gaebler.com - AT&T-SBE Council Small Business Technology poll shows that mobile technology saves small businesses as much as $67.5 billion per year.
Anything that saves time and money is fair game for small businesses. Technology has always played an important role, but now it seems that mobile technology is driving huge gains in productivity and efficiency for small companies.
Once the tools of road warriors, mobile devices are enabling small business owners and employees to extend their work capabilities, regardless of whether or not they are required to travel. In many cases, mobile technology is saving real dollars and enabling key employees to become more productive.
A new 2014 AT&T-SBE Council Small Business Technology study showed that mobile technologies save small businesses $67.5 billion in time and other costs each year.
Smartphones: The use of smartphones saves small companies 1.24 billion hours and $32.5 billion annually.
Tablets: Tablet technology saves 754.2 million hours for a yearly total of $19.6 billion
Mobile Apps: Apps deliver 599.5 million saved hours and $15.6 billion
But while companies are leveraging mobile to save time, they aren't using the time they gain to rest on their laurels. Instead, small businesses are reinvesting the time in sales growth, improved customer engagement and industry research.
"Clearly, we are at a point where entrepreneurs now look first to communications technologies and innovations for solutions to improve productivity, cut costs and better manage and engage with customers," said SBE Council president & CEO Karen Kerrigan. "That is time and money that can go back into driving sales and innovating in the marketplace."
The study also found that nearly all small businesses (94%) use smartphones as part of their normal operations, primarily because these devices enable remote operations. Although small businesses are open 5.7 days per week (on average), half of small businesses report that they use smartphones to conduct business seven days a week.

techspot.com - Verizon will start rolling out today a rebranded XLTE service in areas where the company has added the AWS wireless spectrum. Customers living in these areas -- about half of Verizon's network, according to the company -- will get double the bandwidth and higher peak speeds at no extra cost.
To make things clear, XLTE does not refer to LTE Advanced, the next-generation mobile communications technology that promises far faster speeds. Rather, it is the same LTE network technology but leveraging the AWS spectrum Big Red acquired a few years back to offset the load on its current network.
Verizon has published a list of over 200 cities and 100 devices that already support XLTE. Among those you will find New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Dallas, while on the devices side many popular handsets are included right off the bat, among them iPhone 5S and 5C, Nokia Lumia Icon, Samsung's Galaxy S4, S5 and Note 3, Motorola's Moto X and LG G2.
To take advantage of the improved connection customers won't require to change device settings or carrier plans, and devices will continue to show "4G LTE". According to reports, most new handsets released within the last year should work, and those that currently don't could be pending an OTA update to gain XLTE support. But even if your device doesn't support it, users moving to the faster network would be freeing up bandwidth so the existing 4G LTE network should work faster as well.

futuregov.asia - In an exclusive interview with FutureGov, Chief Technology Officer of Good Technology, Nicko van Someren, spoke about how the public sector can leverage mobility to achieve a more productive and happier mobile workforce while protecting critical government and citizen data.
The future of end user computing will become more mobile and personalised. More senior executives and employees are demanding to use their preferred devices - phones, tablets and wearables - at work. The obvious advantages of embracing mobility make it difficult for governments to ignore this trend.
"Letting your staff choose the mobile device they want to use boosts loyalty and morale. Besides having happier employees, the overall productivity increases because they get more done while being away from their desks," said van Someren. "Organisations that run BYOD programmes can also cut capital and operating expenditure by saving on device and carrier costs."
The transition to a mobile-enabled workforce has been relatively slow in the public sector, with many agencies concerned about the security and privacy of their government applications and citizen data.
While there is no shortage of mobile apps in the market today, most of them are not suited for the enterprise, said van Someren. "Applications created in the post-Facebook and Twitter era are designed to make it really easy for users to share and move data around. These are great features to have, but they must be mitigated by controls owned by the IT department."
