To its credit, Arch had figured out ahead of time exactly why it wanted to use mobile devices. But many companies don’t, according to Becky Diercks, director of Wireless Research at Newton, Mass.-based Cahners In-Stat Group. "Often companies just get the idea that it would be cool to do, but they haven’t really thought it through," she says. "For a mobile solution to succeed, there must be a legitimate business reason behind it."

Additionally, a mobile solution shouldn’t be seen as a cure for desktop-based problems such as systems that are outdated or aren’t functioning well. "If you have existing issues to contend with when it comes to the technology you’re using, you’re only going to compound it by extending it to a mobile device," says Omar Javaid, cofounder and chairman of Mobilocity, a consulting and system integration company focused on mobile computing.

And once you decide on a good use for mobile tools, it pays to design your applications carefully. "You have to deliver very targeted data," says Hira Advani, director of e-business technology in IBM’s CIO office. "Otherwise, your solution can become counterproductive by tying up the mobile workers’ time."

Keeping that in mind, Arch decided to deliver only the specific pieces of customer information that each salesperson needs to conduct transactions completely and correctly.

"Each salesperson has a mobile device loaded with a database of customer information," Schmersahl says. "When they are out in the field, they can configure an order on their wireless device and transmit it directly into our back-end system. They don’t have to pick up a phone to call in the order or write it up manually. We save time and money and our customers get more accurate orders."

Following the implementation of the mobile package from Mobilize Solutions, Arch achieved an order-entry cost savings of nearly $800,000 annually through call center cost reductions, brought order rejection rates down 90 percent and saved more than $430,000 a year on inventory reconciliation costs.

Do It Yourself

In February, Sears, Roebuck and Co., based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., took a different approach to making its data wireless-ready. It began programming nearly 15,000 Symbol Technologies wireless Palm OS-based handheld computers to perform in-store, browser-based applications such as inventory, price change, merchandise pickup, receiving and replenishment. Unlike Arch, Sears customized its data in-house to make its back-end database perform effectively with the Symbol devices. Bridging the devices required several weeks. But now that those bridges exist, they require very little extra data tweaking.