InformationWeek

April 19, 1999

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Mobile Benefits

Mobile computing helps companies find new ways of working

By Natalie Engler

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obile computing is redefining the ways some emerging enterprises conduct business. Forward-thinking companies such as Dine-One-One, Scient, Streamline, and 1-800-Batteries are employing notebook computers, cell phones with data capabilities, and scanner-enabled hand- held devices as part of complex IT systems designed to promote flexibility, efficiency, and speed. These devices aren't adjunct to their IT strategies--they're central. And these growing businesses say they're reaping the benefits of finding new ways of working, from making faster, more informed decisions to better accommodating a growing customer base.

Unhampered by corporate bureaucracy that sometimes makes it difficult to justify premium investments in mobile devices, these companies aren't inclined to worry about up-front costs when they see clear benefits ahead. "Emerging enterprises do what's right and worry about cost-justifying it later," says Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group. Indeed, IT is seen as the basis of their business, not just a tool to meet business needs.

Scient is a case in point. The company, which was founded just over a year ago, provides a range of Internet consulting and systems-innovation services to businesses. To meet its goal of quickly meeting clients' needs, the San Francisco company has expanded its use of notebooks beyond its consultants and other mobile personnel. All 230 employees use Pentium II notebooks, even though it costs twice as much to buy and support portable PCs as desktop computers.

By giving all employees the means to be mobile with their work, Scient enables everyone to meet together more frequently and communicate more effectively on projects, says chief technology officer C. Scott Frisbie. "We knew the downside," he says. "But we said `OK, looking at that and the goal of collaboration, let's go for it.'" At a minimum, says Frisbie, the increased use of notebooks at Scient has helped reduce project cycle times.

In fact, Scient has even designed its newest office specifically to foster a flexible, team-oriented environment. Architects this month are putting the finishing touches on a 12,000-square-foot, third-floor loft that once housed pop icon Andy Warhol's studio in New York. The architects, William Green & Associates, designed the space around Frisbie's vision of becoming "totally team dependent," Frisbie says. "The idea is to not be tethered." A section of the L-shaped space has no internal walls. Instead, people sit in an open space, at curved desks that glide on casters. From the ceiling, a grid made of plugs and data and voice ports hangs within arm's reach. Employees can move their phone numbers around with them, too, to further facilitate communication as they move among jacks.

This environment lets Scient employees roll their desks together at a moment's notice, reach a decision, and disperse; no one ever needs to leave a meeting to return to his or her desk for a document or computer file. But it couldn't have happened, says Frisbie, without advances in the processor, memory, and storage capabilities of notebooks that enable Scient's technologists to do the number-crunching their jobs require.

Technology is also the cornerstone of a flexible working environment at 1-800-Batteries. The Reno, Nev., company, which sells mobile computing products by mail order and over the Internet, hopes to triple revenue within the next two years, from $25 million to $75 million; double the circulation of its catalog of products to 2 million copies, six times per year; and expand its Internet sales from 6% of total sales in 1998 to 50% in 1999.

Notebook computers are an important tool to achieve these aggressive goals, says Ken Hawk, the chief "energizing" officer, because they will enable the company to more easily attract recruits to work odd-hour shifts. That means 1-800- Batteries' telephone sales and technical support shifts will always be well-covered. With notebooks, employees such as students or parents with young children can work from dorm rooms or from home, dialing into the company's intranet and eventually its Onyx customer-management system, Great Plains business systems, and tech support database via dial-up and ISDN lines.

"Mobile computing benefits everyone," says Hawk. As part of a $1 million hardware and software overhaul, the company traded high-end Macintosh machines for notebook PCs with 266-MHz Pentium II CPUs for all its 86 employees--even though only 10 to 15 people are on the road more than 50% of the time.

In addition to providing flexibility, mobile computing can save growing companies real estate by promoting telecommuting. This may seem insignificant until you consider that 1-800-Batteries has outgrown four buildings in its first four years. The company says it will save more than $5,000 per month on real-estate costs and employee turnover by using notebooks.

Nationwide Dining
Other growing companies embrace mobile technology initiatives to transform labor-intensive local operations into enterprises poised to enter new regions and penetrate new markets. At Dine-One-One in San Francisco, a company that picks up meals from restaurants and delivers them to customers who order over the phone and online, "smart" phones and an artificial intelligence system provided the basis for restructuring the company from a regional West Coast player to an operation that could grow to 200 branches nationwide, deliver additional goods, and even license its technology to other companies. Already, Dine-One-One has opened additional offices in Chicago and San Diego. The company's plan is to open one office (or buy an existing delivery service) per week.