"Employees should be able to access, interact, share or post from mobile devices securely within the enterprise environment, but you won't want data to be automatically synced to their personal Dropbox, iCloud or home computer that their kids have access to," he commented.
Many organisations still apply a traditional 'fleet management' mindset to mobile devices, which tends to lead to two undesirable ends of a spectrum: either locking down too much data and features that render the device less useful, or having too little control over the device that exposes the data to unwarranted security risks.
To address this challenge, Good Technology takes the 'containerisation' approach, which protects corporate apps and data while creating a strong separation between the personal and the corporate.
"Organisations should focus on mobile data management, not device management. Containerisation allows organisations to ensure that corporate data that is accessed by these apps remains segregated from personal data, irrespectively of the device," he explained.
Good's platform further enables organisations or independent software vendors (ISVs) to easily develop secure apps with enterprise-level policy controls. "There are approximately 80 apps in the pipeline that are developed by our ISV community," said van Someren. These will add to Good's app store of approximately 1500 apps for functions such as business intelligence, cloud storage, annotation, finance, healthcare, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and more.
"Security is often viewed as a barrier between the user and what needs to be done. Instead, I like to view security as an enabler. Data security should be a set of tools that allow employees to complete tasks that they would otherwise not been able to do, whether it's a police officer filling out a report while he's in the field or a health professional showing the patient his or her health records at a house call," van Someren concluded.

infoworld.com - Cornell University runs its own water and electrical utility for the campus and student housing, serving as many as 30,000 people when school is in session in the Ithaca, N.Y., campus. As with any utility, it experiences outages -- in this case of power, water, or steam (used for heating). The usual way to deal with that was for phone operators to dial up utility managers and have them come into the office to figure out the issue, then determine the course of action. That meant delays of as much as an hour as people dropped what they were doing (or got dressed, if in the middle of the night) and drove in.
Today, Cornell still calls those managers. But since October, they've been signing into the utility management systems from their cellular-equipped iPads to pinpoint the issues and even remotely fix them when possible. In a pinch, they can also use their iPhones. Mechanics and technicians are issued iPads for the same reason.
Cornell's utility equipment provider, General Electric's Intelligent Platforms division, has an iOS app for drilling down into the utility management system's current data, and there's a Web app that can control the equipment and get more detailed info than the iOS app provides, notes Bill Richards, a senior network engineer at the Cornell Utilities Department.
It's simple, isn't it? Provide field employees and their managers a device they can keep close at hand so they can investigate and even respond to an emergency from nearly anywhere they are. Provide Web access (protected via VPN) for those who need to go beyond the first-level information offered by the native app, which also lets them work from any computer, so they can coordinate reasonably with the range of tools similar to what they have at the office.
The iPad is the first line of response, but it's part of a broader set of tools.
I asked Richards why have both the Web app and the iOS app. A practical reason is that the Web app came first. But he says his team continues to use it -- even on the iPad -- when they want to go beyond the iOS app's capabilities. He likes the fact that the Web app replicates what the operator sees, giving managers the same view as on-site employees. And he likes that his team can essentially remote-control the utility management system from the browser.
But he also likes that the iOS app is simpler to use, providing drill-down capabilities to more easily discover what's happening -- and helps managers come to decisions more quickly. "The Web app lets you control the equipment and see more detail, such as what percent valves are open. But that's kind of overload for the mobile app."

informationweek.com - It's not just a couple of VPs sharing a cellphone anymore. You need a dedicated mobility manager equipped to oversee your valuable hodgepodge of mobile devices and data.
Few changes in business have been more significant in recent years than the mobile technology revolution. We've moved from an office-bound workforce to one that can work just as productively from the road, a plane, or a cafe. This shift has taken place so quickly that it's almost easy to ignore.
Smart technology managers, of course, know better. Corporate mobility is exponentially more complex today, replete with devices, platforms, data plans, rules, and job titles that didn't exist even five years ago. That complexity -- combined with wildly different employee expectations -- has made mobile technology management as critical to business success today as marketing, finance, and sales.
