Tomorrow's offices will change dramatically - in many cases, the ever-present desktop computer will be gone - replaced not by a notebook computer, but by a device reminiscent of a Star Trek communicator. It will be born out of today's smart phones which combine the functions of mobile phone and PDAs (personal digital assistant), like the Blackberry, Treo, and Nokia N and E series. What it looks like isn't nearly as important as what it does - help employees make or save money.

Smart phones have gained widespread acceptance in recent years. Nemertes' recent benchmark report, Convergence and Next-Generation WAN Technologies, shows nearly 80% of enterprises have deployed smart phones, but these phones cover only 2.9% of the workforce. The penetration is low because enterprises see smart phones as "luxury devices." Now that smart phones provide reliable data and voice connections, we anticipate them to be adopted in business processes where they can improve worker productivity. Just where IT executives plan to integrate these devices is one subject of Nemertes' upcoming benchmark report, "Building a Successful Virtual Workplace," highlighting VoIP, collaboration and mobility.

Voice communications is just one application that runs on smart phones. Most smart phones come equipped with common applications like email and Web browsing. A particular enterprise may include more specific applications on some or all handsets depending on its mobility strategy. A mobility strategy is a technical and operational view that defines how the implementation of wired and wireless services, devices, and applications help workers maintain productivity regardless of location. Key applications to mobilize create value for a business by increasing revenue or decreasing costs.
Applications can include workflow automation, location-based services, Instant Messaging (IM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

To ensure that an application is actually used, it must be simple and acceptable to the community, therefore, IT executives must be focused on earning user buy-in. Finally, the mobility strategy considers corporate security and management policies, as well as leveraging current investment in the firm's existing converged backbone infrastructure. In Nemertes' recent benchmarks, the number of enterprises developing mobility strategies is approaching 75%, as shown in the chart.

One of the keys to a successful mobility strategy is to lose the luxury mindset - the one that figures only top executives get Blackberries because they want the newest gadgets - and control the budget. Enterprises must think, instead, on a larger scale about what wireless can do for their businesses. One company that spoke with Nemertes for the research benchmark removed all their desktop phones and gave employees cell phones. They effectively reduced the number of phones supported from around four per person to less than two. It's clear to see that they are saving money, simply considering the price of digital phones for a PBX.

While mobile operators would love this answer, enterprises in general shy away from this approach because the recurring costs on mobile phones are higher than with desk phones. But companies want to control these costs, so there has been a lot of interest in dual-band phones, which use free WiFi within a campus, and switch to cellular only when needed. As shown in the chart, 68% of IT executives interviewed for Nemertes' recent benchmark on Convergence and Next-Generation WAN Technologies are interested in using these dual-mode devices.

Once an enterprise has these new handsets, the IT department will want to do more with them. By using VoIP, all voice calls will be concurrent with data access. This means a manager using a headset can call an employee to get information, and the employee can switch to a different application on his or her smart phone to look up the answer - without hanging up! But just how do they know if they can reach that employee? Instant messaging programs have given us the start of a tool - presence - which can make that annoyance into a real asset. By integrating presence into different applications, a person can identify the likelihood that a co-worker can respond to his or her needs. For example, if an employee's mobile device is integrated with his calendar function, his presence can show when he is in a meeting. Further, by integrating with a built-in GPS unit, his presence can show he is either "at home," or "on business trip."

So what is the office of tomorrow going to look like? Mobility, coupled with collaboration tools on a smart phone, will make the physical location and appearance of an office less important than today; and the core tool, the smart phone, will fit right on a belt or purse strap.

Christopher Kardish is Principal Research Analyst, Wireless, Mobility and Virtual Workplace at Nemertes Research, 410-757-9711; email: chris.kardish@nemertes.com; web: www.nemertes.com.