1.1 Mobile Commerce Value Propositions
A lesson we learned from the bust of dot-com bubbles is that a cool technology itself does not automatically translate into business success. Successful business models leverage new technology to create values and profits from ultimate customer satisfaction. So, what new values or cost savings can mobile technology create?Unlike the PC-centric electronic commerce, mobile commerce is focused on personal experiences. A person carries a pervasive mobile device and gets information anytime, anywhere, from anyone. For the first time in history, a person's information access can be disassociated from her environment. For example, a traveler does not need to be in her office at a specific time to get ticket information. That unprecedented freedom of information could fundamentally affect all business categories. The next several sections provide a brief overview with examples.
1.1.1 Business to Consumer (B2C)
From a consumer's perspective, mobile commerce provides extreme convenience, speed, and personalization to access information services. Let's use a hypothetical stock trader example to illustrate how mobile commerce can change the way we consume information. A mobile stock trader can access markets around the world anytime, anywhere. He can take advantage of the 24/7 continuous global markets and never miss any profit opportunities. Mobile services store the trader's portfolio and target price information. Relevant news and price alerts are pushed to the trader at real time regardless of his location. Using personalized smart mobile agents, the trader can focus on stock researches and use his time more efficiently. As a result, he now spends more time with his family and enjoys life. In this case, mobile commerce creates value by saving time, improving efficiency, reducing opportunity loss, and improving the quality of life for its consumer. In fact, the financial services industry has been a major adopter of mobile commerce technologies. Almost all major banks, credit card companies, and trading firms have offered mobile interfaces to their informational and even transactional services. According to IDC, mobile banking has grown tenfold in western Europe from 1999 to 2001 and is expected to reach $334 million during 2003 in western Europe alone.In addition to improving existing services, the freedom of information enables new breeds of consumer information services. For example, with smart in-home monitoring devices, patients may now stay with their families instead of in hospital observation rooms. Phase Forward is one of many firms in this emerging market. Another example is customized marketing application. Marketing firms can take advantage of the human desire for instant gratification and design more effective product promotion schemes based on consumers' real-time experiences. Avantgo is a leading company that provides mobile marketing solutions. Those new applications improve our lives directly and represent huge opportunities of profits for mobile commerce firms.
1.1.2 Business to Business (B2B)
From a business's perspective, mobile commerce could create value by improving efficiency. A good example is mobile supply chain management. Today's business supply chains consist of multiple suppliers and sellers at multiple levels from multiple countries. A poorly managed supply chain can create redundant inventories or insufficient supplies (and hence market share losses). In highly competitive business sectors, such as the PC business, efficient supply chain management can determine the survival of a firm. PC business leader Dell excels in supply chain management. As a result, Dell can make profits even when competitors are taking huge losses.In a mobile supply chain management system, warehouse workers and truck loaders use mobile devices to track inventory and shipment data. The data is uploaded into enterprise backend systems at real time. Managers make timely decisions based on the most up-to-date supply chain information. Real-time information also allows the management team to quickly identify and correct bottlenecks in supply chains. Purchase authorization, billing, and payment are also completed by field agents at real time, streamlining the whole process and reducing turnaround time for both goods and information. Supply chain management innovation is often custom done inhouse. A commercial product that enables real-time supply chain management using mobile technology is Savi Technology's Smart Chain solution.Better managed and more transparent supply chains can ultimately benefit a business's bottom line by increasing customer satisfaction at the end of the supply chain. Mobile technology enables vendors to ship goods faster and to better predict the availability or arrival dates. UPS and FedEx's package-tracking services have became hugely popular. In a world of mobile commerce, real-time order tracking would be the norm of retail business. Highly visible supply chains allow customers to adjust their schedules to meet the product delivery time.
1.1.3 Business to Employee (B2E)
Mobile commerce allows firms to reduce operational costs for their mobile employees, including sales force, field agents, and factory floor workers.Pharmaceutical companies rely on physicians to sell new medicines. Pharmaceutical sales representatives and doctors often meet at lunchtime outside of the doctor's officeit is easier to make personal connections during an informal lunch. However, it is difficult to hook up a networked computer on a dining table. If the doctor wants to make a purchase, the sales representative has to come back later with price and inventory quotes lengthy and costly process. Companies like AvantGo and XcelleNet develop mobile sales management and automation suites for big pharmaceutical companies. With the help of mobile commerce, the salesperson can quote prices and close the deal right on the dining table, and the doctor can then track the shipment. Of course, mobile sales automation can go far beyond the pharmaceutical industry. Combined with leading CRM (customer relationship management) software, companies of all sizes, such as IBM, NexTel, SAP, and Numeric Computer Systems, offer a range of mobile sales solutions.Like sales representatives, field agents also need to access their company's enterprise information system on the run. Endurable equipment vendors from Xerox to Otis equip their field service technicians with mobile devices. They can check technical information as well as conduct asset management on customer sites.Even for factory workers who do not work outside the company, mobile information access can still be very useful. Boeing has huge plants to build commercial jet airliners. It is impossible to wire the plant with Ethernet cables, since there are so many moving parts. Technicians working inside a plane often need to make little trips to a nearby computer terminal to check digital blueprints. That is not only inefficient but also error pronehumans can recall wrong details even after a short walk. Mobile information devices make it possible for technicians to check blueprints inside the plane right at the problem spot, improving efficiency, reducing error, and hence saving operational costs.
1.1.4 Public Services and Safety
Government sectors are among the first to adopt sophisticated mobile applications. Police officers need to check driver's license, license plate, and vehicle identification numbers whenever they stop a driver. Emergency medical workers at an accident scene need to check drug conflicts and other life-critical information, and emergency response systems have to be coordinated wirelessly. The military requires real-time updates from soldiers and commanders in the battlefield.The events of September 11, 2001, in the United States revealed successes and failures in government mobile information systems. When all the fixed-voice and data lines were knocked off by the terrorist attacks, the cell network was still functional. Cell phone calls and wireless email messages became the last words we heard from many people in the World Trade Center and in the hijacked planes. However, the emergency response wireless networks proved fatally flawed. Many firefighters in the Towers never received the evacuation orders. The information gathered by police helicopter pilots about the imminent danger of building collapse never reached the fire department information system. Reliable mobile information systems are crucial to public safety in the 21st century. |
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