Much has changed since the days of clunky first-generation smartphones. Company mobility programs are no longer limited to a handful of executives, all using the same phone, covered by one of three voice plans on the same carrier. Today, employees use multiple mobile platforms (iOS, Windows, and Android), device types (smartphones, tablets, and air cards, among others) and a variety of data and voice plans. Companies on average now juggle more than 1.5 devices per employee. At the same time, the explosion of mobile data and business apps have turned smartphones into productivity workhorses, syncing people with their calendars, contacts, apps, and the information they need to get work done from anywhere.
Forget the Internet of Things for a moment and just consider the expanding Internet of users and phones. eMarketer predicts 4.55 billion mobile users worldwide in 2014, with 1.75 billion smartphone users. As more devices join the carrier networks, managers will need to analyze and understand the data that all of those devices generate.
These new complexities raise some cost and management challenges. But for smart companies, they also present important strategic opportunities: to help drive productivity, to bolster employee and customer satisfaction, and ultimately to increase profitability. But it starts with understanding the importance of the mobile management challenge and finding the right talent to address it.
What should a mobility management team look like, exactly? Mobile technology touches all parts of the company, from IT to finance. So a great mobility team should have a comprehensive understanding of the business. That starts with a solid footing in IT and device management. The team also needs insight into the billing details of employees' plans across multiple carriers, and an understanding of each department's mobile needs to make strategic recommendations that benefit the business.
Those aren't easy tasks, and BYOD complicates things further. That is why good mobility leaders are masters of data analysis. Some employees might be excited to choose which devices they use at work, for instance, while others might resent having to help cover the cost of doing their jobs. The only way to determine what makes good business sense is through data mining of wireless spending and usage data. That will tell managers what employees need that the company isn't providing and where the organization can reallocate mobility resources for the greatest impact.
Data analysis also allows mobility managers to renegotiate contracts and limit bad spending, whether it's excessive international data roaming charges or underused shared data pools. Data is the difference, but it is only useful if mobility managers analyze it and apply that analysis to make recommendations that benefit the entire company.
Technology and workforce trends, BYOD, remote working, and the explosion of devices and platforms are magnifying the need for CEOs and CIOs to apply the same level of strategic thinking to mobility as their colleagues do for every other key function of the business. Smart companies are onto this -- and will soon have higher productivity and profits to show for it.
Too many companies treat digital and mobile strategies as pet projects. Here are four ideas to shake up your company. Also in the Digital Disruption issue of InformationWeek: Six enduring truths about selecting enterprise software. (Free registration required.)

defensesystems.com - The Defense Information Systems Agency has OK'd use of the Android/Samsung Knox platform as part of its 2.0 release of the DOD Mobility Capability.
The implementation authorizes use of Android 4.4 on the Samsung Galaxy S4 on a Mobile Device Management (MDM) system that secures the devices and lets them connect to unclassified Defense Department networks, DISA said.
The Samsung Knox container, which the company introduced last year for enterprise use, adds layers of security and allows access to the baseline set of 19 tested and approved applications in the DOD Mobility Application Store. More applications are to be added at the end of the month.
Knox supports access to DOD Enterprise Email, synched calendar and contacts in a For Official Use Only environment, DISA said. Secure Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, native browser, contacts and device encryption are among the features enabled for Android.
DISA said that mission partners that have completed the mobility on boarding process of their Samsung Knox/Android devices can order the devices.
As the lead agency for the DOD Mobility Program, DISA is gradually rolling out mobile capability, with a goal of eventually allowing access to the Joint Information Environment from any authorized device at any time and from anywhere in the world.

fleetnews.co.uk - CHow a company manages its mobile workforce and resources is vital to brand perception and customer service, suggests Trimble in a new report.
