White PapersThe modern enterprise looks to incorporate a number of ways of communicating on the move but with the number of options available how does an organisation know which is best. This White Paper gives examples of some of the methods to use.
Mobile SolutionsA complete guideUntitled DocumentContentsCommunication solutions 5Application solutions 9Messaging solutions 12Mobile working solutions 17Velocity mobilising your business 20THUS' mobile portfolio 22When you need to take technology on the road, you need THUS Mobile Solutions. Call us, and you ll be talking to people who know our business and want to learn about yours. We ll be there to help implement your solution, integrate it with existing systems, introduce it to your workforce, and support it into the future. We don t just sell technology. We make it work.At THUS, we don t think one size fits all. We can offer you a range of options, or we can build a package specific to your requirements. Our range of products and services covers data, messaging, field-service applications, vehicle tracking and more. We supply everything from phone handsets to bespoke enterprise applications. And we have the knowledge, skills and experience to create a total solution.This guide describes some of the solutions we provide. Each chapter outlines our key products and services and what they can do. You ll see how they can be applied to day-to-day scenarios, and how we can adapt them to fit your business. And you ll fnd examples of the benefits our clients are seeing.THUS is one of the UK s leading telecommunications providers, with a long history of innovation and growth. We work closely with customers to provide high-quality integrated services that meet their needs.IntroductionUntitled Document4<5What you wantYou want a mobile package that keeps your people in touch with their clients and each other any time, any place, anywhere. Whether it s a voice call or an email, you don t want anyone to miss it just because they weren t in the right place at the right time. And you want affordable tariffs, because in today s environment communication is a necessity, not a luxury.But you don t want to juggle a handful of products with dedicated support staff who think everything is somebody else s problem. You want a single, simple communications contract that s professionally implemented, well supported, and doesn t break your budget. You want a THUS solution.The issuesFlexibilityYou need a dozen mobile phones. Or tomorrow, maybe a hundred. With new sequential numbers. But sales want to keep their old ones. Which handset has the features you need? The fact is, there isn t a box sitting on a shelf that contains your perfect communications solution. You need someone who can create it for you.CapabilityLandlines calling mobiles. Mobiles calling landlines. BlackBerry . Laptops. Mobile access to office-based applications. Convenience. Reliability. Security. Whatever solution you choose, it needs to cover everything you do.Cost reductionMobile call rates have fallen. Have yours? Your people are calling customers, suppliers, partners, but most of all they re calling each other. Does your tariff take account of that? When you call your communications provider for assistance, do they know their stuff? And how much are you spending to support and maintain your mobile systems?How it should beIn touchYour account manager is on the road, visiting a customer on site. The customer s requirements have changed, and she needs to produce a new quote. That means checking the latest prices and discussing the implications with her team. She calls a colleague at head office: talk is cheap with an integrated tariff. He emails the figures to her BlackBerry . When she hangs up, her mobile rings again: reception has another customer waiting for her extension. She thanks them and they transfer the call from the switchboard. With a complete mobile solution from THUS, there s no such thing as being away from your desk.Communication solutionsNever stop talkingCan t wait. Train to catch. Call you later. Email me, I ll check it tonight. Sorry, I m not in the office today, please leave a voicemail. There are a thousand excuses for being out of reach. But in business, there are none.Bespoke phone packages >Professional setup and support >Mobile to landline options >Data services >Untitled Document6<7Real lifeWe created a mobile communications solution for the UK s leading supplier of timber and building materials. With a network of sites across the country and an army of employees serving both trade and consumer markets, the company needed effective communications to keep its business moving forward. But the mobile products and services it was using weren t up to the job. Buying direct from network operators, the choice was limited to standardised packages. Nobody was there to understand the company s needs or draw up a roadmap for the future. Costs and performance were difficult to monitor.With THUS, things are different. Voice and data services are all taken care of as part of a package tailored to the company s requirements. Bespoke tariffing brings discounts on the calls that matter, and with online account management it s easy to keep tabs on costs and track usage patterns across the company. Handsets can be chosen to suit varying job specifications, and car kit installations can be arranged on site. Access to email and centralised data is available via BlackBerry devices and 3G data cards for mobile computer users. And of course, skilled staff are on hand to advise, troubleshoot, or discuss the next new development.Our