The Advantages of Wireless Communication as Mobile Solutions

Since wireless intranet and groupware accessibility is an anytime, any-where, proposition, the mobile solutions aspect is helping combat efficiency challenges that have arisen since the widespread use of e-mail. According to a survey performed by Gartner, respondents noted that only 27 percent of the e-mail they receive demanded attention and that a large percentage of people find themselves spending an hour a day or more managing the influx of electronic missives. With the aid of a mobile device, much of this less-than-necessary e-mail can be handled during down-time, such as during flight delays, before appointments, or when waiting in lines.

While it’s undeniable that we need time to breathe during business hours (and these mini-respites are often necessary to maintain sanity), I believe there is also a benefit (in terms of stress reduction) in being able to handle three timely e-mails a few minutes before your son’s Little League game.

Downtime can also be a revenue enhancer for professional service firms with workforces that need to keep track of the billable time they spend with clients. The makers of Timsolv, a mobile time and expense software program, estimate that up to 15 percent of a company’s billable hours are lost when the mobile workforce loses receipts or simply fails to log billable hours or expenses. However, a mobile solution solves much of the problem because of its availability.

Lyne Berg, a fictitious litigation attorney, can illustrate this point. While heading to court for an appearance, she makes three cell phone calls on three separate client matters and is easily able to account for all of them because of the timer function built into the Timsolv’s Mobile- Time Billing software running on her Palm. She arrives at the courthouse and with a few taps on her handheld records the mileage for the trip. Next, Lyne triggers the time and billing clock to track her court-time hours by selecting the client Widget Makers v. State of California and then the task code representing “court appearance.” At the end of the day, Lyne stops on the courthouse steps and quickly enters a description of the appearance events, then taps the “submit” button, whereby the information accumulated during the day is automatically sent and instantly integrated in the firm’s accounts receivable system. All for less than $10 per month per user.

Attorneys are a natural choice to demonstrate the power of mobile time and billing because they are frequently away from their offices and have to account for dozens of clients and an equal number of incremental tasks. From what I understand from my friends who are legal secretaries, their bosses are notorious for failing to log billable time, and the end of the month is a time for high-stakes frustration as they try to piece together what they did for whom and when. Ditto for consultants, accountants, and the entire galaxy of service professionals.