CHANGING THE ECONOMICS OF - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY - A WHITE PAPER - AT - BY Macheen Inc
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CHANGING THE ECONOMICS
OF
ENTERPRISE MOBILITY
AT
A WHITE PAPER
BY
©Macheen Inc
THE BIG CHALLENGE FOR ENTERPRISES TODAY IS TO GIVE
EMPLOYEES WITH LAPTOPS AND TABLETS, ACCESS TO KEY
APPLICATIONS AND WEB SITES, WITHOUT ALLOWING COSTS
TO SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL.
BUT THIS IS A BALANCING ACT THAT’S HARD TO GET RIGHT.
THIS WHITE PAPER DESCRIBES THE EXPERIENCES OF QUALCOMM AND
HOW IT CHANGED THEIR THINKING ABOUT THE ECONOMICS OF
ENTERPRISE MOBILITY.
Connectivity can boost productivity, but the costs of connectivity can be so significant
and unpredictable, that they negate productivity gains.
Data plans can be very expensive, and are usually reserved for elite users. And
roaming across international borders and the ad-hoc purchase of time passes, means
that some enterprises are spending millions of dollars more on connectivity than they
need to.
As well as cost, the other challenge is
how to rapidly deliver and manage
connectivity for a large, geographically
dispersed workforce.
These are the challenges that
Qualcomm decided to investigate, so
they deployed an innovative connectivity
solution from Austin based Macheen Inc.
Macheen Mobile Connect is a new
way of connecting people on the move
to the applications and services they
need; at a cost they can control.
Qualcomm wanted to understand how
Macheen Mobile Connect could provide
a cost-effective mobile broadband
service, which allowed a mass
deployment of more than 17,000 users
around the world.
!
©Macheen Inc
WHY MOBILE BROADBAND IS IMPORTANT
The nature of work is changing rapidly. The workforce of most enterprises is
becoming more mobile. More applications and services have moved outside the
enterprise I.T. department and are accessible through a web browser.
Connectivity is no longer a luxury, it’s a competitive necessity. A
disconnected device is now a dead device that serves no useful
purpose.
THE CHALLENGE
Providing this connectivity at a reasonable cost has always been a confusing challenge.
Firstly there are far too many options to chose from. Secondly the economics of
connectivity don’t stack up for many enterprises; especially those with a large mobile
workforce.
Data plans from carriers have always been too restrictive (with data caps and
allowances) and expensive for mass deployment to a large user population. And when
users roam across international borders, the costs can be eye watering.
WiFi is used extensively, but in many parts of the world, coverage is still sporadic and
concerns persist over security. It’s also very expensive to buy, especially short-term
access in places like hotels and airports.
Data plans and WiFi both have advantages, but there are also some pretty big
drawbacks such as availability, security, deployment, management and cost.
!
These factors have caused many enterprises to delay buying tablets and laptops with
embedded mobile broadband capabilities. It also meant that devices with a 3G/4G
capability built-in were just not activated.
In Qualcomm, only 5% of notebook PCs
had been connected, which were used
by those employees who traveled most.
Qualcomm saw an overwhelming need to
provide more flexible, controlled and cost-
efficient connectivity to its user community.
From extensive research of possible solutions,
they discovered Macheen Mobile Connect.
©Macheen IncThis provides selective access to defined applications and services. These are called
‘pinpoint’
services and they are charged on a per-user, per application per month
basis.
Following detailed investigations, Qualcomm decided that Macheen Mobile Connect
had the potential they were looking for. They decided to deploy Macheen Mobile
Connect, to confirm how it could change the economics of providing large scale
connectivity to a dispersed user population.
THE DEPLOYMENT SETUP
Qualcomm decided to test Macheen Mobile Connect in three scenarios;
1. Access to specified pinpoint services;
2. Device and data security;
3. Pay-as-you-go access with split billing.
1. Access to specified pinpoint services
This connected selected users to defined ‘pinpoint’
services including e-mail and the
corporate intranet. This provided Qualcomm users with always-on access to specific
mission critical applications, which they believe will dramatically improve productivity
whilst containing cost.
!
©Macheen Inc2.Device and data security
This connected all 17,000 notebook PCs to a remote device security management
application. This tracks the device over a cellular network and enables it to be located
if lost or stolen and its data can also be remotely wiped.
3. Pay-as-you-go access with split billing
This capability was provided to all users. It provided them with full internet access,
and an ability to split the bill to identify corporate and personal usage.Various access
plans (hourly, daily, weekly) were made available to employees based on defined
criteria such as their job title and usage needs.
