Management by mobile device: 3 tales from the road
By Howard Baldwin
These three executives enjoy the freedom of technological mobility for work—and sometimes play.
In Summary
| • | Using an integrated device with both a phone and a computer means you can rely on a single piece of equipment. |
| • | Wireless networking gives you instant access to Web sites and back-office systems for up-to-date and accurate information. |
| • | In deference to family, know when to turn your mobile device off. |
Some people like to have the latest mobile technology so that others see them as stylish and trendsetting. Other people, such as the executives profiled here, just want to be as productive and efficient as possible—no matter where their work takes them during the course of a day or a week.
What is it like to be truly untethered to one's desk? It is a delightfully liberating feeling.
Ed Hansberry, Controller, RoseArt Industries
One night in March, Ed Hansberry was stuck in the Newark, New Jersey, airport, hoping to get home to Nashville, Tennessee, but waiting for a plane that had been delayed leaving Montreal. While business travel can be extremely stressful, Hansberry was calm. He used his Microsoft Windows Mobile-based smartphone to ping the Continental Airlines Web site every 20 minutes to track the aircraft's progress. "That way, I knew my flight wasn't going to be cancelled," he says confidently.
Ed Hansberry's life on the road began with a typical corporate event: the acquisition of his employer by another company. Hansberry worked in Nashville for RoseArt Industries, a manufacturer of toys, games, puzzles and school supplies. After the company was acquired by Montreal-based Mega Bloks in 2005, Hansberry was promoted to the position of controller, which required a transfer to an office in Livingston, New Jersey. Because his family is still in Nashville, he travels as often as twice a week, relying on his i-Mate K-JAM.
A smartphone that runs the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system and has a convenient (though small) pull-out keyboard, the i-Mate K-JAM includes integrated Wi-Fi wireless networking, Mobile Office applications, an MP3 player and something called direct push technology, which lets Hansberry update his Microsoft Outlook data automatically from the RoseArt's Microsoft Exchange Server.
Hansberry's favorite application for the road (besides a few games) is the eBook reader, freeware from Microsoft that lets him access either his Bible or a novel, which he keeps on a 1GB SD (Secure Digital) card that slips into the i-Mate. "Because it's compressed, a Tom Clancy novel may only take up a megabyte of space. I could hold hundreds of novels on it if I wanted to," Hansberry says.
The i-Mate gives him the flexibility to be in touch anywhere. "It's always on my hip, so I always get my calls and my e-mail," he says. "I haven't even figured out the voice mail on the phone in my new office yet."
Jens Davidsen, Chief Executive Officer, WPA Mobile
 | When I was younger, I could navigate everywhere in Copenhagen. Now if my smartphone's GPS capability stops working, I'm completely lost. |  | | Jens Davidsen
CEO
WPA Mobile | |
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"I live on the road," says Jens Davidsen. "All of our salespeople and myself drive to our prospects to show our software." That means his work as chief executive officer of a software development company takes him from WPA Mobile headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, to all points in Scandinavia, and also to Ireland and the United Kingdom. With his Qtek 9000 smartphone running Windows Mobile 5.0, he relies on the Push Mail capability in Exchange Server 2003. As well, since he is frequently driving through unfamiliar territory, he declares he cannot live without the phone's global positioning system (GPS) software that guides him along the highway.
"The Windows Mobile device is the key to our working day," Davidsen says. "It keeps track of our customers, who are all in the construction sector, and I can use it both as a telephone and for seamless integration to my back-office system."
Davidsen mostly relies on the telephone, however. "There's too much junk on e-mail," he says. "I find that calling and discussing something is much more reliable." If someone needs to contact him quickly, they can use instant messaging, but Davidsen keeps that to a minimum by only giving his IM address to a few people: "If they contact me through IM, I know it's important."
There is only one problem with his reliance on the GPS capability in his smartphone. "I have lost my sense of direction," Davidsen admits. "When I was younger, I could navigate everywhere in Copenhagen. Now, if my smartphone's GPS capability stops working, I'm completely lost."
David Allard, Business Development Consultant, Palladium Group
Sometimes David Allard is only on the road one day a week; sometimes it is three days. That is life when you are hustling for business and your 400-employee company is competing against the likes of worldwide consulting firms like Accenture and Deloitte. To see his clients and prospects in the life sciences and manufacturing industries, he might drive from his office in Boston, or take the train to New York, or fly to Washington, D.C.
Allard used to have a Blackberry and a cell phone, but in March he consolidated his communications on a single device, the Palm Treo 700w running Windows Mobile 5.0. "When you travel as much as I do, reducing the amount of weight that I'm carrying is always a positive," Allard says. He also benefits from having easy access to Outlook. "It helps me manage my time as effectively as I can. When I get up in the morning, I don't have to log in. I can just turn on the Treo and see everything on my calendar and e-mail."
The latter is crucial, because the Palladium Group "lives and dies by e-mail," says Allard. "Being in sales, it's all about reaction time and dealing with issues as quickly as possible. If a client is trying to reach you, you want to respond."
Of course, he advises knowing when to turn it off: "Being on one device, it's tough to get away from it. But I'm married and we have a 17-month-old boy. Even though my wife works, too, sometimes she'll roll her eyes when I check messages on the weekend."
Howard Baldwin has a laptop so light and compact that he sometimes wonders whether it is actually in his briefcase. He writes about technology for Microsoft Momentum, Cisco Systems' iQ, and was previously executive editor of Electronic Business.
