How Windows Mobile can help your small business

Most of us who own a small business are always on the lookout for ways to run it more effectively and efficiently. Nowadays, most of us spend time out of the office and we can’t afford to be out of touch with our customers or colleagues. Waiting until the end of the day to catch up on e-mail can mean disappointing customers and missing out on opportunities.

There are probably many little things we do during the day that waste precious time. For instance, circling back to the office to check e-mail to see if a document has arrived yet, or searching for a Wi-Fi hotspot to connect a laptop and logging on just to verify the location of a meeting—that’s time that you could use to get something else done. (Sometimes we just don’t have the time it takes to boot up a laptop, log on, and check e-mail.) Tick, tick, tick—wasting time, not to mention fuel. (And considering the cost of gas today, that’s certainly not trivial.)

You can put more gas in your car, but you can’t put more hours in the day—believe me, I’ve tried. However, by carrying a Windows Mobile smartphone, you can “put your office in your pocket” and take it with you. There’s no doubt in my mind that because I can access my e-mail through Microsoft Outlook Mobile and use familiar Microsoft Office programs optimized for my smartphone, I can work smarter and get more done in a day. With these applications, as well as several others I’ve added to personalize my smartphone, I can stay connected and get things done when I’m on the go.

Just this afternoon I was packing up my briefcase to go to a meeting across town when my business partner Sam and I decided we needed to purchase a new noise-canceling microphone for some recording we plan to do. I didn’t have time to wait until he found the model numbers of the ones he’d seen, so I asked him to e-mail the info and I’d stop at the electronics store on my way back to the office.

After my meeting, as is my usual practice, I spent a few minutes checking my e-mail in Microsoft Outlook Mobile on my Windows Mobile smartphone. I got Sam’s e-mail, (replied “thanks”), forwarded one e-mail to another colleague, scanned and deleted two e-mail newsletters, found no urgent e-mails, and then headed to the store. No need to make a separate trip the next day. And when I returned to the office, my Inbox wasn’t quite so full and I used the extra time practicing with the new microphone for the next day’s recording session.

Being out of the office no longer has to mean being out of touch. You can synchronize your Outlook Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks on your desktop with your smartphone.

Meet Lucinda, a real estate agent. Just as she pulls up in front of a house she’s showing, Lucinda gets a frantic call from another homeowner she agreed to represent. The homeowner needs a plumber and has to reschedule the appointment they had for later that afternoon! Tick, tick, tick!

No problem. Using the familiar Outlook program on her Windows Mobile smartphone, Lucinda can access the Contacts and Calendar information that is stored in Microsoft Office Outlook on her desktop back at the office. In Contacts, she finds the phone number for the plumber she wants and relays the information; she then checks her Calendar to begin rescheduling the appointment. The grateful homeowner gives her the name of a friend who is looking for an agent, and Lucinda types his name, e-mail address, phone number, and a few notes into her Contacts on her smartphone. When Lucinda gets back to her office, she synchronizes her smartphone with her desktop computer, so her Contacts, Tasks, and Calendar are up to date, wherever she goes.

You can’t afford work to come to a standstill when you step out of the office. Customers and colleagues need answers. Decisions need to be made. Sometimes just-in-time is just right.

With a Windows Mobile smartphone, you can do much more than read and respond to e-mail when you’re on the move. You can extend the reach of familiar Microsoft Office desktop programs and take advantage of other applications that come with a Windows Mobile smartphone, such as Microsoft Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, or PowerPoint Mobile. Being able to review and edit documents on your smartphone helps you decrease your business response time.

The fact that you’re already familiar with Windows and Microsoft Office programs saves you time. For instance, you already recognize the Internet Explorer icon as your route to the web, and you already know how to open, edit, and save Microsoft Office documents.

Meet Ramon, project manager of a design firm. He’s on a tight schedule today: He’s hurrying to a client review meeting downtown and then meeting with his new real estate agent. There’s no time to return to the office between meetings, but he needs answers today about another project in order to submit a proposal before the deadline tomorrow morning. Tick, tick, tick! No problem. Ramon carries a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone and his e-mail reaches him out of the office, just as if he were at his desk. Standing by the elevator, he checks his e-mail on his smartphone, finds the information he’s been waiting for, reviews his proposal document in Office Word Mobile, makes a few changes, saves the new version, and then forwards it with his instructions to Charlie back at the office. With a high priority Task completed, Ramon gets on the elevator and is ready to focus on his meeting.

Besides the programs that come with your Windows Mobile smartphone, there are other useful Microsoft mobile applications—as well as literally hundreds of third-party applications and services—available to extend the value of your investment and help you be more productive.

Look for the “Designed for Windows Mobile” logo to ensure you’re getting a product that meets design standards and has been tested to work on Windows Mobile devices.

The trend is clear: more and more businesses are “going mobile.” U.S. Research firm IDC reported in their 2007 study of worldwide mobile workers that compared to other regions worldwide, the U.S. workforce currently has the highest percentage (68 percent) of mobile workers. Further, by 2011, nearly 75 percent of the U.S. workforce will be mobile. According to a 2007 study of small-medium businesses (SMB) commissioned by Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), 90 percent of the SMBs reported that one or more employees travel on business at least one day a week. A Cisco study released in July 2007 notes that self-employed workers are twice as likely to be mobile than paid workers (45 percent versus 26 percent).

What about your business? Are you ready to put your office in your pocket?