client has expanded from 2500 to 5000 connections, and recently extended its contract. The THUS solution is working. And it could work for you, too.Help!You call for support, and all you get is someone who knows little or nothing about the product. Not with THUS. Our Mobile Help Desk is staffed by technically minded people who ll use their own skills and knowledge to answer most questions within your first call. If your query is more complex, they can go to our in-house test bench and work out a fix, using the same equipment as you. Then they will call you back with the answer.The THUS solutionTicking a box is easy. Living with systems that don t fit your business is hard. That s why, at THUS, we don t give you just a few options to choose from. Tell us what you re looking for, and we ll build a solution to suit you. No paying for features you don t really need, just because they re in the bundle. No making do with the entry-level package because the next step is beyond your budget. Pay for what you need, and we ll deliver it. That s the deal.Bespoke phone packagesWe ll work with you to put together the right package, with one contract to cover everything. Our solutions use the Vodafone network, which offers excellent coverage across the UK and 135 other countries. You ll have your pick of the latest handsets, and any existing numbers can be ported across.Professional setup and supportSelling you a package is barely the start of our job. Our team is focused on getting you up and running and supporting you throughout the life of the contract. The people you ll be talking to have technical knowledge, a customer service ethos, and above all a passion for getting the job done.Mobile to landline optionsAs you d expect, we can arrange low rates on calls between your mobiles. By setting up a Mobile VPN (Virtual Private Network), we can also integrate your switchboard(s) and mobiles into a single price plan. With Mobile Exchange functionality, you can dial out to mobiles on internal extension numbers and use features like transfer, conference call, and ring back when free.Data servicesFor email on the move, we can supply BlackBerry devices or equip your laptops with 3G data cards. If you want full, secure mobile access to centralised data and applications, that s no problem. After all, THUS is one of the UK s leading providers of integrated network services.Communication solutionsUntitled Document8<9What you wantYou want your workers in the field to be connected all day, not once a day. That means mobile systems that are second nature. Information they can use that s there whenever they need it. On-screen displays that guide them through the entries they need to complete. You want applications that connect all your people and processes.Options like vehicle tracking and on-board navigation so you can see everyone s in the right place at the right time. You want a solution that streamlines your everyday processes but keeps them familiar. Because unless it makes sense straight away, your people won t buy into it. And nor will you. You want productive staff and satisfied customers. You want a THUS solution.The issuesBespoke designEvery company is different. The more comprehensive a solution, the more integral to your operations, the better it has to fit. Mobilised applications needn t just duplicate your existing processes. But they must reflect what your people do and where your business is going.Cost efficiencyThe more users, the more costs. Extending your systems to all your people, not just the ones who sit behind desks, may mean contemplating a substantial investment. With less time and fewer miles wasted, it could also bring substantial savings. You don t need a hard sell. You need to know how much it s going to cost and how fast it could pay for itself.Ease of useSwapping a pad and pen for a PDA is the easy part. Getting comfortable with new technology can take a little longer. Will the solution work for all your people, not just the IT-literate? Will there be intelligent support to get them started and keep them up and running?How it should beAlways on the goA field worker begins his day. His wireless PDA shows a list of site visits. Any changes or cancellations will display as they occur. Starting up his vehicle, he loads the first address into the navigation software. The customer is happy to see him arrive on time: there s bound to be a lot of paperwork to get through. As they discuss the job, he taps the details into a simple on-screen form, which warns if anything s omitted or inconsistent. It s finished in minutes, and the customer signs off the visit by signing the screen. The information collected goes straight into the system. On to the next job, right on time.Application solutionsT o see the whole picture, join the dotsCustomers. Contracts. Quotes. Notes. Courtesy calls. Emergency calls. Files in the office. People on the road. Miles to go, and promises to keep. It s not enough to put everything in the system. You have to put the system everywhere.End-to-end implementation >Knowledge-based consultation >Supportive deployment >Education and training >Untitled Document10<11Never off the radarAt the office, a manager starts her shift. She can track each field worker s location in real time on her computer screen, and call up any field worker s diary by clicking his vehicle s marker on the map or by selecting his name. Integrated applications match incoming requests to available staff and product, simplifying administration and avoiding mistakes. If anything s not on schedule, she ll know. And if a colleague or