2 page Case Study - Posted 6/3/2008

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Digital Systems & Solutions

IT Firm Trims Administrative Time, Boosts Efficiency with Synchronized Mobile Solution

To keep ahead of its competition, IT provider Digital Systems & Solutions (DSS) needed a tool that would help its field employees make the most of the technologies available to them. With Windows Mobile® 5.0, the Microsoft® Messaging and Security Feature Pack, and Microsoft ActiveSync® 4.5, the company saw an opportunity to increase efficiency, promote innovation, and improve responsiveness to customer inquiries. 

Business Needs

Based in Mount Vernon, Washington, Digital Systems & Solutions (DSS) has been providing customized IT solutions to small businesses since 2004. Nathan Stewart, Vice President of DSS, is responsible for driving all business-to-business relationships and is intimately familiar with the challenges faced by small business owners. “As a small business owner, I work all the time,” Stewart says. “We have four employees, but right now I’m the only onsite IT consultant. I work double shifts every day, which is rough on my family.”

Stewart spends the majority of his time in the field and needed a way to respond more quickly to customer requests. “It’s very common for me to need remote access to e-mail when I’m onsite with a customer,” says Stewart. “Setting up a computer, logging into the Internet, and waiting for information really slowed me down.” If the Internet connection was offline, Stewart would call the office for contact information before attempting to resolve issues with vendors over the phone. “This took a lot of time and ended up costing our customers more, which isn’t good in a competitive industry like ours,” Stewart says. “Plus, it meant we weren’t able to support as many customers each day.”

To help its employees manage their time and stay in contact with customers, DSS uses Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client software. However, the company lacked an efficient system for tracking sales and billable time. “I’d print my Outlook appointments and then write on the pieces of paper what I did, what I sold, and how much time I worked,” Stewart explains. “At the end of the month, I’d spend an entire eight-hour day transcribing the information into our accounting program. This was totally inefficient—I’d go into the office on weekends to get this done, and I’ve no doubt that there were items that didn’t get billed because the paper got misplaced.”

Solution

To maintain its competitive advantage and enhance work/life balance for its employees, DSS needed a cost-effective solution that would boost efficiency, encourage innovation, and increase responsiveness to customer inquiries. Stewart found a dynamic tool to address these concerns in Windows Mobile® 5.0. He has been using Windows Mobile 5.0 on an i-mate K-JAM Pocket PC phone for over two years and continually recommends it to customers. “I found the other products on the market far inferior to Windows Mobile,” Stewart says. “And they cost more to set up and maintain.”

[With Windows Mobile] I have instant access to everything I need from wherever I am…. I get projects done very quickly compared to our competition … and I have more time to spend with my family. Nathan Stewart Vice President, Digital Systems & Solutions

“This synchronization is extraordinarily valuable,” says Stewart. “We now have three phones─my i-mate, a T-Mobile MDA, and a Palm Treo 700w smartphone─so we can really take advantage of this feature. Not only do we have instant access to everything we need from wherever we are, but all of our information is safeguarded because it immediately replicates back to the server.” Going forward, DSS plans to upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1 and Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008. “I’m really excited about the mobile device manager product,” Stewart says. “It’s the future of managing mobile phones─they’ll become as much a part of your server system as the computer in your office.”

Benefits

DSS is using its Windows Mobile powered devices to boost its competitive advantage and offer innovative solutions to IT challenges. The company is working more efficiently and saving time on administrative tasks, which cuts costs for customers and creates a better work/life balance for its employees.

Boosts Competitive Advantage
The synchronization between Windows Mobile devices and Windows-based servers means that DSS has immediate access to e-mail, contacts, and files synchronized from the company’s server. “I can reply to people immediately and get information immediately,” says Stewart. “I get projects done very quickly compared to our competition.

“Another benefit,” Stewart adds, “is that I can plug my phone into my laptop, turn it into a modem, and connect to the Internet. Then I can look up information, download a driver, and do whatever else I need to do, even if my customer’s Internet is down. It’s very slick.”

Increases Efficiency, Time Savings
DSS uses Windows Mobile to track billing information. “I enter my time into the calendar feature of Outlook, then simply copy and paste this data into our accounting application,” says Stewart. “I’m saving one full day each month and I have more time to spend with my family.”

Encourages Innovation
DSS takes pride in offering innovative solutions to its customers. “We have a customer that does a time-consuming inventory every year,” says Stewart. “I started thinking: If they got a barcode scanner that runs Windows Mobile along with an inventory application that interoperates with it, then all they’d have to do is scan everything and it would go over the Internet directly to their server. This would save them a huge amount of time.” 

Easy to Use
Windows Mobile is not only easy to use, it’s simple to deploy. “Configuring Windows Mobile to talk to your Windows-based server is surprisingly straightforward,” Stewart explains.  “It literally takes me about 45 seconds. And with ActiveSync, you just download it, install it, plug it in, and you’re all set. It’s ridiculously easy.”

Stewart concludes, “I tell my customers, ‘Get Windows Mobile because it will work seamlessly with your Windows Server®–based systems. You could get something else, but it won’t be nearly as good as Windows Mobile.’”