By Paul Bray

Driving a van used to be a lonely job, with nothing for company all day but the local radio station and a collection of half-eaten burgers and empty crisp packets. But the latest communications technology is changing all that. A single handset can combine the functions of voice and video phone, computer, barcode reader and camera. With built-in GPS satellite navigation and upcoming advances in mobile broadband, tomorrow's mobile workers will never be out of touch - or out of reach.

"It's all about getting real-time data to the point of activity by the most appropriate means," says Paul Reed, product manager for enterprise mobility at Motorola.

A district nurse could look up the medical records of the next patient to be visited, while a debt collector could check the state of someone's account the minute before knocking on their door. A field service engineer faced with an unexpected problem could set up an ad hoc conference with their supervisor back at base, using video pictures to show exactly what the problem is. A salesperson could download a training video to get up to speed on a new product, while a temp or new recruit could be led through an unfamiliar process step by step.

As well as accessing information remotely, mobile workers will be able to capture data on the spot, whether it's scanning the barcode of a part they've just installed, or taking a picture of the gate they've just left a parcel behind.

"Employees are increasingly starting to demand these technologies," says Reed. "They know that you can access the internet on a mobile phone, and if their employer doesn't supply them with equipment they tend to bring in their own devices, over which the company has little or no control."

Control is just what companies will get from new technology. With GPS they will be able to know exactly where their mobile workers are, and by combining this with sophisticated navigation systems and real-time information on traffic flows they will have a very good idea of when they're likely to arrive at their next job. This will enable companies to give their customers much more accurate estimates of arrival times, and to re-allocate jobs on the fly, so that if someone gets held up their work can be re-assigned to a colleague who can get there quicker. The instructions could be delivered by voice synthesiser to save the driver having to stop to read a text message. Conversely, if someone finishes their day's work earlier than expected, the system can find them something else to do - whether that's another customer call or just doing an inventory of the stock in their van.

The ability to track staff and vehicles is becoming a powerful tool for businesses, says John Lawrence, sales and marketing director of navigation and vehicle tracking specialist Trafficmaster. It’s now becoming possible to see not only where every vehicle is now, but where it has been and when it was there. Companies can locate the engineer who's best placed to deal with a customer service call and show them the best route to get there - in future they'll be able to locate the person with the shortest travelling time as well as the closest in distance. It's also possible to set up virtual 'fences' so employers can receive an alert if a vehicle is driven into a forbidden area, and obtain diagnostic information from the vehicle so that potential mechanical faults may be spotted and fixed in advance, says Lawrence.

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By Paul Bray

Stock control may not sound very glamorous, but it can be a life and death issue. In the USA alone it’s estimated that food poisoning kills 5,000 people every year and puts another 300,000 in hospital. Even in hospital they may not be entirely safe, since accidentally administering the wrong drugs or the wrong dosage can cause injury or even death.

Many incidents of food poisoning and clinical error might be avoided if retailers or medics had real-time access to more information about the products they’re handling. The ideal solution is to put this information on the goods themselves. Printed labels and barcodes are useful but they have their limitations - principally that somebody has to deliberately read them. If the label could be read automatically it could be more proactive, for example triggering an exception report (“This fish may be off”) or sounding an alarm (“This is the wrong drug!”).

Fitting every case of fish or bottle of pills with its own alarm system is obviously impracticable. But a small, cheap tag that can be read by a radio scanner at several metres’ range, even when it’s out of sight, would be ideal. In fact these tags already exist. They use a technology called RFID (radio frequency identification), and they’re most familiar in the security tags that big stores use to prevent shoplifting. Now they’re starting to revolutionise supply chains in many industries, from food and pharmaceuticals to manufacturing and petrochemicals.

According to InSync Software, which specialises in this field, when smart tagging is combined with software that integrates and makes sense of the data, it enables goods to be tracked throughout the entire supply chain - from farm to dinner table, or production line to patient. This can reduce errors, save time, locate items more quickly, and identify and eliminate logistical bottlenecks in shipping, goods-in, warehousing etc.