customer asks anyone s whereabouts, availability or ETA, the answer s right there in front of her.The THUS solutionYou know your business. We know mobile applications. So we ll meet you in the middle. Show us what you re doing now. We ll show you solutions that can make it faster, cheaper, better. Then we ll tweak them to fit your people and processes, while recommending new ways of working that can save time and minimise errors. We can integrate the systems you want to keep, and help manage your transition from the systems you leave behind. It s all brought together by our managed-service platform that utilises a unique combination of technologies that we call Velocity.End-to-end implementationAt THUS, we re not limited to one element of communications. We deal with everything from the applications you use in the office, through the infrastructure you need to connect to your mobile workers, to the menus and forms they see on their handheld screens. We don t leave you to figure out how to fit it all together.Knowledge-based consultationOur first job is to understand your business. We d also like to help you understand ours. The technologies we use may be advanced and complex, but to us they re simply building blocks. We ll stack them up the way that best supports you.Supportive deploymentWhen you re converting your workforce to new systems, it s not only technical hitches that can stall the process. We ll be there to steer you through implementation and plan sensibly for contingencies. Using templated applications, we can also enable you to adjust the system in-house to resolve teething problems and adapt to changing needs.Education and trainingWe recognise that field workers may have any amount of IT experience, including none at all. Our training centre provides a relaxed and well-equipped environment to introduce your people to their new systems. (We can also train on site.) Resistance to change? In our experience, it s those at the sharp end who see the benefits quickest.Real lifeOne of the largest users of our mobile applications solutions is a major glazing company. Serving insurers, local authorities and facilities managers, its 130 full-time engineers are available 365 days a year for quick-response repair and replacement of windows, doors, shutters and conservatories.Two windows are rarely the same, and specifying the work to be done was a daily headache for engineers in the field. Around 40 different sets of paper forms were used to record survey information, and completing them was just the start. Every evening, the day s paperwork had to be faxed back to head office, a laborious process with an unavoidable risk of pages being lost.With THUS, things are different. Each engineer carries a handheld computer, or PDA, with a straightforward touch-screen interface. The application they use has been carefully designed to collect comprehensive and accurate survey data in a standardised form.The software is smart enough to catch several types of error immediately, such as a set of measurements that don t add up. Information is transmitted almost instantly back to base, where staff can order parts, arrange fitting visits, and track engineers vehicles. With THUS overseeing the technical back end , the company can customise the front end on employees screens.Our client has seen significant benefits from the system and plans to extend it with satellite navigation software. The THUS solution is taking them where they want to go.Application solutionsUntitled Document12<13What you wantYou want to be ahead of the curve. Communicating with customers in the ways they find most convenient. Encouraging response by making it quick and easy. Building loyalty by keeping in touch. Mobile messaging is the right medium, but you need to harness it.You want the capability to control what goes out and make sense of what comes back. To make an automated message feel timely, thoughtful and personal. You want an application that s simple enough to let you test the water right now, yet capable enough to grow with you as you discover how to exploit the possibilities. You want a THUS solution.The issuesFlexibilityThe uses of mobile messaging, including SMS, range from simple notifications to complex marketing campaigns. It s a compelling format for internal communications and an engaging medium for contacting customers and prospects. You may not yet know what level and type of messaging activity will suit your business, so you need an open-ended solution.CRMMobile messaging is a powerful addition to your customer relationship tools. Sending a text avoids the cost and complexity of placing a voice call. Compared to email, it s more likely to be read immediately, more targeted to an individual recipient, and can request a response that s easier to process without human intervention. You can monitor response and focus on the customers and issues where messaging is most effective.Costs and revenuesSending texts can cost money or make money, depending on the application. You ll need the ability to control use by cost centre and, if you are looking at revenue generation, to specify the reverse billing and premium rates that are right for your business model.How it should beEasy interactionA customer phones for support. Having resolved the issue, you ask if he d like updates via text. The customer gives a mobile number. Once this is added to his contact details, an automated SMS message is sent to record the support call, invite any comments, and confirm that he s registered for updates. The message is personalised with the customer s name. In the