But while it may be convenient for people to sync data with their own devices or share their calendars with others, those connections still don’t do much for an entire organization. They don’t, for instance, allow people to tap in to sales-force automation or CRM systems remotely and synchronize that vital data with their portable devices from the road.

"Few of these devices are being used as corporate enterprise resources...right now there’s very little mission-critical information on them," says Scannell, because it’s so difficult to synchronize the personal data commonly found on them with the enterprise data found on corporate servers and databases.

The enterprise space is where the third type of synchronization?and the most important one?comes into play.

Vendors are rushing to provide tools that forge a link between PDAs and enterprise applications. Coola offers its InterChange middleware platform that lets companies build systems to transfer data and applications between mobile devices. Synchrologic offers a server-based iMobile suite that enables wireless or wired synchronization between enterprise systems and mobile devices. Aether Systems focuses primarily on wireless access and synchronization with enterprise systems, and Pylon Pro, from Hayward, Calif.-based AvantGo, lets individuals synchronize their Palm data with Lotus Notes, including custom-built enterprise databases.

Real-Life Syncers

Despite the arrival of the necessary tools, most companies still don’t provide highly integrated, enterprisewide data synchronization. A Mobile Insights survey found that less than 20 percent of PDA owners use their handheld devices to tap directly into centralized data resources. Most simply connect using occasional "docking synchronization" that happens about once a day, and they do it primarily to retrieve basic information, such as addresses and phone numbers.

There are some pioneers, however. Domino’s Pizza, for example, has a staff of quality control auditors who visit franchises across the country to do audits and surveys. Before the auditors go out to the field they synchronize with corporate systems and load Palm Vs with surveys and information about each franchise they’ll visit, says CIO Tim Monteith. After the survey, the store manager can sign the findings right on the Palm. Wireless technology then transports the data directly back to the enterprise system. And data can flow both ways so that the auditor can find out when his schedule of site visits has changed, for example.

"The win for us will be that it will allow auditors to visit more stores each week, so they’re more productive," Monteith says. "It will also make sure that our data is more accurate." And, he notes, store managers will buy in to the process more easily if they can see and sign the survey onsite.