LESSONS LEARNED
Lesson 1. It’s not easy to activate and manage a large population of
mobile broadband users.
Not all users are technically able to connect their PC to a mobile broadband service.
It’s not as easy as it seems, and it often requires a lot of support from I.T. However, it’s
not feasible to bring users into a central location, or have IT people travel to all users.
The ideal solution is to be able to manually and automatically activate all users
remotely over the Internet. Qualcomm reviewed available tools and because none
met their needs, they decided they would have to develop their own capability, which
they did in partnership with Macheen. The solution was developed in 2013 and it had
two components;
1. Enterprise Deployment Utility
This tool enables I.T. to easily and quickly manage large scale activation of connectivity
to many thousands of devices.
2. Web-Based Deployment Utility Dashboard
This provides a real-time status for every connected device. This detects any
hardware and software issues and it enables any fixes to be downloaded instantly.
“High connectivity costs has meant that many
enterprises restrict access to the elite only. This
must change.”
!
©Macheen IncEnterprise Deployment Utility
When users connect to Qualcomm’s network, the Enterprise Deployment Utility
downloads an installer that configures their mobile broadband access (including
pinpoint services) based on defined profiles. This makes it easy to pre-define a matrix
of different users and access rights. This means that the user automatically gets the
correct services when they connect.
This facility also makes it very quick and easy to mass distribute revisions, updates and
any other changes of service or access to the user population. Without this capability,
this process would be far too expensive and time-consuming.
The process of connecting is simple and it involves five steps;
1. Capture the mobile equipment identifier (MEID)
This is the device’s mobile broadband module that is embedded in the Qualcomm
Gobi modem. Previously this required specialized software utilities, physically
examining the underside labels of the PC and even opening up the PC to locate this
number on the mobile broadband module.
2. Provisioning the MEID on the service provider’s network.
Previously this required a CSV file of MEIDs to be collated and sent to the broadband
service provider. There was then an often lengthy delay, to set up and activate the
modem on the network.
3. Switching the Gobi firmware to match the type of the service provider’s network.
4. Running the activation and testing to verify successful connection.
5. Setting up the user’s individual services.
If the service doesn’t configure first time, there is a sequence of automatic re-tries
until success is achieved. This data is visible through the dashboard, where Qualcomm
©Macheen IncI.T. managers closely monitor the deployment process. By setting alerts after a pre-
defined sequence of re-tries, they could focus on problems and quickly resolve them.
The complete setup history of each device identifies where and when failures and
automatic re-tries have occurred. This provides analysis that can be used to improve
the process, and enable first time connection for everyone.
In the deployment of Macheen Mobile Connect, 98% of targeted user devices were
successfully activated without the need to physically touch the machines, or to have
I.T. involvement.
The 2% that did not deploy successfully on the first pass, had hardware issues
identified as part of the automated deployment process. When these issues were
addressed, these devices also activated successfully.
After activation, Qualcomm I.T. managers were able to easily manage the pinpoint
services and usage for individuals and roles. They could also quickly and easily
implement any usage policy and user profile changes as needed.
Lesson 2. The economics of enterprise mobility can be changed
Qualcomm has proved that the economics of enterprise mobility can be changed.
They have implemented a mobility strategy, which connects users in a unique and
cost-efficient way.
This is different to the traditional approach of either allowing users to fend for
themselves and find WiFi where they can, or pay a high price to provide data plans
that are not appropriate to all user’s needs.
This means that other enterprises can now buy devices with 3G/4G capabilities,
confident that it is economically feasible to connect them.
Qualcomm believes that they will achieve tangible savings of an estimated $1.1 million
per annum, just by eliminating ad-hoc WiFi purchases alone.
They also believe there are big savings to be achieved by improving the efficiency of
expense review and approval. This is because they no longer have to scrutinise
reports by line item, to identify expensive and unauthorised WiFi purchases. They can
now establish usage and access profiles that provide far more control over costs than
was ever possible before.
“Annual ongoing savings are conservatively
estimated at more than $1 million.”
©Macheen IncMORE INFORMATION
To share this experience, Qualcomm has developed a tool that can be used to
estimate the costs, benefits and savings of deploying embedded 3G/4G mobile
broadband connectivity.
This tool, available at http://www.qualcomm.com/gobi/enterprise helps to evaluate the
economic benefits of procuring tablets and notebook PCs with embedded Gobi 3G/
4G technology. It also describes Qualcomm’s advice on how to architect a balanced
mobility strategy for use in any enterprise.
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