Environment
29 Sep 2008
Giving Remote Workers Real-Time Access to Corporate Information
New electronic gadgets and related technologies have transformed our world – changing how, where and when we do business. More organizations are encouraging employees to work remotely. To stay productive, these at-home workers, road warriors and business travelers need real-time access to corporate information. The challenge for these organizations is to keep their communications network up and running without fail.
EDS, an HP company, helps organizations deliver responsive yet cost-effective support for a growing number of complex devices. That means preventing system outages and securing the information transmitted to and from those digital instruments.
Working On the Edge With Mobile Devices
Enterprises are focused on wireless devices to keep business users in touch with critical data. EDS enables employees to work efficiently anywhere, anytime with secure global access to the critical data and corporate applications they need.
The following examples demonstrate how EDS mobile solutions can support enterprises through digital-edge devices:
Improved Productivity
A sales representative drives down a rural route using a Global Positioning System (GPS) device to find the location of a manufacturing plant for one of the world's leading bakeries, arriving in time for a meeting with the factory's purchasing agent. During the meeting, the sales representative downloads a data sheet, checks the current inventory, confirms pricing and places the order. Back on the road, she reports the outcome of the sale. All of this activity is performed instantly from one handheld device that can fit in a pocket.
The sales representative returns the rental car and heads quickly to the airline's departure gate. Once in the air, she realizes the pocket device is still in the rental car. With a single call to an EDS service center, the device is wiped clean. Sensitive corporate information can no longer be accessed from the device. Security features and device management applications are essential tools for wireless equipment.
Because of the level of support EDS' mobile solutions provide, field personnel can enjoy greater mobility and improved productivity.
Improved Asset Tracking
Parcels and registered or certified letters arrive at a distribution center and are scanned and stamped with a bar code. At the postal center, a mail carrier uses a handheld device to scan the items that require a signature upon receipt. He then loads the delivery truck. The carrier's ruggedized device is built to withstand drops, moisture and dust. It features wireless capability, high-capacity batteries and bar-code and card readers for data capture. The mail carrier delivers the parcels and letters. At each stop, he scans the parcels and letters again to verify the time and date of delivery.
The carrier sends the information to the postal center's database. When a customer calls and needs to know when the package was delivered, the information is easy to retrieve.
Your organization can reduce loss or damage of goods while in transit, streamline business processes having to do with assets, and reduce labor cost and human error with EDS' automatic asset tracking technology services.
Improved Efficiency
A field adjuster arrives at the site of a natural disaster while homeowners are still sifting through the rubble. The agent assesses the damage and opens an ultra-mobile computer while standing in the street. This device – between the size of a laptop and a table PC – has enough processing power to support communication and networking applications as well as a GPS device, webcam and fingerprint reader. The agent completes a form with the necessary information and submits it for approval.
She has trouble connecting to the network to get final approvals on the claim form. A representative at an EDS service center uses zero-touch support to repair the connection. The adjuster is back in operation without returning to the home site for new equipment. And within minutes, the homeowners have a check in hand.
You can increase an employee's efficiency by improving real-time workflow. EDS implements a comprehensive mobile solution – including hardware, software, standard device builds and applications support.
Improved Communications
A user in California is a member of a project team and is on the phone with a customer in Massachusetts. The user needs to ask a co-worker in Texas a question. Using an enterprisewide communication system, he can tell if his co-worker is at her desk. He types in his question, and within seconds he has a response.
The customer asks for a project status at the end of the week, so the user in California uses a shared calendar to set up a meeting for the project team. During the status meeting, the user in Texas shares a spreadsheet with the project team using a personalized portal that everyone can view on their PCs.
The user in Texas decides to share the spreadsheet with everyone on the team and posts it on an enterprise knowledge center.
EDS Helps Make the Mobile Workplace a Reality
EDS helps teams – separated by floors in the same building or by continents and time zones – come together to communicate, share ideas and produce outcomes that would otherwise require a significant commitment of time and money.
As the confines of the traditional office environment give way to a fluid, decentralized and mobile workplace, organizations can take this opportunity to boost sales, enhance service, empower employees and operate more efficiently.
EDS offers standard and consistent practices that reduce the risk to the client – from managing e-mail and data to encrypting devices and completing over-the-air upgrades to wiping clean a lost or stolen device.
Together with our partners Microsoft, Cisco, Intel and Motorola, EDS helps organizations define and deploy mobile computing solutions that keep them competitive, flexible and efficient.