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.

Project Success = On Time + Within Budget … + Full User Acceptance?

At the end of each project I ask clients for lessons learned. The most commonly cited takeaway is the importance of getting the employees who are affected by the project onboard with the new implementation. As one client told me recently about a ClickSchedule implementation, “If our dispatchers and technicians hadn’t accepted the new software, we would have failed. They meant everything to the success of this project.” In other words, it’s not enough to install some software and assume the implementation is a success. We only achieve success in a project if we also help our people adjust to the change. How do we know when we have done this successfully?

Success is the point at which our people have accepted the change and can’t imagine going back to the old way of doing things.

Change is a big deal. Routine and habit are comfortable; change is not. We tend to be creatures of habit, and unfortunately workforce management projects tend to disrupt employees’ routines and daily habits. Change is hard. Therefore, we must develop a plan to help them through it. This sounds great, but how do we, as a team, do this?

When helping clients develop a plan to guide employees through the change and accept the implementation, I ask them to focus on three core components:

1. COMMUNICATE: Frequent, two-way communication is critical. This includes both conveying information and listening to their concerns.
2. MOTIVATE: While you may be motivated, it doesn’t mean everyone else is. Identify specific motivations for changing to the new way.
3. EDUCATE: End users need to be educated on the coming change. Rarely do employees feel that they have been over educated on a new system.

By carefully creating the right plan at the beginning of the project focused on the three components above, and implementing the plan, you can achieve true project success:
On Time + Within Budget + Full User Acceptance = Project Success

Author: Felisa Berg