Successfully Deploying & Managing Mobile Solutions in Retail

Your IT department already has its hands full supporting day-to-day operations. Adding a mobility deployment to their to-do list may be overwhelming. Given the complexities of a big business-critical project like a retail mobility solution, retailers can go it alone, solving each problem as it surfaces, or draw on retail industry experts like DecisionPoint Solutions who can anticipate common deployment problems and streamline the planning, design and implementation phases of a mobility deployment. Each step of the process has its unique challenges and every step should be guided by best practices and years of experience in deploying complex retail mobility solutions.

Utilize Proven Deployment Expertise

Planning a successful retail mobility solution requires matching the right technology to the right business needs while staying within your budget. Steps in the process include:

• A consultative approach in evaluating whether your existing network can accommodate the bandwidth demands of cutting-edge mobility solutions
• Architect a proof of concept to test a proposed solution based upon real world use cases
• Updating or replacing legacy apps to take advantage of the capabilities of current mobility technologies
• Designing an enterprise-wide rollout that’s efficient and smooth, with established processes to handle the inevitable teething pains of a new system.
• Consider an ongoing maintenance plan for your mobile devices
• Ensure you have a data analysis platform available to make sense of the usage data and other information streaming from devices as they are used

Choosing the Right Mobile Devices

One of the biggest decisions in deploying your retail mobility solution is selecting the right mobile devices for your business needs and work environment. While consumer devices are less expensive than commercial devices, there are many hidden costs with consumer devices that should be considered.

For example, consumer-grade devices are not designed to withstand workplace conditions or may not have the technical capabilities needed to fulfill their mission. In contrast, ruggedized commercial devices are designed to withstand dirt, moisture, drops and constant all-day use, lowering your overall maintenance costs and downtime. Ruggedized devices can also be shipped with high performance barcode scanners, hot swappable batteries with long charging lives and protection from environmental challenges.

When selecting the right hardware for your retail mobility solution, consider these additional factors.

Compatibility and Connectivity

If your mobile devices will rely on APIs or other proprietary software extensions, these components will need to be installed on each device. Commercial devices can be configured en masse by an experienced integrator so that each device is ready to use right out of the box. For consumer devices, these components must be installed manually, a cumbersome process if you are deploying hundreds or thousands of devices.

Mobile devices communicate through WiFI. Commercial devices typically come with powerful WiFi transmitters that accommodate workers who are constantly moving. Transmitters in consumer devices are weaker and may not stay connected under constant movement.

Ruggedized devices also include support for mobile device management (MDM) solutions, which provide administrators with the ability to manage a large mobile device pool from a single application. MDMs can provide administrators with data on usage, device health, device location, battery health and many other factors that help companies get ahead of device problems before they turn into downtime. Due to security features in consumer devices, centralized management is much more challenging.

Security and Safety

Commercial devices are designed with enterprise security in mind and the process of managing multiple users and logins is streamlined through the MDM system. Security can’t be managed centrally on consumer devices, so you need to rely on users to keep sensitive data secure.

And because commercial devices are ruggedized, they’re more reliable than consumer devices, keeping more of your data safe from equipment failures.

Enterprise Application Requirements

In general, the demands of business outstrip the ability of consumer devices to handle it. For example, using a consumer phone scanner to capture barcodes is slow and cumbersome. Commercial devices are equipped with scanning engines designed for speed and reliable image capture. Commercial devices also have more support for different networking options, so communication can be optimized for your infrastructure. Screen lighting on consumer devices isn’t adequate for bright lighting. Commercial devices can also be equipped with GPS, RFID scanners and screens that are readable in high or low light.