RFID is the basis of a tracking system being piloted by IBM and enterprise traceability specialist FXA Group with the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers and the Vietnamese State Agency for Technological Innovation. Vietnam is one of the world’s top 10 exporters of seafood, shipping more than $4 billion’s worth last year. Increasingly stringent international regulations, combined with a growing desire among consumers for reassurance over hygiene and animal welfare issues, mean that food producers are being pressured to provide more and more detail about their produce. The new system will make it possible to scan a batch of shrimps and know which farm they came from, when and how they were harvested, where they were processed, their current location and even what temperature they’ve been stored at. If something goes wrong, retailers and authorities will be able to pinpoint batches of food that may be affected and recall them as soon as possible. Similar food traceability systems already exist in Canada, Germany, Norway and Thailand.

At Gregorio Maranon University General Hospital in Madrid, RFID tags are used as part of an integrated drug tracking and administration system based on Microsoft software. Every patient wears a bracelet with an RFID tag and there’s a tag on every medication. Whenever a clinician goes to administer a drug to a patient, the system automatically scans the tags, identifies the patient and the drug, and checks with the patient’s records that the drug is suitable for them. If it isn’t, an audible alarm sounds. Clinical staff can also look up patient records and drug information quickly and accurately on their mobile computers, by simply scanning the tag instead of typing in names or codes. This saves time and reduces the risk of human error.

RFID is more convenient for patients, says the hospital, because the tags can be scanned through their clothes or bedding without disturbing them. And because the technology eliminates bureaucratic work, nurses say they have more time to spend looking after their patients.

For RFID to succeed widely it needs to be taken up throughout entire supply chains. So IBM and car maker Volkswagen have spent a year piloting the technology with some of VW’s suppliers, prior to implementing it in the central logistics hall at the company’s main German manufacturing plant. Containers of parts from suppliers are fitted with RFID tags which are automatically read at all key locations throughout the supply chain - in the supplier’s shipping department, during transportation, then during storage, collection and installation on VW’s assembly line. The same process is used when VW returns the empty containers to the suppliers. The technology ensures that all parts are received and containers returned, and reduces the need for paper documents and barcode labels.

“Our long-term goal is to implement an integrated, paperless production and logistics chain throughout the whole group,” said Klaus Hardy Muhleck, Volkswagen Group’s chief information officer and head of IT. “The pilot project showed that we can reliably integrate RFID technology into our business processes at a low cost.”

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Deborah Collier, managing director of e-business consultancy Echo E-Business, believes that e-business will continue to disrupt the status quo over the coming months, particularly as the recession maintains its grip on global markets. She outlines her five key predictions.

1. Renewed SME entrepreneurialism.
   Economic drivers will catalyse the resurgence of entrepreneurialism, as disenfranchised employees look to the web for new opportunities. Small businesses in particular will also be able to offer lower costs to their customers, so 2009 will be an interesting time for small businesses with a little capital to play with.
2. A social media slowdown.
   Despite the movement towards new media and multi-channel e-business, many organisations are already feeling saturated by social media tools. However, while the social media phenomenon continues, savvy businesses may look to tools to help consolidate their use of social platforms – perhaps through one port of entry or single sign-on.
3. An online advertising revolution.
   Downloadable widgets (tools that allow chunks of code to be distributed through third-party sites) will continue to have far-reaching possibilities, especially to drive online sales and further marketing and PR. So instead of static banner ads, companies will increasingly put interactive content in their place.
4. Greater customer-centricity.
   Leaders in e-business already allow users to choose what content they see, and e-commerce sites in particular can target products and services to those most likely to make a purchase. However, sites that allow customers to choose what they see (as well as what they buy) will strengthen trust and increase their sales.
5. E-commerce price wars.
   As the recession persists, price wars will continue to break out between both store and online rivals. However, as retailers drop their prices further, they risk devaluing some of the brands they represent. Therefore, many manufacturers may choose only to work with more established ‘bricks and mortar’ outlets with an e-commerce channel – or simply sell directly to their customers online.

