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With ReadySetWork’s mobile scheduling tool employees can confirm their scdedules while on the move.

Going, Going Gone Mobile

Mobile technology has inspired new products and new ways to deliver tried-and-true services

By Pamela George

To better serve its clients, its engineers and its sales force, 35-year-old Matcor is going cutting edge. “We’re implementing Apple technology in all aspects,” says Jeff Stello, CEO and President of Matcor, which is based in Doylestown, Pa., and has a Houston office. “Our people are already using iPhones — we see them as tools to improve our service offerings.”

The sleek devices add sizzle to what’s typically been a staid industry. Matcor provides engineering services and products in the cathodic protection arena, which involves controlling or eliminating corrosion in large infrastructure assets, such as pipelines and storage tanks.

“It’s a good way to get clients’ attention, and it’s different from the guy down the street,” says Stello of the Apple products.

But it’s not just style — there’s plenty of substance. Matcor employees on the road can easily access and share information, including sales data, presentations and photographs taken on a client’s site.

The innovators

Although often associated with Apple, the mobile revolution is not limited to one vendor. Android (Droid), Blackberry and other smartphone manufacturers create devices that take information off the laptop and onto a pocket-sized device.

That having been said, the iPhone and the iPad — and the App store — have changed the way people do business by putting easy-to-use, easy-to-view applications in the palms of workers’ hands. “The iPhone made the Internet accessible everywhere,” says Wendy Rudofker, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Blue Bell, Pa.-based WiredContact Worldwide, which provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solutions.

Trendsetting companies are enhancing products and services so clients can access them via these mobile devices, while other companies are creating products that leverage these tools.

Companies that target sales teams or other mobile workers have been early innovators. “If you don’t have access to customer information, it instantly puts you at a disadvantage,” Rudofker says.

On nearly every sales call these days, she continues, potential clients ask if they can tap into the program with their Blackberry or another mobile device. The answer is yes, thanks in part to WiredContact’s decision in 2000 to create a Web-based platform rather than one that resides on the desktop. The company offers online and mobile versions, each of which has its own address.

The mobile version simplifies the program so the information does not crowd the screen. Users can make calls, send email and provide key updates in real time. Since iPads and iPhones feature a laptop-like screen, users may opt to access the program through the online portal.

Have it your way

Clearly, choice matters. Some people prefer to exchange information in text messages. Others like email. Realizing that the medium is the message, ReadySetWork in Philadelphia created an employee-scheduling tool that delivers information through multiple channels.

Co-founders Joel Frisch and Jacob Dreyfuss

Co-founders Joel Frisch and Jacob Dreyfuss came up with the idea after owning quick-service restaurants for nearly eight years. One day, Frisch walked into a location to see the manager scolding an employee for not realizing she was scheduled to work that day. The manager had had to call her at home.

The employee, however, was typically scheduled on certain days of the week. Since it rarely wavered, she had not checked the schedule and was unaware of the new shift. “There had to be a better way,” Frisch says.

With the help of Philadelphia Web development company Brio Solutions, ReadySetWork was born.

With ReadySetWork, the manager creates the schedule and publishes it. Employees receive the schedule via email or a text message and confirm receipt. Traffic light colors — red, yellow and green — indicate whether or not all employees have checked in for a certain day. If the day is green, for instance, the manager knows everyone is good to go.

In the past, employees who wanted to trade shifts had to find a replacement employee via phone chains. With ReadySetWork, employees can post a shift that is up for grabs via text message to all qualified coworkers, not just those whom the employee knows personally.

“With mobile saturation near 92%, by integrating SMS and the Web, we can reach and communicate with employees like never before,” says Frisch. ReadySetWork is marketing the product through third-party vendors, such as payroll companies and benefit providers, and it’s typically sold as a monthly subscription.

ReadySetWork plans to add functions, including Smart Scheduling, which will enable managers to build and compare schedules with successful businesses in their industry.

A matter of control

Indeed, mobile devices such as the iPad and smartphones let users schedule their time, check the weather, read books and use email — all on one portable device. Now they can also turn up the heat.

