Making the most of mobility
Mobility has become a major issue for all financial software and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. This will not be news to IT departments, service providers or hard pressed proprietors of smaller businesses.
The reason is that an ever-widening range of staff away from a base office need to connect to, and use, information from the core business systems. That means 24-hour service, even for many smaller SMEs.
Mobility is a handy general term, because everyone in business today understands the need to communicate with office information and access systems on the move. The most common method has been to boot up the trusty laptop and log on securely by virtual private network (VPN) in a wi-fi zone, via home broadband or using a 3G data card. In the last couple of years, this has meant using one of the expanding mobile broadband services.
The alternative to the laptop is some form of smartphone or personal digital assistant (PDA) equipped with mobile access or wi-fi. The key point, although there are some alternatives, is that the remote device connects back over the internet, so a browser is all that the user needs to connect. After that, there may wel l be some client software on the handheld device and there certainly will be on the portable computer.
But in computing terms, what we are talking about is enabling remote access. That can cover many variations and the actual telecommunications channel (mobile phone networks, direct or wireless broadband) does not matter very much. Mobile working is both the dominant requirement and the one with technical quirks, because of the huge potential range of devices compared with orthodox remote login by PC.
The same flexibility is also demanded of those core business systems by the two other forms of remote access that business customers and partners now demand, online login and automated transactions. A customer portal to view their own accounts, see stock availability, enter orders or check order progress is also standard in most sectors dealing with transportable goods.
These sectors also tend to require some form of automated supply chain relationship which, in turn, implies direct system-to system communication. So it’s al l a far cry from the old days of ‘doing the books’ every week or month or, in larger organisation, processing transactions overnight in large batches.
“Remote order entry for field sales is just basic at this stage,” said Rob O’Keeffe, strategic product manager of Sage Ireland.
“Chances are the users will also need access to CRM systems linked to the financials so that they can look up customer accounts, up-to-the-minute service tickets or whatever.” Sage has seen the customer requirements rapidly grow more sophisticated.
“For example, market demand has led us to introduce the first mobile access using Rim BlackBerry with some special software on the device. Once it was just an e-mail device, but now those loyal BlackBerry users can access their ERP systems directly on the move, just as they can from other smartphones.” O’Keeffe said it was important that information could be pushed out to the remote devices.
“Out-of-stock situations, credit account blocks and performance information for managers are all important to communicate to staff as quickly as possible,” he said.” The financial system has to be able to serve the needs of the people at the end of those remote links, which in turn means having the technical capability to serve all of the interfaces.”
He said that laptops and smartphones were in some ways the glamour end of the spectrum.
“There is also a wide range of handheld devices for van sales and wireless communication in warehouses and goods depots which often incorporate barcode readers. Some are proprietary, all will have some technical limitations compared to the smarter devices,” he said.
But it is the responsibility of the financial systems vendor to ensure there are secure and reliable interfaces to deal with all of these devices.” With one of the widest range of financial products and customers from micro to enterprise, Sage has the ability to work with any device on the Irish market,” O’Keeffe said.
The real crunch point for any type of remote access is in front of the customer, according to Walter Dickson, a 20-year veteran of financial systems software and managing director of Green Rock, an SAP Business One channel partner.
“That’s when you need accurate, up-to-the-minute information. Taking and confirming an order on the spot is essential in today’s ultra-competitive business environment.
“Right there you encounter a far more serious technical issue than anything to do with the communications channel or device,” he said.” Are you going to set up real-time access to the system or use some form of batched update?”
Real-time can be technically difficult, while batched updates bring the risk of not knowing what can be delivered if the stock position, for example, has changed between look-up and order.
“The answer will always be some kind of trade-off, but with SAP the option of real-time access looks more advanced than it actually is because the system provides safely and securely for remote access to the live system.”
At the same time, Dickson said that, to date, the weakest link in the field sales chain had been the comms links, not the ERP systems back at base or the tools on the remote access device.
“Booting up a laptop is slow if you are using mobile broadband,” he said. “GPRS or 3G may be very good, but bitter experience suggests that any problem will always arise in front of the customer.”
But the fact is that, from outside the front door of the business, almost everybody requires some form of remote access back to the information in the systems.
“Sales reps and executives, delivery drivers and field service technicians, al l need to check information and a morning copy on the laptop is seldom sufficient any more,” said Dickson.
“On a customer site – or just working away from base – answering a query means getting back to the ERP information.”
Serving the needs of remote workers for access had been a priority of the vendors of financial systems for many years, said Alan Connor, commercial director of Exchequer Software Ireland.
“The communications channels are mature and, in fact, getting better al l the time, so that leaves the system and the devices. But ERP systems are also mature, modular and flexible.”
So the challenges are, in practical terms about the devices, in Connor’s opinion.” There is now a plethora of portable devices out there in the market and people want to have the latest and greatest. Equally significant is that, in any business, there will be an assortment of devices, probably of varying vintage.”
But by and large, whatever communications device is used will today conform to open or universal standards.
