5.6 Financial Arrangement
5.6.1 Revenue Model
5.6.1.2 Corporate Consumer Services
Mobile brokerage and banking have already experienced reasonable success and will become an increasingly user-friendly option for consumers.
> Virtual Private Networks - created on-demand either end-to-end between the subscriber and the corporate or between the subscriber and applications within the network and between those applications and the corporate. This is similar to what is being done with the MTN CorporateMobility package through the NSPs.
> Instant Messaging - enabling secure communication between workgroup members and to provide critical presence information to the corporate.
> Location Based Services -allow for tracking and location sensitive applications to be created for corporate clients.
> Compression Services -permit client-server applications to work at their optimum capacity by compressing the data over the slowest link.
> Single Sign On - a capacity to simplify connection to both the general Internet and the corporate Intranet by using two-factor sign-on that leverages the phone capabilities to provide the highest possible authentication.
> Legacy Integration Tools - maximising the ability to provide up to 80% of the needed corporate functionality within the initial 20% of the project commencement, using tools that allow the corporate and their business automation consultants to create and manage the corporate connectivity in a secure environment.
> IP Filtering and Quality of Service - provide a method of securing transactions and portioning the MTN network so that corporate data traffic is routed in a secure fashion, segregated from any network data traffic.
Paramount in the marketing strategy of this corporate solution is the ability to provide phones/devices and services to a corporate as a unit instead of as individual subscribers.
In a very fragmented business application market, there are three major segments positioned to gain significantly from mobile technology (Durlacher, 2003):
> customer relationship management (CRJVI), comprised of applications that deal with partners, businesses and end customers,
> supply chain management (SCM), primarily dealing with business suppliers,
> workforce applications (mobile office) targeting the employees within the organisation.
CRM solutions are designed to enhance an organisation's customer-facing functions such as sales, service and marketing. They have the potential to increase revenues, customer satisfaction and profitability. The marketing function of CRM involves aggregating all interactions conducted by the end-customer from different channels into an integrated data repository used to generate promotional and marketing campaigns based on end-customers' preferences. Businesses will need to manage end customers' interactions conducted from mobile devices and incorporate the information into their customer profiles.
The sales function of CRM systems focuses on sales force automation to coordinate sales efforts and provide easy to use tools for representatives in the field. A wide range of solutions has been developed for mobile access to enterprise systems as mobility plays an increasing role in streamlining business processes and increasing customer loyalty. Popular applications could include contact details, appointments, order history and confirmation, special pricing, real-time availability of goods and resources and delivery confirmation. More advanced systems incorporate more detailed information on customers such as product and policy information. Service features available on mobile devices include accessing information regarding product problems, job details, and technical specifications. Significant value can be added to traditional service applications by mobilising these features.
The emergence of the Internet and the development of e-marketplaces and e-business hubs have had a dramatic influence on the supply-side function of enterprises across all industries, in which mobile data will be of assistance. Markets have enabled companies to purchase, fulfill and ship orders more efficiently. Mobile SCM connectivity and visibility-related applications that are most likely to benefit from mobile technology are mobile data collection, mobile alert generation and mobile-enabled integrated SCM applications.
Areas where mobile technology could add significant value to existing SCM systems are limited to intelligent alert generation, primary data collection, and gateways to enterprise messaging backbones. Positioning technologies are another important enabler for improving supply chain visibility. Intelligent alert generation systems will be an important complement to workforce messaging applications and would be focused on developing flexible business rules and managing multi-channel user communication.
Primary data collection is an important enterprise function that spans across the entire organisation. The quality and accuracy of primary information affects planning and forecast applications and inventory applications and enables transactions to be conducted in a faster, more controlled way. There are several areas where mobile technologies could contribute to better results. These include barcode scanning, location-stamping and machine-to-machine applications. M2M systems routinely retrieve a set of parameters from a given device such as a vending machine, a car engine etc. and sends them to a data collection device.
Information collected from primary data sources has to be communicated to decision-makers and fed into respective enterprise systems. Alert generation applications can deliver timely and actionable alerts to corporate mobile employees. The key properties of such systems should include connectivity to enterprise systems, the ability to create flexible business rules that trigger messaging events, the ability to deliver information intelligently through a variety of channels and the interactivity features that allow the user to react to specific alerts in a predefined way (UMTS Forum, 2001c).
Mobile workforce applications facilitate communication of business processes to mobile employees through services such as planning, connectivity and collaboration. A number of novel services will specifically target business people and support office extension and tele- working environments. Increased mobility in daily operations is a global trend and not only generated by business travel. To the contrary, an increasing number of people are using tele- work to avoid daily trips between home and office and to better satisfy the demands of family and work. Flexibility in working times and working location also is an important company asset in the motivation of highly skilled employees.
Mobile data systems offer a technological basis for improving on today's existing tele-office support services. Increased group interaction, video telephony, phone and video conferencing for mobile users are just a few examples in this domain. New services to support mobile workers, to connect them to collaborators, information systems and head office will form an important revenue stream for specialised companies in this area.