I will be renewing my cell phone contract , or getting a new phone. What should I keep in mind, and what will be involved if I choose to get a smart phone?
These are the questions we wish you were asking prior to buying a device. Unfortunately, too often, we find clients are not asking us about their phone until they have had it for a week or two, and they are now stuck with it. So what is the good, bad and the ugly? Let’s take a look.
In that past year we have configured about 150 different Smartphone’s for our clients. Unfortunately, the number of ways to connect these devices to your e-mail, calendar, contacts, and to do lists are as varied as the phones themselves.
So what is our advice?
Truly define your needs. We find that people tend to really get carried away with all the neat stuff that these phones can do, without considering the likelihood of actually using the functionality they offer. Once most people have settled in with a device, they find that they actually use it as a phone, for e-mail, and maybe their calendar and contacts.
The Questions
- Do I need Bluetooth - Let me answer that one for you - Absolutely
- Do I want the phone book in my phone in sync with Microsoft Outlook?
- Do I use , or want to use SMS (Text) Messaging? (Not E-Mail)
- Do I want to get my E-Mail on my phone?
If so, do I have a Microsoft Exchange Server that I will be getting mail from, or is it POP3?
If I am getting mail on my phone, and in Outlook, am I willing to manage that mail twice?
Do I need my Contacts, Calendar, and Notes to update wirelessly in essentially real time?
Do I care how "pretty " this all looks, or is this a business tool, and I care more that it works all the time and integrates with my systems at work than how pretty it looks?
Is my company likely to make the investment in either a GoodLink Server or Blackberry Enterprise Server to make mail work smoothly.
- How much weight and size am I willing to carry.
- How much battery life do I need.
- How often do I drop my phone. Seriously! Phones with external antennas, like the Palm Treo, invariably land on the antenna, and break.
- Do I really need to use this device to listen to music, watch videos, take pictures and use for entertainment.
- What is it going to cost to replace if it goes for a swim in the toilet, I lose it at a party, or it meets with some other disaster? Remember that the insurance you could buy for your cell phone for a buck or two a month simply is not offered for most smartphones due to their cost.
- If this baby gets lost, do I need to be able to nuke all of the data off of it?
- If I am traveling, and need to replace the unit, can I get all of my data on the replacement unit remotely, or will it need to be back in the office to get it reactivated?
Why so many questions? Because, it all matters. We regularly see people show up with a phone in the office, wanting it to do all the cool stuff that they were talked to by the salesman in the phone store, only to have to point out all of the compromises that will need to be made to make the thing actually work. If you do not have, or do not want to invest in a Blackberry Enterprise Server, or GoodLink Server, the compromise becomes needing to leave your desktop PC not only on, but logged in to receive messages, and even then, you won't get calendar, contact, or note updates until you dock your phone, and let it sync. For some users, this is just fine, but for many of you, this takes the 'shine' off your new toy.
Our engineers encourage you to consider the above factors when looking at buying a new phone or Smartphone. We want you to have a good experience with your Smartphone, because, properly implemented, they can be a real boon to your productivity.
So after all of that if you are still reading, what do we use at Inland Productivity Solutions, why, and what are the compromises we made?
We use various Blackberry devices. We have invested in a Blackberry Enterprise Server to allow pushing Mail, Calendar, Contact, and notes to our users. We can kill a lost device remotely. We can view, but not edit Word, Excel, and PDF files on our phones. They pretty much always work.
The compromises are that presentation of HTML formatted messages suck without a third party add in. We cannot enter time into our service management system directly from our phones. We can't edit files like Word and Excel on our phones. Other than the HTML message issue, the others simply don't matter because it is really unlikely we would do that stuff even if we could, that is why we have notebook PC's and Terminal Servers.
Our phone contract is up, and it is time for us to renew, so I put the question to our technical staff; What do you want to change to? The unanimous answer came back, that we like our Blackberries. If there was a better device for our needs, we would change to it without a second thought, without consideration of cost, but based on our objectives and goals the Blackberry gets the nod. It might not be as pretty as the iphone, or quite as functional as some Windows smartphones, but we have never had one fail. It is a true business tool.
So what are the costs? Software for a Blackberry Enterprise Server, or GoodLink server is going to run you about $2,500 for the first 5 users (it gets cheaper after that), and you will need to either have a server that is not running Exchange, or we will need to provision a Virtual Server to run the server on. On top of that, you will have about 8 hours of installation time to go with it.
If you are a business decision maker thinking that you want to let everyone get whatever they want please don't. Choose a platform that meets your business needs, and stick with it. If you want to give people options, choose a line of devices such as Blackberry, or Windows Smartphones, with a Goodlink server backend. Your costs to support 15 different phones because everyone likes something different, will be higher than if you simply make the decision and go with it.
In general, a Smartphone setup, configuration, and testing (the first time) will take a System Engineer 2 to 4 hours to complete. If you are getting several, this can be significantly shortened if everyone in the company is using the same thing, and the questions are only getting addressed once.
Stay away from phones branded by the carrier as their own. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all have at least one phone in their lineups that are sold this way, and they always create problems. Since they are not purchased by big business, they simply do not have software that is as well developed, thus they are buggy. Bugs, turn into support calls to us, or the carrier, and very often the bugs are never fully resolved. Just because something says Enterprise, does not mean it is unaffordable for small business.
What Carrier do I choose? In my opinion, it doesn't really matter. They all work OK, but will disappoint you from time to time. Pick one that works in your office, and your home.
When planning on buying a Smartphone, engage us early, and plan the arrival of the device with our team so that we can configure it within a day or so of your getting it. That way you don't lose your ability to return it to the carrier if in 5 days you determine the device just is not right for you. Remember that the person selling you a Smartphone is generally done as soon as the transaction is over, and won't be supporting it. Get our advice, you will have a better experience.