It says that customer service is becoming increasingly recognised as a strategic issue and, according to the Institute of Customer Service, if organisations do not include it in the boardroom then some of those businesses won't be around in the longer term.
The most common customer complaint is when a mobile worker does not resolve the issue first time. This may be due to not having the right part or tools, not having the right skills or not enough time to complete the job.
Considering 25% of service calls require a follow-up visit, the result of not achieving a first-time fix can be detrimental, says Trimble.
As a result, it claims that more and more organisations are beginning to realise the value of 'intelligent scheduling' - incorporating technician knowledge, parts availability, and capacity into their scheduling processes to ensure that the technician arriving on site is actually the person who can resolve the customer's issue first time.
Trimble told Fleet News that the role of the field service operative has changed dramatically over recent years; shifting from one of operational necessity to strategic significance.
Why this change? Because with the rise in use of automated booking systems, for example, and with the growing trend of machine to machine (M2M) capability allowing applications to provide preventative and predictive analytics, the field technician's visit to the customer may be the first and only exposure a customer has to the company's brand and service delivery.
Jo Causon, chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service said: "The biggest change we have seen in customer service is the move from a transactional economy to the relationship economy where value lies in one-to-one interactions and service leaders prevail in the marketplace."
According to the Institute of Customer Service, having somebody on the board who has overall responsibility for the customer experience is essential and that somebody needs to be the CEO.
The customer service strategy is integral to the business strategy, and the board needs to lead on this.

digitaljournal.com - The report "Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) & Enterprise Mobility Market [Mobile Device Management, Mobile Application Management, Telecom Expense Management, Content Management and Email Management] - Global Advancements, Market Forecast and Analysis (2014 - 2019)", defines and segments the global BYOD market into various sub-segments with an in-depth analysis and forecasting of market sizes. The report also identifies the factors driving this market, various restraints and opportunities impacting it along with the adoption trends.
Browse 112 market data tables, 28 figures spread through 216 pages and in-depth TOC on "Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) & Enterprise Mobility Market [Mobile Device Management, Mobile Application Management, Telecom Expense Management, Content Management and Email Management] - Global Advancements, Market Forecast and Analysis (2014 - 2019)".
Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.
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The biggest challenge for organizations is the difficulty in adopting server based resources or a secure IT infrastructure. The software vendors in the BYOD market are continuously innovating and remodeling their present architecture to build more proficient and advanced systems that can allow workers to bring their own devices for work purpose. Major vendors in the BYOD & Enterprise mobility market are Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Air Watch, Aruba Networks, Cisco Systems, IBM, iPass Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Good Technology Inc., and Meru Networks among various others. The major forces driving this market are cloud infrastructure adoption, reduced hardware cost for enterprises, emergence of mobile user workforce, increase in smart phone penetration, and persistent usage popularity among industry verticals, regions and enterprises.
MarketsandMarkets broadly segments the global BYOD & Enterprise Mobility market by regions: North America (NA), Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe (EU), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America (LA); by software: mobile device management, mobile application management, telecom expense management, enterprise mobile content management, enterprise mobile email management and others; by devices: smart phones, tablets and laptops; by security: mobile data security, mobile device security, mobile ID management, and network security; by industry verticals: manufacturing, healthcare logistics and transportation, retail, BFSI, IT & telecom, public sector and others.
MarketsandMarkets forecasts the global BYOD market to grow from $71.93 billion in 2013 to $266.17 billion in 2019. In terms of regions, North America is expected to be the largest market in terms of market size, while Europe and Asia-Pacific (APAC) are expected to experience an increase in market traction, during the forecast period.
Get copy of sample request at http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=334.
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manufacturing.net - The mobile device trend is not just for the consumer sector anymore; buyer demand and employee desire has brought constant connectivity to the B2B space, and the trend only appears to be growing.
"The proliferation of smartphones and connected devices in worker's private lives has contributed to a desire for similar tools at work," says Mike Zelman, Vice President of Business Development at Handheld Group, a company that manufactures rugged mobile computers and devices. Workers want to have access to the data they need at all times, even while in the field or out on the facility floor - and there are many benefits to letting them have access to it.