“The software has to be future-proofed in the sense of being specific neither to ERP systems nor to the device,” said Connor.” Our experience is that the majority of our customers upgrade from other systems and there is inevitably a variety of third party and bespoke interfaces for remote access that have to be re -written.”
But common interfaces and protocols such as XML and EDI offered sufficient functionality for almost all mobile device remote access purposes, Connor said.
“Handheld devices running Windows CE and, of course, standard laptops are no particular problem,” he said.” Other less sophisticated handheld units, such as those used by van delivery and merchandising operatives and incorporating barcode scanning, may need tailored set-up.”
That is principally because the limitations of such devices mean that, although they are fit for the purpose, the ERP systems interfaces need to be tweaked to work effectively with those limitations.
“Once set up, the systems usually work very well. Handheld van delivery units, for example, can usually be fully synchronised with the ERP system in minutes using GPRS. That means orders and stock verification and customer account information are all immediate for practical purposes.”
In the context of mobility and remote access, Mamut is uniquely positioned since it is essentially an online software as a service alternative to traditional Lan-installed ERP solutions – although locally stored data and application modules also allow for offline working.
“It is not an either/or choice,” said regional sales manager Luke Bradley,” and since the essence of the software is information sharing within an ERP and e-commerce package, mobile or remote access is simply normal usage as far as the system is concerned.”
Mamut recognises the different levels of information required through template profiles of individual users and classes of user.
“The sales rep or the van delivery or merchandising person can each have whatever functionality and data access that fits the role. Managers can have fuller access to the system, and customers or partners can be allowed to see only what concerns them,” Bradley said.
Buckley said that there was a set of pre-configured templates for such roles, but it was easy to define and pre -set permissions for any job specification in the business.
“That, of course, includes what the user can do, as well as see. So, for example, a sales person can only enter a new order or a service engineer can only enter onsite timings and work descriptions.”
In the last few years the range of devices with internet connectivity has expanded, but because of its nature, Mamut requires no special tailoring for any of them.
“The system will be aware of any device limitations, such as screen size or resolution on a smartphone, and automatically respond to them without impairing functionality,” Buckley said.
There was a time when the difference between a business owner and a job was that, if you had a job you had to go to it every day, said Buckley.
“In today’s business world, with Mamut of course, you can hold down a job or run a business anywhere, any time.”
This is not far from the emphasis put on mobility and remote working by Graham Mulhern, managing director of MXI Consulting, which has clients in distribution and manufacturing using Excel computing ERP software and the specialist EFACS manufacturing suite.
“There are two absolute imperatives in business today: cost reduction and staff minimisation. So you need to have the employees that should be out in the field out there and productive, which means giving them the tools to do everything they need to do without returning to base.” Mobile working was more efficient and cost-effective than a fixed base, according to Mulher
“There are also staff flexibility benefits, not just in maximising field time but, for example, in enabling part-time or casual working. The classic case is the administrator with small children. Three hours a day from an experienced and trusted employee can be invaluable and highly economical.”
Since his client base includes a high proportion of manufacturers, Mulhern is very conscious of export sales.
“Exporting is extremely competitive and potential customers want reassurances of professionalism, smart people with smart systems. That can mean remote 24×7 access not only to ERP and delivery schedules and logistics information, but deep into materials specifications, CAD design details and everything about the products,” he said.
At the same time, he said that one of the most valued applications among his clients was expenses management, with claims filed on the move, automatically tied in to the appropriate budget or project costings.
“Added to onsite or on duty timings recorded remotely, these are everyday tools that make an almost disproportionate contribution to efficiency, cost savings and avoidance of nasty costs surprises at end of month or project,” he said.
Intact Software is a Dundalk-based company that has more than 900 user companies in Ireland and another 600 in the North and Britain.
“Most of our customers are in distribution, many in specialist niches with their own requirements,” said Mark McArdle, sales director with Intact.
Remote access from laptops had been an essential component of all of its ERP systems for many years, McArdle said.
“For the most part, those users have been working through VPN or Microsoft Terminal Services, and then accessing whatever they wish just as if they were on the physical Lan.
Two things have changed, the major one being the need to access the systems from any web device or even a hotel, cafe or customer office PC,” he said.
The other newer element was that businesses wanted information pushed out to remote workers, McArdle said. Automatic alerts can be sent from the systems to individuals or classes of employee, tailored to the devices.” It might be email, text message or automated updating of the display information in a handheld device.
“That might be promotions or other communications with field sales people but, increasingly, it involves feeding real-time KPI [key performance indicator] information to managers,” he said.” We even have our ‘Directors’ Dashboard’ feature as standard now, showing the managing director or finance director exactly how the business stands through whatever channel and device they wish to use. A typical use is the 5pmupdate every business day.”
Another indigenous vendor of ERP solutions is Herbst Software of Wicklow.” The whole point of ERP is that you should only have to do things once,” said sales director Orson Herbst.” So it has to get the transaction from the front line, say a sales order from the customer site, through all of the processes that will lead to fulfilment, invoice and payment receipt.”
