IT in Your Pocket • Read the Interactive Session and then discuss the following questions: 1. What kinds of applications are described in the case? What business functions do they support? How do they improve operational efficiency and decision making? 2. Identify the problems that businesses in this case study solved by using mobile digital devices. 3. What kinds of businesses are most likely to benefit from equipping their employees with mobile digital devices such as iPhones, iPads and BlackBerrys? 4. Discuss the implications of the statement of D. W.
Morgan’s CEO, “The iPhone is not a game changer, it’s an industry changer. It changes the way that you can interact with your customers and with your suppliers. ” 1-13 Interactive Session: Management: IT in Your Pocket 1. What kinds of applications are described here? What business functions do they support? How do they improve operational efficiency and decision making? Email, messaging, social networking, and sales force management are described in this case study. The applications support business functions that include collaboration, location-based services, and communications with colleagues.
These applications improve operational efficiency and decision making by allowing people to communicate from wherever they are. They are no longer tethered to one place or one machine. They can receive information and data instantaneously which allows them to make better, faster decisions. In the case of Doylestown Hospital, doctors use iPhone applications to access medical reference applications, giving them a broader base of information on which to base decisions. 1-14 Interactive Session: Management: IT in Your Pocket 2. Identify the problems that businesses in this case study solved by using mobile digital devices. 1/3
Doylestown Hospital customized doctors’ iPhones with secure mobile access to the hospital’s electronic medical records system. Doctors receive information on vital signs, medications, lab results, allergies, nurses’ notes, therapy results, and patient diets. Doctors can also access medical reference applications to help them interpret lab results and obtain medication information. The hospital’s information systems department can authenticate system users and track user activity. Information is stored securely on the hospital’s server computer. Doctors stay connected around the clock to hospital staff, colleagues, and patient information.
The iPhone allows doctors to receive time-sensitive e-mail alerts from the hospital. 1-15 Interactive Session: Management: IT in Your Pocket 2. Identify the problems that businesses in this case study solved by using mobile digital devices. 2/3 D. W. Morgan is a supply chain consultant and transportation and logistics service provider. It helps companies move critical inventory to factories that use a just-in-time inventory strategy. It has operations in more than 85 countries on four continents. It’s absolutely critical to know the exact moment when delivery trucks will arrive with supplies.
In the past, it took many phone calls and a great deal of manual effort to provide customers with such precise up-to-the-minute information. It now uses mobile digital devices for its 30 drivers that update shipment information, collect signatures, and provide GPS data on each box it delivers. Drivers record pickups and status updates. They collect a signature on their iPhone screen that verifies deliveries at each destination. Data includes a date stamp and time-stamped GPS location pinpointed on a Google map. The data is available to customers on the company’s Web site.
