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The Wireless World

Breaking the Boundaries of the Traditional Office

PFW Password - fall 2007You don’t have to think back very far to remember when cordless phones weighed as much as a toaster and were almost as big. Laptop computers were prohibitively expensive and often cumbersome. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) were nothing more than an idea yet to see the light of day. Now, everything has changed… it’s a wireless world and we’re just livin’ in it.

There are almost as many reasons for the widespread proliferation of wireless technology as there are cell phone ringtones. The staggering number of cell phones in use throughout North America today dictates affordable hardware and voice/data plans as well as the research and development funds for manufacturers to regularly improve and update their products.

Economies of scale definitely apply in the wireless world. The more cell phones being used, the more communications towers and infrastructure required, the greater the competition, the lower the price is driven. Even though rates have dropped in recent years, telecommunications companies were able to keep profits up even with low margins thanks to the sheer number of customers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of cell phone subscribers in the U.S. jumped from 34 million in 1995 to 159 million in 2003 – and according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), that number just keeps on growing, from 207.9 million in 2005 to an estimated 230 million in 2007.

Business or Pleasure?
The widespread use of cell phones and wireless technology has not only changed the way individual people stay in touch, but also how businesses operate. In the equipment distribution industry, cell phones have allowed sales and product support staff to stay in close contact with their branch and their customers, even when on the road.

However, the importance of wireless technology in the workplace hardly ends at cell phones. Everything from the layout of modern work spaces to the interaction between staff and customers to the boundaries of a traditional office have all been changed thanks to the increased quality and decreased cost of wireless technology.

In the past, one of the dominant aspects of a workspace was always wires… wires coming from and going to just about every peripheral around, like bundles of spaghetti everywhere you looked. However, the amount of clutter and number of wires has been drastically reduced in recent years, as everything from keyboards and mice to printer, network and internet connectivity has gone wireless. It won’t be long before wires in much of the workplace are a thing of the past, as even the last bastion of wired connectively – the connection between computer and monitor – might soon go the way of the dodo. The technology already exists to transfer video signals over a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 connection and it won’t be long before that same connection is made through ultra-wideband Wireless USB.

There's Something in the Air
As for the interaction between staff and customers and the boundaries of a traditional office, wireless technology has made it so that it’s just as easy to bring the store to the customer as it is to bring the customer to the store. There are a variety of reasons why it is easier than ever to stay connected to your office, no matter where your travels take you. Firstly, the cost of laptop computers and PDAs has dropped to make them affordable for widespread use in the field. Secondly, the PFW IntelliDealer Dealership Management System is browser-based, making it easy to connect to on the road. Finally, WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) cards are becoming more and more common and inexpensive – both for the hardware and the rate plans.

Depending on the manufacturer, these WWAN data cards can be known as AirCards, ExpressCards, Remote Cards, USB Modems or Mobile Broadband Cards. They are inserted into a laptop or compatible PDA and connect to a mobile broadband service. Rather that searching for a wireless or “WiFi” hot spot, broadband data cards enable users to connect to their broadband service provider from almost anywhere, making it the perfect technology to take on the road. Being connected on the road means that sales and service staff have access to all the information the office has to offer, which is good for the customer and even better for your business.