Going Wireless

Jaclyn Easton

• Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9780061744419
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Communication
• Index: Business

Going Wireless delivers the unexpected by showing how wireless is transforming every type of enterprise from micro-businesses to multi-national conglomerates.

Award-winning technology journalist Jaclyn Easton begins with an in-depth look at owning your customers and clients through mobile commerce—whether your company focuses on consumers or business-to-business.

From there you will learn about the advantages of wirelessly fortifying your mobile workforce of itinerant executives, sales personnel, and field service technicians as well as how wireless is dramatically redefining customer service, marketing, and advertising.

Going Wireless also delves deep inside the corporation. First you'll find out why most companies are "handsizing" in addition to deploying wireless technology to rejuvenate warehouses, supply chains, procurement procedures, data collection, competitive intelligence, and much more.

The best part is that these scenarios are supported by over 40 brand-name success stories, including:

• How Sears saves millions by wirelessly enabling 100 percent of their appliance repair technicians;

• How the Gap proved that by sewing wireless technology in their clothing they could reduce labor distribution costs by 50 percent;

• How McKessanHBOC—a Fortune 40 corporation—used mobile technology to entirely eliminate all their manifest imaging costs.

While most people associate wireless with cell phones and Palm handhelds, you'll also learn that wireless has been around for over 100 years and has spawned mobile options you've never heard of and is being used in ways you've never imagined.

This makes Going Wireless the perfect book for executives and managers who need a comprehensive overview of the wireless options that can make their companies more competitive, more productive, and more profitable.

Section 1

USING M-COMMERCE

TO OWN YOUR

CUSTOMERS AND

CLIENTS

INTRODUCTION

Using M-Commerce to Own Your
Customers and Clients

I BELIEVE ALL PROFESSIONALS have a universal goal: to make the most amount of money for the least amount of work.

There’s a caveat here, because “least amount of work” is not an ethical issue. It’s about doing what you love most, because doing what you love is not work. So the goal, then, is to eliminate the mundane and have fun.

Wireless can do that.

Promises, promises. Perhaps. But I pride myself on underpromising and overdelivering, which means you should prepare yourself for some well-appreciated surprises—strategies that use mobile technology to easily acquire more customers and irresistibly educate them about what you offer. It’s also about providing a level of service you never could before.

One of wireless’s secrets is its uncanny ability to let you connect with new customers and clients with a refreshing depth that results in bonds that would normally take years—but is accomplished in months. Even more important, customers will demand the attention as they become more active in their buying decisions and therefore are going to want more options.

In practical terms, this means that to compete, you’ll be beaming them, ringing them, and messaging them constantly, and they will love it and in fact have specifically asked you to do it. This will make more sense to you shortly.

Naturally, wireless technology is about not just facilitating field sales, but also radically improving retailing. Whether it’s eliminating checkout lines (no joke), providing a way for your customers to pay for goods in two seconds or less, or even allowing them access to a database of inventory so they can determine not only if you have the product they want, but how much is on hand and in which area of the store they can find it. How would that improve your employees’ performance when they are not being distracted constantly by distressed customers?

Wireless will also have an equally substantial effect on Internet commerce. In fact, remember when it was just e-commerce? Well, you are about to meet its siblings, m-, l-, and v-. With the aid of wireless you’ll be making sales mobilely (m-commerce), sometimes even based on location (l-commerce), or by having your customer interface with your automation in a natural speaking voice (v-commerce), all because of the advances gained from mobile devices and their high-value proposition of anytime, anywhere, Internet access.

The overall benefit may best be described by Gartner Group analyst Bob Egan, who declares that “wireless is the growth hormone for e-commerce.”

This is how. . . .

1

Defining the M-Commerce
Opportunity

“IT’S GOING TO be the most fantastic thing the time-starved world has ever seen.”

Hyperbole? Not to Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com’s chief executive, who voiced this statement. In fact, he’ll take his prognostication a step further by declaring that by 2010, 100 percent of his company’s transactions will take place wirelessly.

Amazon.com boarded the mobile bandwagon in late 1999, about the same time as rival barnesandnoble.com. While the mobile wing of bn.com has been quoted as saying that sales are exceeding their projections, no one is yet discussing actual metrics—the who, what, where, why, and how, including specific revenue figures. Nonetheless, we are starting to get hints, and some of the behavior is a little surprising.

For example, Amazon.com’s biggest sellers via wireless connectivity are not books, but music—the pop and R&B genres, to be exact. And, yes, people have purchased large-screen TVs and equally expensive digital camcorders while on the go. Fittingly, Amazon.com’s “Amazon Anywhere” platform is delivering on the anywhere part with purchases from dozens of countries, including Peru, Algeria, and Malaysia.