Zelman notes that the mobile trend is helping to drive employee productivity: "Providing data to a worker in the field or on the factory floor can enable smarter and faster decisions. Additionally, allowing a field worker to acquire data on a connected mobile device can lead to improved accuracy and higher efficiency." These advantages alone would inspire a company to keep pace with the trend, but another factor has prompted the movement even more: the customer (and employee) requires it.
The heightened pressure for companies to do business faster and more accurately than ever ties almost directly to consumer demand. The expectations that companies like Target and Amazon have instilled in the consumer sector are creeping into the B2B sector as workers begin to expect the same level of service to which they are accustomed as consumers. Consumers also expect the same tools for the workplace that they have elsewhere.
So how can your business be mobile ready? Zelman offers three steps:
1.) Clearly prioritize the objectives around a mobile deployment. What KPIs do you want to affect with your mobile strategy? Is it accuracy, or response times? Defining your goals first will make for a much more seamless integration later.
2.) Define the use model and environment in which the mobile devices will be used. What do you want employees to be able to do from the field? What data sets should be restricted access when outside the firewall? Will you need SSL encryption to protect sensitive data?
3.) Understand and fill in any gaps in existing infrastructure needed to support the deployment. Will you be purchasing devices for employees, or allowing them to use their own? Will you need to create a WiFi network for your facility?
Companies that fail to accept, or at least explore, this trend toward mobility run the risk of losing their customers and employees. While customers may not see the lack of mobile devices in use in the facility, they will feel the lengthy customer service response times if employees are not empowered to act on inquiries or mishaps in a timely fashion. Employees, in turn, can grow frustrated with internal processes if they are not given the data and tools needed to stay abreast of their competition. Sensing a lack of support, these same employees could leave the company for one that offers a business model more in tune to the modern mobile user.
Zelman observes that the mobile ecosystem will continue to advance rapidly in the next six to twelve months. "The continued build-out of LTE networks will allow faster communications and access to larger sets of data for field workers," he says. Another point to note: a wider range of wireless field sensing devices will allow for more efficient management of remote assets, once again raising the amount of data available to a company regarding its projects, products, and shipments. Businesses that take advantage of the data available to them through the devices that enable access to it will be a step ahead of their competition.
The bottom line is that industrial companies need to use mobility in the same way that they have used other communication platforms in the past: to anticipate and meet customer needs. Any trend that enables a company to do so is an important one to note - and probably one in which companies need to participate.

mobileworldlive.com - A report by US investment bank Morgan Stanley has tipped Apple to include NFC in its next iPhone models.
Analyst Craig Hettenbach said in a note obtained by AppleInsider that NFC has reached an "inflection point" thanks to partnerships, potential licensees and patent filings, including those by Apple itself.
Hettenbach noted the recent news that Apple is incorporating NFC into a hardware case developed by Verifone for its stores.
However, the NFC in that instance is being used to exchange information with NFC-based smartphones rather than accept payments.
In other evidence, the Morgan Stanley analyst cites a report that Apple had reached an agreement with China UnionPay on NFC-based payments. But neither company has confirmed the veracity of the report.
Hettenbach also talks through whether Apple would opt for an embedded implementation for NFC or a cloud-based approach based on host card emulation.
He argues the company's focus on security means it would go the embedded route. Due to its massive user base and relationships with operators, Hettenbach believes Apple might be able to establish its presence on handsets.
Rumours have circulated previously around NFC's inclusion on the iPhone with nothing concrete occurring.
Apple has appeared to tiptoe around mobile payments, having launched Passbook, a wallet for tickets and passes without a payments capability, as well as a built-in fingerprint sensor which could be used to authenticate a user's identity for mobile payments. The sensor can already be used to authenticate purchases on iTunes and the App Store.