Companies are discovering the value in having information workers do their jobs outside of the office. Work is no longer tied to a set, physical location. Communicating with others and accessing and working with information while away from the desk is improving the productivity of all types of professionals?from consultants, sales representatives, and installation technicians to physicians, administrators, and store managers. Worldwide, 80 percent of companies are projected to start allowing their employees to work from home. According to research conducted by Gartner, "mobile workforce enablement is a top 3 technology priority for CIOs …" —Gartner Survey of 1,400 CIOs Shows Transformation of IT Organization is Accelerating, January 23, 2006

Most mobile adoption has been driven by individual departments and point-specific solutions that assist, for example, sales and field service employees. As mobile technologies become more reliable and wireless standards develop, companies are growing more interested in deploying integrated, organization-wide solutions that will drive positive business results and measurable ROI for the entire business. Mobility is becoming an integral part of their technology infrastructure and processes.

This increasing demand has led to rapid growth in mobile software, ranging from more secure mobile e-mail, mobile instant messaging (IM), and mobilized corporate applications like customer relationship management (CRM) programs. When it comes to hardware, mobility has seen great adoption via mobile personal computers, as 75 percent of organizations now support wirelessly enabled mobile PCs. To provide effective technology and productivity tools for mobile and dispersed workers, companies need to deploy, maintain, and support mobile PCs and devices while maintaining a high level of security. By providing a more secure and seamless way to exchange information, Microsoft mobile solutions can help employees be as productive outside of the office as they are when they're at their desks.

Mobility adoption can start with people accessing e-mail on handheld devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), or editing documents on a mobile PC while on the go, but companies are realizing it does not stop there. Mobile connectivity helps remote workers more securely access vital data and intellectual property (IP) assets. Mobility is opening frontiers in communication, corporate information access, data synchronization, document collaboration and sharing, the network, user settings across hardware, and more.

Today, doctors send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies from their mobile PCs or handheld devices, insurance companies manage claims through electronic forms instead of paper-based processes, and services are conducted using devices that upload customer information from the field. Mobility is helping to improve business productivity and processes, and companies are learning how to create a competitive advantage by helping to give their workforce the ability to:

• Save time and increase productivity by quickly and easily accessing information when workers are away from the office, to capture ideas and thoughts from anywhere.
• Respond better to customer requests with access to e-mail and vital business information when workers are away from the office.
• Automatically synchronize files when their mobile PCs, Windows Mobile powered Smartphones, and PDAs connect to the corporate network.
• Improve sales cycles and forge closer relationships with customers and partners through anytime, anywhere access to information that can help them improve responsiveness, complete a sale, or simplify a process for partners.

The Microsoft mobility offering can support your organization in transitioning from point-specific mobile deployments today to robust and strategic mobile solutions that meet your demands tomorrow, while at the same time keeping the priorities of your customers at the forefront. We offer the strength of a consistent platform—whether your employees are connecting through an application or a browser on a handheld device or mobile PC. Microsoft software and services running on the Windows operating system provide an end-to-end approach that scales as your organization grows. We provide centralized management capabilities that make it easier to manage mobile assets. And we offer choice—whether it is customizing applications to fit specific employees' tasks or making broader mobile adoption easier by providing familiar applications and features. We are in a unique position to help your company realize greater business performance by giving your employees the tools to do their best and most productive work anywhere, anytime.

With all this in mind, Microsoft has developed Enable Your Mobile Workforce—a broad mobility solution that encompasses not only traditional handheld devices and Smartphones, but also infrastructure software such as Microsoft Exchange Server, team collaboration tools such as Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, and line-of-business applications such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Mobile.

By giving your employees access to the near real-time data and vital information they need to do their work while on the go, your company can see many potential benefits, including:

• Greater worker productivity by decreasing time lost while on the road or telecommuting.
• Greater efficiency by replacing manual, paper-based processes and increasing the speed at which people can make business insights.
• Increased customer satisfaction, because workers can respond to customers quickly, even when they are away from the office.
• More security and protection for mobile applications and devices through new hardware-enabled data protection.

In addition, organizations can take advantage of scalable and flexible solutions that adapt to their business needs as they grow. Companies have realized that mobile solutions can be used to drive a competitive advantage and are making mobile workforce enablement a technology priority.

Companies are evaluating the mobile needs of all their information workers, not just those in the field. And mobile solutions have grown far beyond accessing e-mail remotely. Core business applications are becoming mobile and are broadening the reach of mobile applications in companies.

Microsoft delivers familiar, easy-to-use programs and tools with new enhancements so people can work more efficiently—wherever their business takes them.