Retail computing systems make it easy to monitor an incredible range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Everything from same store revenues, credit versus cash transactions, employee commissions, item sales, and regional performance can be tracked through a vast array of enterprise applications.

In the stores themselves, however, when district or regional managers show up or when vendors' representatives drop in, it's a challenge to get that vital information on demand and on the spot. If it is accessible, it's usually because the manager or representative has a laptop, a wireless broadband modem (or access to a Wi-Fi connection), or a dedicated device that ties in to a specific enterprise application. Those are by-now standard weapons in the road warrior's arsenal.

That's changing.

Universal vs. vendor-specific

It's now possible to connect those enterprise applications and the data they contain to a mobile device—the BlackBerry, Windows Mobile Pocket PC, Palm, Symbian, or Java-enabled units that virtually every corporate employee already relies on to stay connected to e-mail and callers. Certain enterprise systems vendors have provided mobile versions of their own applications for awhile, but a new breed of developers is making it possible to access any application and transform it to conform to any device's specific user interface.

The advantages, of course, include the ability to access multiple vendors' applications through a single technology, a decline in (or the elimination of) the reliance on laptops (thus lowering hardware costs), the avoidance of software expenses and maintenance because the new technology tends to be offered as a service, and the elimination of the time and cost of custom programming thanks to the technology's real-time capabilities.

The mobile enterprise in practice

Retailers can access details of every sale in an instant through their enterprise systems, yet often when executives visit stores in their territories, their access to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is restricted because they can't access the data that they need to look at, like comparing actual sales to their goal and plan, breaking down sales by product category, or being able to monitor the sales of add-on products and services.

Though laptop computers are now remarkably light, they're still considerably heavier than smartphones and require either mobile broadband service or a Wi-Fi hotspot to connect to the enterprise.

Smartphones, by contrast, let mobile executives connect instantly, no matter where they are, enabling them to get critical information and take action immediately. Rather than manually collecting information about current store activity, returning to a hotel or office to access the enterprise, entering the information, and finally determining what needs to be done, mobile executives can use smartphones to completely transform the process. The device enables them to enter actual numbers at the store, execute comparisons with plan amounts and other outlets in the region, and provide the necessary data to help them make decisions in a matter of minutes. Then, when they leave one store to go to the next, there's nothing left to finalize and no extra effort or data entry to worry about. Importantly, when they enter the next location, they are armed with vital additional information that they can use to analyze activity in each successive store.

Additional opportunities for wireless carriers

Carriers, too, are acknowledging the benefits of mobile enterprise access for their retail subscribers. One of the largest wireless companies is exploring the ways in which they can enhance the value of their PDA-style and smartphone handsets by introducing corporate users to the use of those devices as a viable laptop alternative. Since the technology works on virtually any device, providers aren't limited to selling certain models. And, if the calling plans bill separately for data transfer, mobile enterprise connectivity provides a separate revenue channel as well.