future, with his consent, he s notified of any planned maintenance or other service issues via SMS. The message is customised with the product name of his current option. Every six months, he receives a courtesy message to check that he s still satisfied with your product and draw his attention to the latest upgrade offers. He knows you haven t forgotten him. He won t forget you.Messaging solutionsA new way to contact your customersShort. Sharp. Simple. Mobile phone texting (SMS) is probably the fastest growing method of communication. In the UK alone, a hundred million messages are sent every day. Shouldn t some of them be to you?Straightforward interface >Customer focus >Reverse billing and premium rate >Management and integration >Untitled Document14<15Paid contentYou launch a monthly bulletin providing extra information and offers. An automated SMS invites customers to text back Yes to subscribe for a small fee. The messaging application adds respondents to the relevant list. Each month, you upload the text of the bulletin, which is broadcast in a pre-scheduled bulk SMS. Reverse billing revenues accrue to your account automatically.The THUS solutionAt THUS, we understand that texting isn t quite like any other communications medium. Like a phone call, it happens in real time. It s direct, immediate, personal. Yet it can be completely automated. It s a powerful technology, and it can benefit your business in ways that may not be immediately obvious. With Mobile Messaging from THUS, it s easy to get your messaging strategy off the ground. The processes are clear to see, as are the costs, and it s cheaper to implement than direct mail or telemarketing. Start as big or small as you like, and build on what works for you.Straightforward interfaceManage your messaging with our simple web-based interface. Group your customers into communities according to the products they re using, the services they re signed up for, or whatever criteria you prefer. Then broadcast a message to any community at any time. Incoming messages can be sorted according to their content and reports generated to tell you if your campaign is working as you d hoped.Customer focusA message can be scheduled for delivery to any number of users. Using customer information, you can customise each outgoing message: Hi ! Hope you re enjoying your & Unlike emails, texts are tracked all the way to the user s phone, and you are notified of any non-deliveries. Furthermore, any replies you receive can be automatically fed straight into your customer database.Reverse billing and premium rateInvite users to enter a contest, complete a quiz, or subscribe for content such as news or alerts. It s easy to set up. The user texts your short code , a four or five-digit number that works from any mobile phone. When your system receives the user s text, it sends one back. This incurs a premium rate charge, which the network operator shares with you. Whether for new revenue streams or extra services that pay for themselves, the opportunities are endless.Management and integrationAll your messaging activities can be organised on-screen. Plan your campaigns on a time chart. Allocate each messaging event to a cost centre. Use built-in reporting to monitor delivery and response, as well as campaign success. We can also help you link messaging to your other database, MIS and CRM applications.Real lifeYou might associate text messaging with teenage flirting, reality TV shows, or coordinating a get-together at the pub. But one of our most progressive messaging clients is a borough council, and there s nothing frivolous about the way it s using SMS to communicate with local citizens.A few technically minded departments had started texting as an efficient channel for internal communication. Rolling out a service to the council s customers required greater expertise. So they called on THUS. By deploying a user-friendly messaging application, we ve made it easy to set up whatever messaging functionality is required. Costs are firmly controlled by user privilege settings and the ability to allocate each process to a cost centre.The council can now keep citizens informed on all kinds of issues by broadcasting outbound messages to users who ve signed up for them. When your library books are overdue, wouldn t you rather get a courtesy message than a nasty surprise next time you visit? And the uses of inbound messages are almost unlimited. Bin not emptied? Street lamp on the blink? A text message to the council can be quicker than getting through on the phone, and more efficient for the relevant department to process.Our client is looking at more ways to extend and publicise its SMS communications. With a THUS solution, the next step is just a click away.Messaging solutionsUntitled Document16<17What you wantYou want your people to be productive, wherever their work takes them. So do they. You don t want them tied down to the office, but you don t want them hung up on the move. They have different tasks, different destinations. Some use laptops, some prefer handhelds. You want a solution that works for them all.No more top-and-tailing their days with set-up time in the morning and catch-up at close of play. You want high-speed wireless connectivity. Flexible access. Ways of logging in that are fast, simple and efficient, yet secure enough to safeguard your confidential data and mission-critical systems. You want to get this show on the road. You want a THUS solution.The issuesAvailabilityWiFi hot spots are great, when you happen to be in one. But what if a busy coffee shop isn t your customer s idea