Vodafone offers complete mobility solution

Vodafone announces a range of solutions for busy mobile workers

Vodafone is positioning itself as a one-stop provider for businesses seeking to mobilise enterprise applications. The firm is offering pre-sales consultancy, integration and support, as well as offering the wireless service to connect mobile workers.

The Vodafone Applications Service can provide mobile access to key enterprise software such as SAP, Siebel, Oracle and Salesforce.com, the company said. This can increase productivity and deliver improved customer service by allowing employees access to data whenever necessary.

"We have a platform to enable us to mobilise many different applications and support many devices. It is future-proof, as firms can add new applications later, or swap over to different mobile devices," said Louise Spalding, product manager for Applications.

Vodafone's platform is based on a wireless middleware server that uses adapters to link with applications, including legacy code and anything based on SQL and web services. The company is even working on mobile Sharepoint access for one customer, Spalding said.

A custom application sits on the client device and serves as the user interface, with Vodafone supporting BlackBerry, Pocket PC or Symbian devices.

"One of the key things is to understand the needs of the user," said Spalding. "The user interface elements required when mobile can be very different from enterprise applications on the desktop," she added.

Because deployments will be different from customer to customer, pricing is split into two elements: the professional services, including customisation and integration costs: and an ongoing fee of £29 per user per month that covers the wireless data service and helpdesk support.

"It's a predictable fee, which business customers like. There aren't any extra charges," said Spalding. However, a separate roaming fee is incurred if workers travel abroad.