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Virtual worlds are rewriting the rule book for any business that operates online, says Tom Hale, chief product officer at Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life.

Since virtual worlds exploded onto the scene early in the new millennium they have presented novel ways for consumers and businesses to make money from e-business. And as online consumers become more and more driven by engagement, and as they become increasingly comfortable with virtual goods and online representations of themselves (avatars), virtual world platforms like Second Life have the potential to rewrite the rules of how we work, buy, shop, communicate and play online.

Today, virtual worlds support e-businesses – from e-commerce (buying and selling virtual goods) and marketing (providing an immersive and rich interaction with brands and products) to in-world e-business initiatives that support real-word companies (training, meetings, virtual sales, customer support). And while virtual worlds are still very much in the early adopter phase, some innovative companies and entrepreneurs are showing the path to productive uses of this new platform.

Much of the press around Second Life has focused on the innovative risk-takers who built e-businesses around virtual goods and virtual land. Many Second Life residents have built seven-digit incomes (in real US dollars) from creating and selling virtual items (such as clothes for avatars) or virtual land development. Consumers like to purchase virtual items (as gifts or for themselves) to customise their experience, and Linden Lab has acquired an eBay-like web marketplace to help consumers find their key items and to expand the reach of merchants.

Digital agencies and brands entered the virtual world space in force in 2007, but the need for brands to control their context and reach a broad audience proved a challenge in the world of user-generated content. Still, the active user base for Second Life has grown steadily, and the engagement of active users of Second Life (at 16 hours a week) is head and shoulders above any other user-generated content platform. This degree of engagement is rare, so it is an opportune platform for companies looking to engage deeply with their customers.

Virtual training is a huge area of development for real-world businesses in Second Life, and an example of the way e-business can support companies in innovative ways. High quality internet telephony and immersive spaces create a uniquely rich model for meeting and learning. Cisco, for example, conducts in-world sales training for disparate teams spanning continents and time zones, eliminating all the costs and fuel emissions associated with travel. With the recession deepening and green initiatives a priority, online meetings will flourish.

For large-scale simulations, virtual worlds offer opportunities for organisations to interact, in real time, in situations that would be cost-prohibitive to recreate. For example, a municipality could simulate and stress-test emergency responses to a major crisis by simulating the flow of events, the physical environment, and the communication pathways between fire, police, medical and other first responders.

Gartner predicts that almost two thirds of Fortune 1000 companies will have a customer-facing online community by 2010. Some of this community is company-to-customer, but as any e-business pro will point out, it is the customer-to-customer interactions that make for a rich community. Virtual worlds provide a mutually engaging way for people to socialise (and to determine the clothes they wear, or the shape they take), enabling connections to form as they do in the real world.

As organisations such as Second Life, Nintendo Wii, MTV and Disney’s Club Penguin continue to popularise virtual worlds, the models for online engagement will expand from mostly asynchronous media – such as web communities via blogs, forums and postings – to synchronous ones which allow real-time engagement. For e-businesses looking to tap into the spending power of a younger, more tech-savvy group of consumers, virtual worlds offer a level of engagement unmatched by traditional media.

Today, even the most traditional institutions are exploring virtual worlds. Oxford University has its own presence in Second Life, along with IBM, BT and Kelly Services to name just a few.

The next few years will be exciting for virtual worlds – for their founders, their users and for the businesses that use them as an e-business tool. Despite the constraints imposed by the recession, consumers will still seek gratification and entrepreneurs will still innovate. Instead of succumbing to economic pressure like traditional businesses, those in virtual worlds can explore an alternative, dynamic universe in which to sell their wares. Driven by these innovators, platforms like Second Life will continue to challenge the norms of the e-business world.

(From ‘E-Business Evolution 2009’, prepared by Echo E-Business)

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