of the best place for a meeting? For reliable access to the systems you rely on, you need a solution where anywhere means anywhere.CapabilityI can get my email, but I can t get on the server. I ve got a connection, but my client software s crashed. I ll have to call you later, the intranet won t work from here. What s the point in mobile working if I can t work when I m mobile? Your power users need to be able to do what they do in the office, when they re out and about. That means mobilising as many of your applications as possible.SecurityYour data isn t the crown jewels. It s more important than that. For your authorised users, getting in should be so easy that it doesn t take a second thought. For anyone else, it should be so close to impossible that it s not worth thinking about.How it should beVirtually thereCorporate clients depend on your professional services team. It s a hands-on, face-to-face business. So your people spend most days office-hopping between your own sites and your customers . Hot desking? Some of them don t remember when they last saw their desks. But that s OK. All the systems they have access to in the office, they can also use on the road. They don t need to find a telephone socket or an Ethernet port, and you don t need complex systems to receive their connections. With 3G data cards in their laptops, they could use a web browser to access your systems from wherever they may be: with a client, on a train, waiting in a car park or grabbing a snack.Mobile working solutionsHere, there and everywherePlaces to go. People to see. Emails. Appointments. Product details. Customer details. Documents on the intranet. Database on the server. To stay productive, you don t just need a laptop in your briefcase. You need the whole office.Mobile connection products >Mobile data services >Secure remote access >Deployment and support >Untitled Document18<19Safe and soundWhen it comes to security, IT people can get nervous. Not yours. They know your remote access solution is protected. And it wasn t even a hassle to set it up. THUS provided the expertise and infrastructure to implement secure connectivity, including proxies and firewalls to isolate your systems. Your users can log in without needing extra client software on their machines. And their secure access tokens can be issued, managed and supported by THUS.The THUS solutionBuilding networks can be frustrating. You tell your supplier: we ve got all these pieces, and we need to make them work together. OK, says your supplier. Here are some more pieces. At THUS, we like to be a little more constructive. We ve got all the gizmos you need to enable mobile working. But more importantly, we ve got the skills and knowledge to combine them into a solution that delivers what you need. Because your IT strategy should be more than the sum of its parts.Mobile connection productsFirst, get connected. We supply 3G data cards that allow a laptop to connect wirelessly from anywhere with network coverage. It works up to seven times faster than dial-up, or up to 32 times in areas served by 3G broadband, currently rolling out across the UK. Outside 3G range, a GPRS connection kicks in, keeping you connected to 99% of the UK population. We do BlackBerry and other mobile devices, too.Mobile data servicesYou ll want email, contacts and calendar on the move, synchronised with the office. Shared drives for remote access to documents. And as one of the UK s most technologically advanced telecoms operators, we can take you much further. We can extend your client/server applications to mobile users. We can work with whatever you re running, including mainframes, Unix/Linux, web application severs, Windows Terminal Services and more.Secure remote accessForget cumbersome remote login methods. With THUS, all you need is a web browser. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the Internet industry standard that protects ecommerce and online banking. We use it to secure your virtual private network (VPN), making it easy to connect without exposing your systems. For maximum protection, we can issue each user with a physical token that issues a new password every 60 seconds.Deployment and supportSharing our knowledge is our business. Ask us what we can do for yours. We ll be there to plan your solution, implement it and support it.Real lifeWe implemented secure mobile working for the management team at one of Britain s largest fre and rescue services. Effective collaboration is an essential function for today s emergency services, and managers spend a significant amount of their time working with colleagues in other agencies right across their region and beyond.It s no good travelling to meet someone if you arrive without access to the information you need to discuss. During meetings, managers would often need to refer to reports and statistics stored on central servers. This was made possible by equipping their laptops with 3G data cards, enabling wireless access from almost anywhere. Client-based VPN (virtual private networking) made the connection secure. But the support issues created by this solution began to rise. The fire service called for help.THUS provided a solution based on clientless VPN. Instead of needing VPN client software installed and supported on their laptops, mobile workers use a standard web browser to make a connection via SSL. Through this, they can access the service s core internal applications such as email, intranet and reporting from wherever they may be: a police station, a hospital, or any other partner location.The fire service was so impressed