Question

As can be seen from this unit's readings, wireless technologies are becoming an integral part of the enterprise systems. The rapid deployment and use of wireless technologies by business partners and competitors is a cause for turbulence for many companies. While many organizations are dealing with wireless technologies on an ad-hoc basis, it is better to have a strategy for wireless technologies at the enterprise level. You can develop an enterprise-level wireless technology strategy for your organization by following the steps below.

1. Identify the different business units (or departments) in your organization and the business processes that each unit is responsible.
2. Indicate which business processes and enterprise applications, which currently use wired technology solutions, are the most appropriate for wireless access. Also include what technologies are appropriate for each application (PDAs, Internet phones, RFID devices etc.)
3. Indicate the benefits of moving to wireless technologies for each application (or business process identified in Step 2). In a detailed enterprise wireless strategy, you may need to include the ROI (return on investment) analysis. For this unit assignment, a discussion of benefits, without a formal ROI analysis, will suffice.
4. Include a timeline for implementing the wireless strategy. What will be implemented in the near term (first two years) versus the longer term (three to five years).

For this assignment, if you focus on a few relevant business units (perhaps four to six) and a few processes within each unit that should be fine. If space is an issue, one way to summarize is by making a table with business units and processes within each and the current status of wireless for the processes; then, you can expand on a few processes and how wireless benefits them along with a timeline in the remainder of the assignment. A sample format for the table is given below.

Business Unit	Processes	Current State of Wireless Implementation for the Process	Technology Used/Proposed for Wireless Implementation	Benefits of Moving to Wireless	Possible Timeline
Business Unit 1	Process 1
	Process 2
	Process 3
Business Unit 2
Business Unit 3
Business Unit 4

Answer 1

Let us take the example of an organisation engaged in Mining of Iron Ore, Processing the Ore, Exporting it to Japan and receiving the proceeds.

The identified Departments are :

1. Marketing and Exports Development

2. Mine Planning and Development

3. Mining and Processing the Ore

4. Transportation and Logistics

The detailed plan is shown in the following table:

Department	Processes	Current State of Wireless Implementation	Technology Proposed	Benefits of Moving to Wireless Technology	Time Frame
Marketing/ Exports	Enter into long term contracts with customers - identify required ore with specifications, price and delivery dates	Not present	Internet Phones	Can contact Mine planners as well as mining department to know what type of orders to accept. Also apps can be made to get costing of ore, before ageing to price	One year
	Intimate the required delivery dates and specs to mining / processing department	Presently being done through email	Apps in smart phones so that Mining/ Processing department is kept abreast of all pending orders	Seamless connectivity between marketing and mining department can improve efficiency	One year
	Track Delivery and receive payment from client	Presently done manually	Apps in smart phone to track despatch, delivery and payment	App can be programmed to generate invoices and linked to bank accounts to track receipt of payment from client. Can help in better cash flow management	Two years
Mine Planning and Development	Prepare geological map of underground strata using appropriate drilling and testing methods	Done manually	Each drilling unit can be provide with a GPS enabled device to record the results of tests	Better real time mapping of mineral resources	Two years
	Based on Long term export contracts, prepare long term (10 year) mine development plan	Not present - Done manually	Not required	N A	NA
	Prepare annual mine development plan	Manually done at present	Linking with marketing and mining departments through internet enabled smart phones	Apps can be developed to link annual plans, with inputs from long term plans , to marketing and mining departments. Will ensure that annual plan meets production requirements	Two years
Mining and Processing Ore	Prepare Mining area based on annual plan and start mine development	Manual planning	Not required	NA	NA
	Extraction of ore and processing in the plant	Manual planning	App based smart phones along with RFID enabled trucks to track ore consignments from mine to blending area	Will track quantity and specs of each truckload. This will help in preparing blending plan to meet customer requirement	Two years
	Blending the required ore in correct proportion to achieve customer specifications	Manual planning	Integrate with customer requirement and blending plan	-same as above-	Two years
Transport and Logistics	Charter ships on long term or short term basis and find arrival dates at nearest port	Manual	Smart phone based app to integrate available ore from Mining department with marketing department as well as with ship charterers	Will ensure least delay in arranging ships as required. Also will reduce demurrage for shipping as ships will not wait for the cargo	Two Years
	Arrange Transport of ore to port using barges / trucks	Manual	Smart phone apps connecting trucks/ barges to transport department	Will ensure timely supply of trucks / barges and hence reduce delay in shipment	One year
	Prepare all export documentation	Manual	Smart phone application to connect Logistics department and marketing	Will enable marketing to track delivery	One year