Mobilizing Your Workforce?, Where to Begin

Visualize • Mobilize • Realize MCL-Collection

Why MCL-Collection

Mobilizing Your Workforce?

Where to Begin

Before you start, choose a development and deployment environment that satisfies your answers to the following questions:

1. Is this a completely integrated development and deployment environment?

If not, what do I need to do to integrate, manage, and deploy the application I create?

2. Is this a high-productivity development environment?

If not, how long will it to take to create, integrate and deploy my application?

3. Is this environment open standards-based?

If not, will it serve my business needs over the long term?

4. Is this deployment environment scalable, extensible?

Will it support my deployment today? Will it support my deployment as it grows?

5.Does this environment integrate my mobile worker applications with my host systems? If not, what do I need to do to integrate with my hosts?

6.What are my mobile communications needs? Does this deployment environment support them? What if my needs change? Will the environment support them too?

Wired and/or wireless network communications? Real-time, on-demand, or batch communications?

Continuously connected, casually connected, or occasionally connected users?

7.Is the development environment extensible? Can I create extensible applications?

If not, how can I benefit from new technologies?

8. Does this environment create multimodal applications?

If not, must I choose one technology over all others? And if so, will I be able to fulfill my long term business needs with this one technology?

9.Is this environment cross-platform compatible?

10.Does this environment provide forward migration paths for my applications?

11.Does this environment future-proof my mobile workforce applications?

I am developing now for Windows Mobile 2003 (WM2003). Will my application seamlessly port to Windows Mobile 2005 (WM2005)? What is coming after WM2005? Will my application seamlessly port to that platform?

12.Does this environment preserve my investments?

13.Does this environment minimize my total cost of ownership (TCO)?

14.What is the history of this environment? Does it understand my mobile workforce requirements?

15.What are the inherent risks of this environment?

16.What are my long term goals? Will this environment sustain them?

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