Coming Soon: Service Chain Optimization For Dummies, the minibook!

Many months ago at the beginning of 2009, I was invited to attend an industry analyst’s CRM event in London and in between attending various briefings and presentations I walked the floor in the exhibition hall to see what the numerous software vendors were promoting. Being mostly unfamiliar territory, many of the exhibitors were not known to me and, to be honest, it became somewhat tiresome repeating the same “So, tell me what you do” line.

One particular vendor surprised me however by just handing me a small minibook, branded in the globally recognizable ‘For Dummies’ format that explained to me the basics of their business, products, and proposition. It was brilliant! I found myself reading sections while walking around the exhibition, on the train home, at home, and in the office. It gave me a fabulous insight into their business and I will always now remember what they do. I have since forgotten the details of all of the other vendors at that event and would have to look them up instead.

And this got me thinking. I have been in many sales and marketing situations where the “Tell me about ClickSoftware” subject comes up and despite how well practised you can be with delivering the message, there’s always the chance of this being altered, misunderstood, rushed, or quickly forgotten. This led to me making an internal proposal to write a similar minibook that outlines the basics behind Service Chain Optimization. And the minibook has a variety of audiences – prospective and current customers and partners, investors, analysts, and consumers all have an interest in knowing what this subject is, how it works, and what benefits it brings. And it can be read at your leisure.

So I am pleased to announce today that ‘Service Chain Optimization For Dummies’ is due for release around mid December 2009, and I wanted the readers of Clickipedia to be among the first to know. I can’t be more precise about the release date yet as I am still reviewing and approving the final proofs, but it’ll be somewhere around that timeframe.

It’s a minibook, meaning that it fits inside your pocket and briefcase, it can be read anywhere, and it’s around 56 pages in length covering the basics. It epitomizes everything ClickSoftware stands for and the market that we created – thought leadership, and leading from the front. It doesn’t go into product details, it keeps things educational while using a very conversational tone. If you want to know what ClickSoftware does, then read this minibook!

The minibook will be a limited edition offering and available in digital and printed formats. Keep an eye on ClickSoftware’s website over the coming weeks when we will launch a pre-registration page for you to reserve your copy. As we get closer to the launch, I’ll post more details here on Clickipedia and via our page on Twitter – http://twitter.com/clicksoftware.

Author: Stewart Hill

Art of outsourcing

Whilst on holidays recently, I finished reading a book titled “War PLC – The rise of the new corporate mercenary” which looks into the evolution of corporate soldiers (mercenaries) and the privatisation of war. The United States and the UK have outsourced key military and security functions to private military companies to carry out; primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. Functions that have been outsourced include: logistical support, training military personnel, operating and maintaining military weapons, interrogation and translating.

This article is not about the morals and justification of such activities, but more so to highlight the fact that there seems to be no limit to outsourcing! No longer is it just outsourcing of research & development, manufacturing or information technology; it is also about national security, charity work and the latest outsourcing industry – wombs.

So the question remains: Where will it end? Potential outsourcing opportunities:
· Husband/wife duties… on second thought this can already be done: garden maintenance, housekeeping, cooking...
· Raising a child or have boarding schools already done this?
· Education – (this is reliant on technology - but assuming that the technology is invented) you can outsource your MBA degree to an individual, they can complete the MBA course, and once the MBA course is completed, all the information gathered by this individual during the course is downloaded into your mind

From a service standpoint – there have been and always will be a multitude of questions:
1. Where does outsourcing stop?
2. How much should be outsourced?
3. How do you measure the success of outsourcing? Is it a simple price calculation? Where does quality of service come into it? How about customer experience?

In July 2009, Sprint announced that it had outsourced all the maintenance of its network to Ericsson; is this a sign of things to come in the service industry?
Author: George Chondros

Seriously, How Tough is Panasonic ToughBook?

Some of our ClickMobile customers are using Panasonic ToughBooks, but I doubt if any of them took the time (and courage) to check how tough those beasts can really get...

We, in ClickSoftware decided to go al the way and check it ourselves!
Luckily, someone already did it for us...

So here's a short video by Forbes, showing the capabilities of the ToughBook, and if you think that surviving a tiger's teeth and carrying a real elephant's weight is considered to be tough - then it's tough!

Author: Gil Bouhnick

Wan't more mobile? Visit the Mobilefever blog for all mobile, all the time.

How to select a mobile device - Part #1 (Keyboard)

When it comes to picking the best mobile device for your organization, there are many parameters that needs to be considered. Price, performance, operating system, ease of maintenance, security, stability, resistance, usability, memory, screen size, compatibility with the mobile software and more.

The "How to select a mobile device" guide is based on our experience and includes some tips you will hopefully find useful.

In this part of the guide: Keyboard.

One of the questions I often get relates to the keyboard, especially when thinking about PDAs.
There are many kinds of form factors, many of them without a keyboard, so if your business requires a lot of typing, it’s obvious that a virtual keyboard may cause a problem of accuracy and speed. In such cases I would recommend on having a device with a physical keyboard.
If the business nature include drawing on maps, capturing signatures, and a simple selection process from drop down lists, a physical keyboard might not be critical (although my personal feeling is that a physical keyboard is always an advantage).

So now the next question would be: what kind of keyboard?

Numeric only? Full QWERTY keyboard? A clamshell style like in BlackBerry devices or maybe a sliding keyboard like the HTC Tilt/Touch Pro?

This question should be answered by looking at both the hardware and software requirements. Here, again, the required field processes will determine.

Many organizations use their mobile to capture mostly numeric data.In such cases, a numeric keyboard will have the advantage of bigger keys, simple use etc.

If the mobile data capturing involves text, or if the application includes a heavy use of messages, mails, etc. – numeric keyboard may frustrate the users, full QWERTY will speed up the writing speed.

Remember, in the field - simplicity of the mobile solution is very important. minimum clicks make life much more simple.

Sliding keyboards are very popular. There are many successful devices like HTC Touch Pro, Sony Ericsson XPeria, Nokia N97 which are considered to be very good in terms of productivity. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of those devices mainly due to the fact they require opening the keyboard every time you want to type, which is usually done by 2 hands.Thinking of field conditions, using 2 hands to perform a simple typing might not be optimal.

The keyboard problem is less significant when talking about PC computers (laptops and tablets) because all the mobile computers allow connecting a keyboard extension. Trying to use the virtual keyboard will convince anybody that a physical one is a must.

Selecting the keyboard is a perfect example where a decision should be a made after considering both hardware and software.

The last thing you want to do is make a decision based on IT or price considerations only, make a massive purchase of hundreds of devices and then find out that it doesn’t fit the nature of the mobile software.

ClickMobile customers often approach us for recommendations and information about different mobile devices. We have a wide list of certified devices and a set of recommendations.For more information do not hesitate to contact us through one of our communication channels.

Author: Gil Bouhnick

Wan't more mobile? Visit the Mobilefever blog for all mobile, all the time.