So what does this data tell us? That mobile commerce (m-commerce) may be about commerce on the go, but how it is adapted, who adapts it, and exactly how it fits into a bigger commerce picture remains a mystery.

As you can see already, defining the term m-commerce is equally mystifying, as we consider the various models that fit under the mobile commerce banner.

The first one up is most associated with the phrase. It’s transactional mobile commerce, meaning you will buy a thing or service entirely through a wireless device. Because of the screen and speed limitations of the mobile units being used to transact, in most cases you will sign up using a traditional interface—big monitor and keyboard—to prepare an account for use on the go. The information supplied includes your preferred delivery address for goods and the credit card you want to use so that it takes a minimal amount of time. Amazon.com’s 1-Click is a perfect example. Also, look for electronic wallets to be used across a bevy of commerce sites that offer this simplicity.

Building on this m-commerce model, we will see mobile fulfillment as part of the transactional process. You can buy a movie ticket, and a bar code representing the paper ticket would be downloaded to your device and scanned as you enter the theater. A similar scenario holds true for entertainment. You’ll buy a book, a song, or a game and it will download automatically to your wireless device. Amazon.com, for example, is already set up on their main site for the downloading of e-books and music, so expect them to be one of the first in wireless as well.

ADULT ENTERTAINMENT SETS THE TREND, AGAIN

However, if we are being candid, the unspoken forerunner in the arena of full-circle m-commerce experiences—purchase and fulfillment—is adult entertainment, which has a history of legitimizing technology dating back to the introduction of the VCR in 1970s and 1980s and business models such as renting entertainment.

In the online world, we saw Web sites for adults perfecting technologies that would mainstream later, such as real-time credit processing, live Web video, and advanced advertising techniques like those annoying pop-up boxes.

Now add to the technology picture the fact that adult-only entertainment is one of e-commerce’s biggest success stories (over $1 billion annually), and you see how quickly wireless is being adapted.

Why is this? Not only is there high demand for the content, but the people who consume it are indicative of the first-phase, m-commerce users: young men who are early technology adopters. When they were the first users of the Net, the most popular phrase submitted for searches was “sex.” Now that the genders and ages have balanced in online usage, “sex” places a mere third on the Internet search top 10, the first being “travel.”

When you consider the degree to which wireless devices offer privacy and discretion that is not possible with laptops and desktops, you have a better understanding of how even more explosive adult entertainment can be in mobile, once the technologies to support it are perfected.

In the meantime, the choice of sites is proliferating. The world’s first adult entertainment portal for PDAs was SinPalm.com, a free site supported by advertising that allows users to download risqué stories and photographs to their handheld devices. Kathryn Hudson, co-founder of the site with her husband, explains that SinPalm.com is cherished by executives who read the stories during unbearably boring meetings. It helps them take “their focus off of work and their hectic lives,” says Hudson.

On the other end of the adult spectrum, the Hudsons have launched an industry first, a dating service for handhelds called PocketPersonals.com, whose slogan is “Love is in the air—everywhere.”

While the Hudsons adult business ventures are entrepreneurial, the biggest producers of adult entertainment are also tuning in to the wireless wavelength. Penthouse magazine, for example, offers centerfold photos for downloading to handheld devices. The decision to repurpose their content was an easy one for the magazine. “There is a huge demand,” a Penthouse spokesperson confesses. “People are saying that now they can take Penthouse to the beach. Yes, I know they’ve always been able to take Penthouse to the beach, but this way it is a lot more discreet.”

BETTING ON M-COMMERCE

Content complementary with these adult offerings is wireless gambling. If discretion and privacy are the benefits of wireless to “red light” content, then the watchword for mobile wagering is “convenience.”

Anyone in Germany can easily play lotto with their cell phones. Eurobet, one of the world’s largest Internet sports betting emporiums, offers mobile gambling with exceptional precision and sophistication. You can wager on just about any sport, including the Super Bowl, with a few taps on your wirelessly connected portable device.

The advantages are summed up perfectly by Mark Balestra of eGamingWire.com: “If you thought it was impressive that you could place a wager via the Internet on a sporting event from the comfort of your home, wait until you place a wager from a seat in the venue where the event is taking place.” He also points out that the three largest sports bookmakers (Coral’s Eurobet, William Hill, and Ladrokes) have all launched mobile initiatives that allow betting from virtually any wireless device.

