Mobile workers have serious technical challenges associated with their lifestyles. As they travel from location to location, they need to remain in contact with colleagues and customers, sharing information, just as they would in the office. Yet their circumstances can be constantly changing, with different degrees of connectivity to their corporate network. Mobile workers may experience any or all of the following connectivity scenarios in the course of the day:

• Full corporate access over a LAN or WAN
• Broadband connectivity
• Dial-up connectivity
• Wireless connectivity (802.11 WiFi, GPRS, and 1XRTT)
• No connectivity (on airplanes or in an area with no wireless coverage)

To meet these challenges, corporations have the opportunity to provide an environment where the effective mobile worker can switch seamlessly between all of these environments without losing data and preferably with minimal effort. Businesses who provide mobile access so that mobile workers can efficiently access and respond to information can achieve the following benefits:

Turn downtime into uptime Providing mobile access to e-mail and other messages enables employees to use time that would otherwise have been used less efficiently. The end result can be more time spent on work during core business hours versus waiting to return to the office. This in turn can offer employees more time at home or other non-work locations while still being effective in their day-to-day job responsibilities.

Improve efficiency and effectiveness of field sales and service personnel Shortened business cycle times enable the existing workforce to get more work done. Capturing data at the source can help increase the speed and accuracy of the data used to run an organization. Examples of this could be product orders, inventory levels, pharmaceutical drug trial field data, distribution tracking lists, or real-time patient data.

Deliver the right data at the right time time Notification services such as new e-mail notification can be triggered by changes within the business or in the broader marketplace. Faster access to more accurate operational data enables more timely and informed business decisions.

Reduce carry around bulk and weight Microsoft® Windows Mobile™-based devices come in small packages yet they can hold large amounts of data. For someone already carrying product samples and literature to leave with a customer, a small wireless device can provide a lot of benefit without adding much bulk or weight. With integrated wireless and data functionality, Pocket PCs and Smartphones may be able to replace multiple task-specific devices such as a cell phone, personal organizer, pager, calculator, cassette recorder, or walkie-talkie.