with the THUS solution that it s removed all VPN client software in favour of web-based access, allowing a wider range of users to log on. The culture of cyber-caf working from other organisations offices is now central to the service s practice.Mobile working solutionsUntitled Document20<21Building a complete mobile solution means combining products, technologies and processes. Some you may already have; others you ll need to add. There will be functions that you ll manage yourself, and those that we can manage for you.To make this integration possible, we ve created something called Velocity. It s a platform that consists of a whole range of systems, including software, servers, and the advanced network infrastructures that only a leading telecommunications provider like THUS can offer. It covers all mobile functions, including feld service applications, data, messaging, secure remote access, vehicle tracking and more.You can think about Velocity as the glue that holds our solutions together. But most of the time, you shouldn t have to think about it at all. All this capability can be managed from a single customer portal that s easy to access from a wide range of systems and devices.Velocity isn t a pre-packaged product. It s not a closed system that you ll have to adapt to. It s a framework that enables us to build a solution just for you. One that reflects your existing processes, and meshes with the applications you already have in place, while extending your mobile operations. Functions such as sales, marketing, customer service, CRM, administration and finance can all be linked together, streamlining operations and providing opportunities to reduce costs and increase profit.To find out more about Velocity, call the number on the back of this guide. Ask us for a full technical synopsis. Or just ask us what it can do for your business.V elocity mobilising your businessVelocity allows us to combine different technologies into a seamless solution. The same core functionality serves many applications, linking business processes together for greater efficiency. In implementing your solution, we can build in the options you need or work with you to develop a bespoke system that fits your business. TECHNApplicationsLocation servicesField service/salesCustomer communication and CRMMobile contentVehicle trackingMobile positioningLone worker protectionConsultation Development Bespoke integrationManaged servicesV elocityMessagingEmail3G and mobile workingPremium rate servicesUntitled Document22<23ApplicationsField WorkerOur field-based work management solution is designed for job despatching or job servicing organisations, enabling job allocations to be sent to a mobile device and relaying updates to the centralised database/application.Sales WorkerA specialised solution for field sales workers, querying customer information and raising supply orders.Vehicle trackingCombined GPS (positioning) and GSM (communication) network functionality allows us to locate and map the exact position of a small device typically deployed in a commercial vehicle. Location details are presented on a live browser-based map or as co-ordinates automatically fed into your back-end application.Lone Worker ProtectionOur Lone Worker solution provides vulnerable employees with a simple device that ensures they have a fast and effective way of quickly requesting assistance to a precise location.IntegrationVehicle location data can integrate into the Field and/or Sales Worker applications for improved interactivity. At your control site, users can review individual jobs and activities in real time while viewing the location map.Communication3G broadband data cardsInstalled in your laptop for high-speed wireless data connectivity via the 3G and GPRS networks.BlackBerry Integrated phone and email device that can support features as diverse as Internet browsing and GPS navigation.Mobile phonesWe supply a full range of the latest handsets and accessories on a variety of flexible tariffs.Other devicesWe supply and support Windows Mobile hardware and Vodafone Business Email (VBE) devices. Existing PocketPC devices can use Velocity Mail, a platform-independent email and calendaring application.MessagingOnline messagingInbound and outbound SMS messaging is implemented using a web-based management application. Programming interfaces allow integration with your back-end systems. Capabilities range from simple message broadcasting to complex response campaigns.Premium messagingThis service adds the ability to charge a premium to a standard broadcast or content-rich message via reverse billing. A percentage of the premium rate is returned to you as an outpayment.Mobile workingSSL VPNAllows clientless VPN access to your corporate network using a browser and SSL certificate, avoiding the need for a software installed client.TokenID securityStrong, two-factor user authentication based on a hardware token device, carried by each authorised user, that generates a one-time six-digit pass code every 60 seconds. The device is worthless without the user s private PIN.The THUS advantageStraightforward solutions based on the latest technologies >Packages built to your requirements, not pulled off the shelf >Full support from decision-making through implementation and beyond >Skilled support staff with the knowledge to advise and explain >Technological expertise backed by one of the UK s leading network operators >THUS mobile portfolioUntitled DocumentTH92914To find out how a THUS Mobile Solution can work for your business, contact us on:0808 202 3197 mobileadvicedesk@thus.net