That means the remote devices must communicate with the main system. In practice in Ireland today, that meant GPRS devices, Herbst said.” PDAs have taken over from laptops for most of our customers because of the speed and convenience of carrying out essential tasks on their customers’ premises.”
Best use of handheld devices is made by carefully structured menus to drive whatever process is being carried out remotely and then feed into workflow systems back at base.
“That interface needs to be quick and logical in use, not requiring the user to enter more than the essential variable information,” said Herbst.
That particularly applied, he said, where other key, but low-grade, tasks were added, such as barcode scanning or proof-of delivery capture by signature on touchscreen.
Those handheld devices are specialist and designed purely for business, but with PDAs and smartphones there was a thoroughly blurred line between the personal and the professional, said Alex Reeves, managing director of Access Ireland.
One of the longer established financial and ERP products on the market, Access Dimension, has followed the development of business to the point where, as Reeves put it, the demand is for all systems to be two-way.
“In fact, it is probably becoming irrelevant to talk about remote or mobile access,” he said.” There are really just different categories of users of the ERP system, your own sales people or field engineers, and outsiders with defined access such as clients, partners and suppliers.”
Device technology and communications channels will vary and change over time, but the core system behind the interface has to manage the provision of the correct data, the business processes and the security.
Access has a high proportion of professional services clients with staff working in the field, such as accountants and consultants, engineers and other time-charged professionals, usually engaged on project-based business.
“Enabling their productivity is key to competitiveness and cost control, especially now that fixed price contracts have become the norm,” Reeves said.” For more junior staff, capturing onsite timings and work details live is a similarly key function for better management.”
About 25 years ago, it all began with what we later came to call ‘sales force automation’, according to Mike O’Regan, sales director of Colman Computer Services.
“We all slowly came to realise that the financial and ERP systems at the core of a business cannot stand alone. Every other process in the enterprise has to link back to them.
“Field sales and deliveries were, and probably still are, the main off-premise activity and communication with the head office systems carrying obvious benefits. Instant information about stock, prices and delivery times supports getting sales orders on the spot, recorded delivery speeds up, invoicing and cash flow.” Colman is a specialist in Microsoft Dynamics Nav and Cognos business intelligence.
“We have developed many solutions over the years to capture orders in real-time from the field,” O’Regan said.” In the last year or so, a number of features forming a smart template for mobile sales have been added to Dynamics Nav, all of which adds up to a particularly sophisticated and f lexible solution that can work over any web-enabled device.”
O’Regan cited Crummy, the distributor and 15branch retailer for Ecco footwear, as a fairly typical example of the integration that was required today.
“Our 3G-enabled field sales system and a radio frequency-based handheld system for sales picking and stocktaking are both integrated with Dynamics Nav. The sales system enables order taking, printing, stock and customer look-up facilities.”
But the system also added value to field sales because it enjoyed the results of a business intelligence system at the back end that enabled proactive sales analysis and trading patterns by the reps in the field.
“As well as general promotions, the salespeople can be given the information that empowers them to exercise appropriate discretion to keep their customers satisfied,” he said.
The familiar example of Amazon.com is what Karl O’Leary, managing director of Calyx Software, pointed to as a model of the smart simplicity that could be applied to almost all aspects of mobile or remote access to core systems.
“When you buy a book or DVD on Amazon, you effectively process your own transaction,’’ O’Leary said.” You see the item you want, fill the order, are warned if by any chance it has been ordered just ahead of you, make the online payment and the book arrives in due course through some logistics system.”
It is just as easy (or, in fact, easier because there are no credit card details to fill in) for a field sales rep to enter an order from a PDA or a customer to check stock and place a new or top-up order, also from anywhere at any time.
“Behind the scenes the system is automated from the order through fulfilment to invoicing and payment.
“There is a convergence of ERP process between employee, customer and supplier that is all just normal in today’s systems, certainly in Microsoft Dynamics with which we work,” O’Leary said.
“The core system can cope with the orders, for example, wherever they come from. It is largely the interfaces that vary but, once set up and tested, they are just feeding into the main system in real time. Lan, Wan or mobile does not matter.”
The sales process was the commonest and perhaps easiest to understand in this context, O’Leary said.
“But almost all business processes are automated in ERP work flow systems these days. Say a manager’s authorisation is required for some purchase – Workflow pushes out the request, even to a mobile device, and a click or electronic signature can sanction the purchase or the manager can dig into the system for all of the specifics if necessary.”
The pattern is of ERP systems automated to the greatest possible extent with defined workflow and business rules, and alerts or messaging for human intervention for a decision or an explanation only required to manage the exceptions.
“In this light, whether the human element is a transaction from a field sales rep on a mobile device or an accounts clerk on a PC on the Lan does not really matter.”
O’Leary referred to the estimated 20,000 commuters now needing longer journey times (and adding to traffic congestion) because of the Malahide railway viaduct collapse.
“How much of their work could perfectly well be accomplished remotely from their homes by broadband or mobile devices? With the right ERP systems, at least a proportion of those workers could be switched on in minutes. The only problem might be that they would not want to go back to the old way of working,” he said.