Before we see wireless gambling with any velocity, the legal issues must be cleared. This is another case in which the legalities of the wired Internet have followed the mobile one. The issue of which laws govern, the state where the gambling is being processed (where the Web site operates) or if the government from where the bets are originating prevails. If, when the legalities are resolved, we must adhere to the laws of the state in which the gambling site does business, then look to the cellular carriers to be providing the push for mobile wagering. Again, using the wired Net as precedent, most wireless experts agree that incremental billing—paying for each minute that you use your mobile phone—will, in the area of stiff competition, eventually yield to some form of a flat rate. Though the carriers may deny this now, recall the mid-1990s, when America Online’s Steve Case swore that under no circumstance would AOL ever offer a single monthly fee.

For this reason, operators are going to have to make up for their huge dip in profits, and since gambling is one of the many ways to do that, it is therefore predicted as one of m-commerce’s highest revenue generators.

Despite the predictable allure and profitability of mobile wagering and adult entertainment, one question remains unanswered: When will this happen? It’s an educational process, but look for the big leap at the point that people think of their cell phone as a device capable of more than making calls, or are highly motivated for the content or services that are available exclusively for handhelds. Then factor in spiffier devices (larger displays in color) and faster connectivity, and the convergence will most certainly hasten the inevitable m-commerce explosion.

PAY AND PICK UP

While people associate m-commerce with being online for both shopping and purchasing, we will find that in reality the model we use most will be closer to a “click-and-mortar” paradigm, where wireless devices lead to an offline sale either through information supplied wirelessly or by processing payment for an order that will be fulfilled offline.

A perfect example (ironically) comes from a chain of 1950s-style diners specializing in burgers and fries, who are blending wireless technology with their retro decor. The restaurant is called Johnny Rockets, and they have 150 outlets in 28 states and 8 countries.

Using the mobile commerce gateway go2 (discussed in detail in chapter two), customers can find a Johnny Rockets, place their order, and even pay for it, all from their wireless device. The benefits are equally enormous for both the customer and the restaurant chain. Logging on to Johnny Rockets’s wireless interface means they are ordering from a current menu with current prices. Cross-sells are included. Order only a burger—heaven forbid—and a screen suggesting fries or a drink is displayed (see accompanying figures).

Payment information is handled ahead of time when the customer registers on the go2 site, so in the wireless environment the customer needs only to tap once to confirm the credit card in use. The prepayment feature is a must for restaurants that need a guarantee to eliminate the risk of an orphaned order.

After the order is submitted, a confirmation code is supplied that is used to validate the pickup. The entire order process takes less than a minute, and repeat customers who set up a standard order can complete the process in mere seconds. Speed is one of the motivating factors for regular Johnny Rockets customers—that and ease, such as not having to stand in line to pay and the opportunity to avoid the kinds of miscommunications that occur when placing an order over a cell phone.

Johnny Rockets is by definition a “casual dining chain,” but wireless gives them such an advantage timewise that they can be competitive with the fast-food franchises. The even better news is that the cost to compete is less than what you might think. According to go2, integrating with an existing point of sale (POS) system generally runs under $10,000.

GOING ONCE . . .

While on-the-go dining certainly meshes with the two primary benefits of wireless, anytime and anywhere, it is for this reason that auctions, which are defined by urgency and availability, are such a perfect fit with wireless and another example of the empowerment of m-commerce.

eBay and Amazon.com auctions both have wireless initiatives, with eBay’s understandably far more robust since it’s their core business. eBay’s mobile game plan began in late 1999 with a service that alerted customers via their pagers and cell phones when they were outbid. The problem is that while an alert was quickly dispatched, eBay wasn’t yet supporting technology to allow alert recipients to respond with a higher bid, which meant they had to scramble to get to a PC. For this reason, the service quickly grew to include virtually all the functionality of what we could think of as “wired eBay” when they debuted “eBay Anywhere.”

Providing wireless connectivity was a great start, but making sure it worked for everyone was just as important. Given the tenacious relationship eBay users have with the service, the person-to-person trading community had to be sure that their wireless course was compatible with all popular wireless devices, which includes a wide-ranging assortment of cell phones and PDAs.

While the Web is renowned for its homogeneity, wireless is equally infamous for its heterogeneity. Virtually every device has a distinct set of characteristics that must be catered to even if it uses the same microbrowser to access the Web. To solve this problem, a company called 2Roam is one of many solution providers who can circumvent wireless deployment disasters by ensuring compatibility between content and the device receiving it, one of m-commerce’s biggest early issues.

