Nudging Data Forward

Mobile workers abound, and they are prime carrier targets. An estimated 32.4 million people in the United States spend 20% or more of their time away from their desks or primary work environments, according to Sherwood Research. Businesses of all sizes have workers on the road every day selling everything from radio advertising to school uniforms.

"GTE managers realized that it's one thing to offer just cellular service to a company," said Jon Wells, Data Services group manager. "That makes you a vendor. But offering a wireless data solution that impacts the profitability of the enterprise is quite another thing -- that makes you a partner."

As you lower a company's operating costs or measurably improve the productivity of its field sales force, then your relationship with that company, along with the revenues, likely will grow, he said.

Lori Cain, GTE Wireless major account manager, said that with the growth of Internet and e-mail, people are starting to recognize that going wireless with e-mail is the logical next step.

"I often begin my prospecting calls by describing how I can save them money and time managing their fleet of trucks or monitoring their remote equipment," Cain said. "I don't even think about phones anymore. I just visualize data devices on everything I see."

FROM OPPORTUNITY TO SALESAccording to Sherwood Research, there are 93 million e-mail users in the United States today. In 1998, they sent an estimated 300 billion electronic messages. E-mail is the driving force for the Internet, and it is likely to promote adoption of portable units and PCs. The study also predicted mobile professionals will increase dramatically their use of portable and "converged" devices, like smart phones, that supply both voice and data services. Most astonishing is the finding that although substantial numbers of mobile workers use wireless phones, pagers, notebook PCs -- only 1% of them use wireless data.

This spells opportunity. The most important service customers want is fast, easy access to their e-mail while they are on the road, Wells said. They don't want another account. However, Wells added that it has to be done right. It has to be real-time access; they want to act on the e-mail once and move on. If they are accessing e-mail from smart phones, and they delete the e-mail from their phones, it should be deleted from their desktops.

GTE'S DATA FUTUREWells sees 1999 as the year for making big progress in addressing the productivity needs of the mobile professional.

"They want something small, fast and easy to use," he said. "It has to be compatible with existing systems, have wide coverage and give them access to their personal, up-to-date information."

That is why GTE has chosen to work with WirelessKnowledge, which defines itself as an IT-friendly solution for corporations that want to provide mobile workers wireless access to their companies' LANs from remote locations. WirelessKnowledge's Revolv will provide GTE's corporate customers with secure access to their important information and Microsoft Exchange groupware. Using a variety of mobile devices from anywhere they travel, users can access their e-mail, contact lists, calendars and other data residing on a hosted server or corporate Microsoft Exchange server. According to Wells, GTE's ability to focus solutions that meet the capabilities of the end devices will be critical. Rather than dictate hardware requirements, the company will provide the customer with access to data on his device of choice.

"Our goal is to simplify the process of managing (our customers') daily lives," Wells said. "Real-time updates of personal information will be a key component of that process." The service will recognize which device is being used and render content for prime optimization.

GOOD YEAR FOR DATAAdvances in hardware, software and network capacity are paving the way for 1999 to be a momentous year for data deployment in the United States. Handset manufacturers are offering phones with built-in Web browsers, and most carriers are enabling their networks for data on a broad basis.

GTE currently has CDPD in most of its markets, but it also is running trials in Tampa, FL, and Seattle with IS-99 14kb/s CDMA digital data. Although the digital standard has been set for some time, Randy Crouse, vice president, technology planning and implementation, said that GTE still is gathering market information.

He added that one thing that is apparent immediately with digital is the ability to offer short message services (SMS). The service is one way right now, where people can send short text messages to subscribers' phones via the Internet or computer-based software, but Crouse said that GTE is considering mobile-generated SMS.

"We haven't made any commitments to deploy that yet, but from a technology standpoint, it's a capability that can be done," he said.

Higher-speed data is the next initiative, and GTE is working with the vendor community and industry groups such as the CDG to get the first phase of data services to the marketplace.

"We haven't formally announced any trials yet," Crouse said. "Right now, the work is getting the standards refined ... as far as we can, as fast as we can so we can trial hardware somewhere in early 2000."

COMING: 3GAnd looming in the distance is full-blown 3G. Although Crouse said GTE is working toward that goal, how soon, which markets, what order and to what extent the full-blown 3G equipment will be deployed is still a little fuzzy.

As GTE Wireless polishes its service offerings, Wells is adamant that the industry address the mobile-worker segment correctly. With the advances in the digital network, support from WirelessKnowledge and the availability of a variety of devices to meet customer requirements, GTE plans to hit this objective right on the mark.

IT directors and enterprise users usually have specific requirements. Here are some things to consider when approaching corporate users with a wireless data solution:

* First, qualify the account aggressively. Ask probing questions to be sure your solution represents a fit for their needs.

* Make sure your solution is compatible with their existing systems, is easy to administer and is standards-based.

* Be sure you are talking with the right people within the organization.

* Provide references and anticipate the questions: Who else is using this application? What has been their experience? How has it benefited their operations?

* Design ways to evaluate their ROI (return on investment).

* If your solution involves a variety of suppliers, be sure to align with the right partners and use a team sales approach so that you can answer questions up front.

* Establish a predictable pricing plan.

* Stay focused; sharpen your project-management skills; get ready to hand-hold; and endure. This is not a plug-and-play environment -- yet.

* Instill confidence in your customers at all times.

* Provide your customers a single point of contact, and make the implementation and administration as easy as possible.

* Be ready to provide outstanding after-sale support, and maintain close contact with your customers to ensure both end users and the administrative communities are happy with the solution.