Wireless Boost Productivity for Devices, Networks, Applications
Sun, February 01, 2004
CIO — There’s only so much hype a technology can take before people turn their backs on it. And so when the economy and tech spending slumped, it was understandable that CIOs stopped looking at wireless as the next big thing. But now it’s time to take another look: The technologies that make wireless work have gotten better. So much better that the respondents to CIO’s wireless survey (our third since the fall of 2000) said they are actively looking beyond personal productivity tools such as e-mail to business process applications such as updating inventory and accessing medical records.
That’s right. Wireless is back.
Want proof? Seventy-five percent of our respondents are currently undertaking a wireless project. Furthermore, attitudes toward wireless technology are returning to levels last seen when the Nasdaq surpassed 5,000. Indeed, a whopping 68 percent said wireless is either important or somewhat important?the exact same percentage as in 2000. Sixteen percent cited wireless as extremely important to their current business goals (for more results from our wireless survey, see Pages 64 and 68).
It’s worth putting these attitudes in perspective. A year and a half ago, CIOs were so down on wireless that we didn’t even bother including questions in our survey about the technology’s importance to business plans. IT executives such as Thomson Financial CTO Jeff Scott simply explained that interest "has cooled a bit for [wireless] services, either because of the market conditions or a changed view of ROI for wireless, or both."
ROI is hard to come by, and for a simple reason. Wireless projects depend on three elements: the device, the network (whether that’s via a cellular carrier, a satellite connection or a Wi-Fi LAN) and the application. If one of those elements isn’t up to par, then the project won’t work. No one uses cumbersome devices; people give up if they can’t connect to the network, and there’s no point in doing a project if you can’t deliver the data. By 2002, most CIOs who tried wireless projects had encountered one or more of those problems. Devices had small screens that made it hard to view data, they ran out of batteries quickly?sometimes wiping out all the information in the process?and they were expensive. Networks, meanwhile, were proprietary, expensive and slow?and that’s when there was coverage. Project after project failed.
The ones that succeeded fell into predictable categories. The companies had large mobile workforces, depended on data from those workforces and, most importantly, could afford to invest in custom devices, proprietary coverage plans and homegrown applications. Common examples were trucking companies that tracked their drivers with GPS devices, shipping companies offering delivery confirmation, and utility companies whose repair crews collected large amounts of data about problems and fixes in the field.
