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Lessons from the Winners of the Wireless Leadership Awards

Hint: Focus on bringing information to customer locations

The three winners of the 2010 Wireless Leadership Awards can teach your organization important lessons in mobility. First, create solutions that give field teams access to vital information, including from legacy systems, while they are at customers' locations. Second, understand that capturing data onsite is far more accurate than inputting it back at the office. Finally, when you make a mobile app easy to use, mobile workers are more likely to consistently use it. Get additional ideas for your own organization by reading this inside look at the Wireless Leadership Award winners.

PORTSMOUTH HOSPITALS NHS TRUST

Winner, Business Impact

Imagine filling out an 80-page form by hand, then driving to your office to type it into a database. Sound like a productive or accurate system? But that was the situation for the 130 midwives who visit expectant mothers for the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust. So the Trust built a new solution that lets midwives digitally capture vital health data while they are with the expectant mothers, not back at the office.

The new solution uses PaperIQ digital pens from DevelopIQ and BlackBerry® smartphones. Midwives fill out the same form as always, but now Paper IQ digital pens capture a series of coordinates on special digital paper. The captured information is then sent from BlackBerry smartphones to the hospital's database.

Now an ongoing record is available on delivery day, which helps midwives review patient history. Elevated health readings, such as high blood pressure, trigger automatic alerts. Midwives can also see their appointments, use the BlackBerry smartphone GPS to get directions, and collaborate using BlackBerry® Messenger.

Benefits:

• Administrative effort has been cut in half from 98 minutes to 48 minutes
• No longer carrying paper records increases the security of private patient data
• Greater efficiency means midwives spend more time with expectant mothers
• Portsmouth saves $30,000 USD (£20,000) annually in travel costs
• More efficient midwives mean no need to hire new staff to serve a growing population—saving an annual $330,000 USD (£220,000)
• Up-to-date electronic records can offset potential litigation costs

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Business Impact Finalists

• Dell™
• Xerox Corp.

RIDGID

Winner, Innovation in the Private Sector

Hand and power tool manufacturer RIDGID had a problem. Its field sales reps were not updating the CRM system after visiting customers. It seems the field reps found the laptop-based CRM system slow and tedious, so they just skipped it.

What was RIDGID's solution? The group built its own mobile CRM/sales force automation system for the BlackBerry smartphone. Known as RIDGID 360, the new app was built as a mobile solution from the get-go in about eight weeks using the BlackBerry® JDE Plug-in for Eclipse®.

Integrated GPS and mapping helps 150 field reps find the nearest customers and track calls. For optimal performance the app balances cached data and web service calls. Web services pull data from existing systems such as a JD Edwards ERP system. RIDGID 360 takes advantage of notifications, automatic software updates, and additional BlackBerry solution features.

Benefits:

• Went from 10% of the sales force updating CRM system to almost 90% doing so
• Saved an estimated $500,000 by developing the app in-house and reducing the need for laptop computers
• Tripled sales call volume since launch
• No longer need to power up a laptop computer at each customer location
• Sales reps are better prepared when meeting customers

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Innovation in the Private Sector Finalists

• Lenel Systems International, Inc.
• Pikolin

STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Winner, Innovation in the Public Sector

When your customers are children and families, innovation can change lives. That was the situation for the State of Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) when it developed its Remote Data Capture (RDC) application for caseworkers.

The RDC app, developed by in-house talent, lets department caseworkers manage their caseload right on their mobile device or laptop. A caseworker can see a child's visit history while in the child's home—and make any updates on the spot. The app uses the BlackBerry smartphone camera and GPS capabilities to time and date stamp a photographic record of each in-home visit. Records of each visit are automatically updated in the Florida Safe Families Network database.

Benefits:

• In-house development saves money and time
• Replaces paper-based reporting
• On-the-spot reporting increases report accuracy and timeliness
• By freeing 1 to 1.5 hours per day, caseworkers spend more time with children
• Cut travel time to and from the office, again allowing more time with children
• Foster children and caseworker visits are better tracked with a photographic, date-stamped record

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Innovation in the Public Sector Finalists

• Baltimore Police Department
• HealthSouth

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