Radical business model change
- Peter Blasina
- 27 May 2009
Coping with accelerating technology change presents extreme challenges. While many of us were just becoming familiar with the mobility provided by a SOSOHO (small office home office) structure, a new acronym has crept into the business lexicon – NONOHO (no office home office). Thanks to technological portability and mobile access to the web, email, SMSSMSSMS, MMSMMSMMS, video mail, and so on, it is now possible to carry your office in your pocket. The fundamental element to running any business today has universally become a process of handling information.
Right now, the major telcos in Australia are offering a variety of new amalgamated communication services that have previously been the domain of the large business CIOIO. After using each of them, I am amazed how much organisation and operational mobility they provide. All reflect the radical change and the speed of that change driven by technological advances.
The ‘cloud’ comes to small business
Both Telstra and 3 Mobile have delivered small business or even individual consumer versions of what has, until now, been the ‘cloud-based’ Unified Communications infrastructure. While a Blackberry organises your email, it acts like any other phone when it comes to webmail accounts, SMSSMS , MMS , contacts, and so on, with none of these co-ordinated into the one place.
Telstra’s new ‘MyConnect’ service integrates three critical communication elements into one easy to use and access package. The first is ‘MyInbox’, an email, task and calendar service; the second is ‘MyEmail’ and allows you to manage up to five email addresses from a compatible Telstra Next G mobile phone, and you can receive, read and reply to emails on the move without needing a PC; and the third, ‘MySync’, allows you to automatically and wirelessly link and sync mobile contacts, and in some cases calendar entries, tasks and notes, to Telstra’s secure online site accessible via MyInbox.
3 Mobile’s solution is similar to Telstra. Promoted as “… unlimited email when and where you need it”, it points to sophisticated access to email on a phone that doesn’t need to be a smartphone. It allows up to six separate accounts to be registered within the service. A great feature of email on 3 is that most of the hard work has been taken out of what can be the frustration of email set-up. You only need to input your address and password, and the client auto fills the necessary account details to receive your messages.
Netbooks on integrated broadband plans
To round out the small business looking like big business technology this month, we have a Vodafone/Dell communications package. Showcasing what will no doubt be a hot trend in 2009, the new Inspiron 910 Netbook is available on a cap plan, much the same way as mobile phones are sold. The inclusion of onboard mobile broadband (with a SIMSIMSIM card inserted behind the battery) means you don’t have to remember to take a USB USB wireless modem when you leave the office or house with the 8.9-inch screen Mini 9.
The bundled plan and Netbook includes 5GB of data over 24 months. As mentioned, this is notionally like the mobile phone plans, which promote a zero dollar handset deal. Expect to see a range of netbooks, ultraportables and standard notebooks available on similar plans in the not too distant future.
