Pleasing The Court
Sure, handheld computers can save businesses time and money. But they can also sway the whims of Lady Justice.

U.S. courthouses are strict about allowing electronic devices within their halls. Phones and pagers are generally banned, so when lawyers are in hearings, they're out of reach. But that prohibition has yet to be extended to Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry wireless E-mail device. And where there's a loophole, a smart lawyer will find a way to benefit.

International law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker has deployed more than 800 BlackBerry E-mail devices to its attorneys. The handhelds help attorneys stay in touch with clients and the office, CIO Mary Odson says. But they also help them win cases.

"We had two attorneys, one in the Orange County courthouse, and one in San Francisco, both on a hearing that was very similar," Odson explains. "The decision made in Orange County could affect the one in San Francisco, so as soon as the hearing was done, the partner shot an E-mail off to his associate." The attorney in San Francisco was able to use that strategic information to win the case. "There's no way they could have done that without the BlackBerry," she says.

The firm sees more mundane benefits as well. "It's definitely a time saver," Odson says. Attorneys say they're saving at least 30 minutes a day checking voice mail and dialing into E-mail. And the firm saves money, she says, because there are fewer calls to toll-free dial-up lines.

Quicker Fix Up
It's not just high-priced lawyers and executives who are getting outfitted with the sleek BlackBerrys. Oxford Properties, one of Canada's largest commercial real-estate management firms, is putting the devices in the hands of maintenance staff.

Whenever something breaks, spills, or burns out within the 40 million square feet of office space the company manages, occupants call a toll-free number for maintenance. In the past, call-center representatives would receive that data and send a fax to maintenance workers, telling them where to go and what to do.

Staff would respond to the message by calling voice mail and leaving a message acknowledging receipt. When they completed the job, they'd call back and leave another message. "You can imagine if you've got people running back and forth to a management office just to collect a fax for the next job, that's incredibly inefficient," says Steve Smith, VP of business applications.

So Oxford equipped more than 500 members of the maintenance staff with BlackBerry devices, for about $400 each and monthly service of $39 each. Today, when call-center staffers get requests for maintenance, they beam the work order directly to a maintenance worker's hip. Once the order is received, the worker responds with E-mails indicating receipt, when he's started the job, and when it's finished.

Since there's no longer a voice-mail in-box that needs to be monitored, Oxford has cut the size of its call-center staff from 31 people to 18. "That's my ROI right there," Smith says. There are other benefits as well. Because the status of a job is updated via E-mail, Oxford can track the progress of a project, create metrics to measure efficiency, and keep occupants apprised of the work. When a maintenance person E-mails that a job is done, it automatically triggers a message to customers letting them know.

Oxford even markets its handheld program, promising that a maintenance person will be on site within 30 minutes. "It's become a key differentiator between us and competitors," Smith says.