Mirka Walczak, CEO of BuLogics

Manayunk, Pa.-based BuLogics plans to roll out a smartphone component for its Smart Grid Home Controller, which uses Z-Wave wireless technology to allow home electronic appliances to talk to each other. There are more than 350 Z-Wave-compliant devices currently on the market, including thermostats and coded door locks. Because the Smart Grid Home Controller uses wireless technology, the installation is simple and requires no extensive retrofitting or rewiring of the entire house.

Once alerted to a change in weather or an energy price increase, users can remotely change the thermostat at home or in the office. They can turn out the lights and change the door lock key code — which makes it ideal for frequent travelers, second homeowners and landlords.

The device can use the phone to tell users that their children have just used their personal coded door key to come home from school. It can also tell users that the maid or a handyperson just used their access key and the user then can change the code.

The remote capabilities of the Smart Grid Home Controller lend themselves to mobile devices. “We are definitely working toward making sure all our applications will be widely accepted on smartphones, iPads and other mobile devices in the future,” says Mirka Walczak, Chief Executive Officer of BuLogics.

On the go

To succeed, services and products that leverage mobile devices must be both expedient and efficient. That was not always the case with call-forwarding systems. Although systems could bounce calls from your desktop phone to your mobile phone, messages that landed on the mobile phone remained there, which is a problem if you forget to check that voice mail regularly. And, you could not interact with the company phone system to transfer calls while on your mobile.

Expert Technology Associates (ETA) in 2009 launched Dynamic Mobility, which increases interaction capabilities between mobile devices and office systems. It allows you to transfer your work extension calls to up to four phones of your choice, including smartphones. Any messages are stashed in your company voice mail, not on the phone to which you’ve forwarded the calls, and the phone has all the functionality of the traditional company phone system.

You can even move between two phones during the same phone call. Workers who are roaming a firm’s halls can answer a call on their mobile phone, put the caller on hold, and take the call back on their office phone for more privacy. Users can start a call in the office and switch to their mobile so they can continue talking as they head to their car.

While on the road, users can tap into WiFi if they don’t want to use up their mobile phone minutes. “It doesn’t require an application,” says Chris Aldred, Marketing Programs Manager for ETA. “It doesn’t need to be loaded on the phone, and it works with any phone.”

ETA, which is based in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., plans to offer more solutions that leverage smart phones and make clients’ lives more mobile.

Real time

Turn down the air conditioner. Check client orders. Confirm your work schedule. Stay in touch. Mobile phones give users instant gratification. And the company YorN, which stands for Yes or No, seeks to leverage that air of immediacy.

The company, which is based in Conshohocken, Pa., has built a mobile platform for conducting real-time polling and garnering feedback. Initial clients include conference and trade show organizers, who are seeking attendee input. Speaker or event evaluation forms typically only land a 2% response rate, says Rick Rasansky, CEO of YorN. With YorN’s mobile application, response rates have jumped to nearly 50%.

When people have an emotional reaction to something — be it a meal, a hotel stay or a lecture — they are more likely to express truthful and valid feedback at the moment such opinions are developed. “As time passes, the value, veracity and relevance of that opinion fades quickly,” Rasansky says.

YorN’s application, optimized for the mobile Web, generates unique URLs for specific events. Clients also can insert questions into PowerPoint presentations and can display real-time results submitted from participants’ mobile devices. Clients have used it to wirelessly collect audience questions for speakers and panel discussions, as well. So, instead of walking around the room holding a mic, organizers can easily and efficiently sift through questions and choose the most relevant ones.

Tech-savvy CEOs like Stello of Matcor, who formerly worked for the tech company Vis.align, are excited about all the new mobile tools. “We could be doing it on a laptop,” he says of some of the programs. “But an iPhone or iPad is less expensive than a full-blown laptop.” And they are far more portable. “It’s hypercompetitive out there,” Rudofker of WiredContact Worldwide says. “You have to give yourself all the tools you can use to give your clients the best level of service possible.”

Photo by David Gehosky.