In the case of eBay, a bidder can use any device that can access the Web wirelessly, and when each one of these mobile units connects to eBay’s Web site, the page request goes to 2Roam’s servers, which can identify the device and pour the corresponding data into a template that considers the device’s screen size and keyboard so that the content has the proper look and accessibility. Even though greater effort has been exerted to ensure that the user’s experience is similar from device to device, nuances, such as the number of results listed per screen from a search query, can vary depending on the unit doing the accessing.

Also keep in mind that for the near future, wireless buyers can’t see pictures and wireless sellers can’t yet upload an item for sale. Despite these not-so-small challenges, Jupiter Media Metrix, a company that analyzes and measures Internet use, has reported that despite the lesser degree of the eBay experience through wireless, users spend the same time with eBay mobilely as they do when in front of their desktops.

PUSHING IT

Yet another leg supporting the m-commerce table is “push m-commerce,” where you are notified of pending shipment or information about offline specials. A message may appear on your cell phone from your Internet or neighborhood pharmacy, informing you that your prescription is due for a refill. You can instantly message back a “yes” or “no,” and if you are communicating with your local drugstore, you can let them know if you plan to pick up your prescription or have it delivered.

Offline special information can come from the stores you shop the most. The research firm Kelsey Group estimates that by 2005, an extra $1.5 billion will fall into the hands of local merchants as a result of these types of promotions.

I’ve heard bookstore owners talking about how they plan to use the service to alert their better customers when authors stop by unexpectedly and autograph their stock. A message would be sent and customers could indicate whether or not they want the item held. Ditto scenarios for retailing of any type where product specials can be previewed for those customers the store cherishes most. This is a multichannel strategy powered by urgency and excitement. Those who integrate wireless in their plans first are, in the opinion of bn.com vice president Robert Albert, the ones who will profit. If, by the middle of the decade, “the only way you are reaching your customers is via the [wired] Internet, you’ll be limiting your customer base.”

This is precisely the view of Domino’s Pizza, who, in an effort to better understand how their customers might use wireless, launched a two-month trial in Las Vegas that they termed “PizzaCast.” What they found is that wireless orders mirrored their online orders, especially with respect to size, which were 10 to 15 percent larger than orders phoned into a human. According to a Domino’s executive, the reason for this is twofold. First, customers have a menu in front of them, even if it’s digital, which can suggest items, especially newer ones that they may not have considered. Second, ordering wirelessly is more relaxed than interacting with a human order taker, because we are self-conscious that someone is waiting and hence we tend to rush the process.

Domino’s sees wireless primarily as an additional convenience for their customers in 64 countries and 7,000 stores. And, like bn.com, Domino’s is protecting their future by ensuring that their customers can do business with them any way they like. In fact, to make wireless Domino’s even easier, during the trial folks went to the Web site to preregister their favorite pizza combinations and nicknamed them, thus reducing the wireless input to an absolute minimum.

The beauty of Domino’s trial is how flawlessly their system worked, not just from the customer’s viewpoint, but from an internal perspective as well. After an order was placed, the wireless back end was so well integrated, it would automatically pop up on the prep screen of the kitchen of the closest store. Domino’s estimates that it costs them 30 to 40 cents per wireless order to process.

BRINGING THE STORE TO THE CUSTOMER

Like Domino’s and bn.com, the examples thus far have focused on mobile technology to facilitate an Internet connection between the retailer and the customer. M-commerce, however, has an almost opposite meaning as well by using wireless technology to bring the store to the consumer offline. Here the customer benefits from wireless but does not actually interact with it.

For example, anyone attending the infamous subway series in 2000 may have noticed more than the average number of kiosks to buy World Series–related merchandise. Actually, there were at least 22 more, both inside and outside the stadium, offering Yankee souvenirs, all equipped with mobile units capable of processing credit transactions without having to use the traditional phone “landline” (or electrical outlet) to dial-in for approval.

Instead, the authorizations took place via a cellular connection anchored to each credit approval device. U.S. Wireless Data’s Synapse technology was at the core of this merchandising success story. Their solution integrates existing POS systems and escorts the data along the entire wireless approval route, from the time the customer’s card is swiped through the final delivery of the authorization code and paper receipt. You may be surprised to learn that the process wirelessly takes only one-third the time, about 5 seconds, versus the landline option, which typically requires 15 to 20 seconds. Because of the “always on” aspect of wireless, time is saved from eliminating the dial-up and log-in procedure required for each transaction. Furthermore, because the data is parsed into packets and sent digitally in separate groupings, it is highly secure.

However cool the technology, it’s the customers’ experiences that matters most, and these seconds saved mean faster t...