• HTML 5 Application Development.  Now our customers can not only create Smart Client Apps with no coding, but also HTML 5 Web Apps that work on any device and any operating system’s browser.
• Web Application Development. MobileFrame developers can now create sophisticated web portals with absolutely no coding. The MobileFrame Thin Client Server solves several common web app implementation issues including cross browser compatibility, security and authentication, and Active Directory support. These web applications can be utilized in any setting, including data collection, management dashboards, reports viewing, customer portals and more.
• Swiping and Gesture Support. Our Client software now includes built-in swiping and gesture support.
• Desktop Changes. The entire product has a new look and feel including improved navigation, clearer fonts and several other usability improvements.

• Mobile Device Management. In addition to a full complement of device and user management capabilities, administrators now have the ability to cancel running applications remotely.
• The Grid. The grid functionality has been re-written to support function buttons, images, touch scrolling, per cell formatting, improved style editing, and includes several performance enhancements.

Our 100% code free development environment empowers business users, with no programming skills, to create sophisticated native and/or feature-rich HTML 5 mobile applications in less time, and with less effort than any other application development tool on the market. Unlike other vertical market solutions, our platform allows enterprises to create any custom mobile apps needed, all tailored specifically to their unique business processes.

MobileFrame is widely regarded as the industry leader with the most complete enterprise mobility platform. With our unparalleled capabilities, customers enjoy the lowest total cost of ownership and the highest return on investment when compared to other application development tools.

“With the release of Version 5.0, MobileFrame continues to raise the bar in mobile computing. Our patented 100% code free mobility platform now extends across all devices in the mobility marketplace, providing greater ROI than ever to our customers and network of over 300 resellers world-wide.” Lonny Oswalt, MobileFrame CEO.

After several months of extensive beta testing, the feedback on Version 5.0 has been overwhelmingly positive:

“Great job with the 5.0 release! Having been a developer for over 20 years, I can honestly say I have never seen such a feature-filled release of ANY development environment I have ever worked in. You guys need to be careful – when you work this kind of magic, people come to expect it all the time.” Paul Richmond IS Project Manager McFarland Cascade Holdings

MobileFrame Product Suite 5.0 is shipping now.

About MobileFrame
MobileFrame is the leading provider of Configurable Mobile Applications™ enterprise software that requires no coding or programming to create, deploy and remotely manage sophisticated mobile applications. With secure SOX compliant instant messaging, remote device control, configuration and management, intelligent networking, remote software updates, prioritized synchronization, automatic device driver recognition and loading all built-in, MobileFrame’s platform significantly streamlines mobile application development, deployment, and administration. MobileFrame eliminates custom programming through an intuitive, user friendly point-and-click graphical user interface, enabling novice computer users to quickly create and deploy custom mobile applications tailored to their business. For more information, customers may contact MobileFrame directly at 1-408-885-1200 or visit our website at http://www.mobileframe.com.

Contact:
Thomas J. Laughlin
MobileFrame LLC
(408) 885-1200

This increase in the number of available software vendors has caused confusion in the marketplace when trying to determine what the main differences are between companies that provide simple mobile forms vs. mobile business applications.

When most companies are investigating solutions they are looking for ways to eliminate the manual process of collecting information on paper. By eliminating the collection of data on paper, the business will be able to save costs, and ultimately increase profits. As an example let us assume that you are currently looking for a mobile software vendor to help eliminate paper from your field operations. You have completed your preliminary research and think you have found 2 companies that could be a potential fit.

The 2 companies you have found offer different solutions; one provides simple mobile forms and the other provides mobile business applications

• Company A – Provides a mobile forms tool which enables you to re-create simple paper forms on a smartphone. This tool makes it easy to collect simple text based information using your smartphone when connected to the Internet.
• MobileFrame – Provides a Mobile Business Application tool set which enables you to create, manage, deploy and support an infinite number of mobile business applications. This tool makes it easy to collect not only text based data but also rich data types including photo’s, barcode scans, voice notes, and can operate even when disconnected from the Internet. Meaning all associated business logic, data from your back-office systems is made available at all times even when working in remote locations.

Mobile Forms vs. Mobile Business Applications – What is the difference?

Collecting information using a mobile form is still a one-time event. Information is collected, saved, and transmitted back to the host system. Once completed,  someone still needs to physically copy, calculate, or re-purpose the data for your business to receive any benefit.

In other words the means of collecting the information has simply changed formats, but the actual business process that needs to be completed (the one that is taking all of the time) is still manual.

Other common issues with this approach include the lack of the ability to collect data when disconnected from the Internet, control over the data format, scalability, device management, and peripheral support (barcode scans, photos, voice notes, rfid, etc.).

In contrast mobile business applications like the ones developed by MobileFrame, enable you to bi-directionally exchange information between multiple back office business systems (Accounting, Inventory Tracking, CRM, etc.) and the mobile workers in real time.  These thick client mobile business applications embed all of the business logic, and necessary data into the database so the mobile worker is able to do their work without having to worry about connecting to the Internet. Mobile business applications also provide peripheral support making it possible to collect rich data types, and validating the data as it is being entered into the system. The best part is that once data is received by the back-office system, automated tasks can be set up to automatically process the data once it is received in real time.

Why selecting a Mobile Business Applications is the right decision:

Using a Mobile Business Application you are not only eliminating paper you are eliminating the administrative overhead, and manual data processing of information back at the office. Information is collected digitally, validated at the point of entry, and automatically entered into the other systems immediately once data is received back on the server. This means that your business will be able to run smoother, faster, and less expensively than ever before possible.

As takeaway from this article here are the 3 differences between mobile forms, and mobile business applications that you should remember.

1. Mobile Business Applications Provide Control
   • Do you want an open, free text entry or do you want to ensure that the information has a level of control to it?  Are phone numbers actually phone numbers or simply a combination of 10 digits?  Are your addresses formatted correctly?  There is no reason to electronically store information if it is not accurate and you lack control of what is captured.  Garbage in – garbage out.
2. Mobile Business Applications are Integrated
   • As you are fulfilling customer orders, you can automatically update your inventory tracking system, produce a mobile invoice, send it to your accounting program and update your CRM system in real-time with no additional effort. When your systems are talking to each other it saves you the time of duplicate (or triplicate) data entry.
3. Mobile Business Applications can run automatically
   • Possibly the most powerful benefit of this type of system is the ability to DO something automatically as information is received. Your workflow can be simplified when it is automated. When you are running low on a particular part, your mobile system can update your ERP which can send an alert to the purchasing department and let them know it’s time to order more. Other additional benefits include leveraging management dashboards, customer self-service portals, and automatic delivery of daily productivity reports.

If you are interested in learning more about our award winning mobile enterprise application platform, please contact us today!

Contact Us | Phone: 408.885.1200 | Email: Sales@MobileFrame.com

“Why don’t businesses value mobile computing like they value office based computing?”

For years companies have been using computers in the office to aid in the functions necessary to run the daily operations of the business.

For Example:

• Bookkeeping / Accounting
• AR / AP
• Payroll
• E-mail
• Customer Activity Tracking
• Sales Performance Tracking
• Resource Scheduling
• Creating, assigning, and closing Work Orders
• Ordering Parts
• Updating Spreadsheets
• Etc.

Could you imagine if each of these various office based functions were on paper and needed to be managed the same way field data is? As odd as it seems, it appears that these organizations just haven’t thought about the benefits of extending the reach of their many business systems out into the field. Mobile applications, specifically those built using MobileFrame, have the capability to easily extend the data contained in each of these systems to the mobile worker. Once the information is received the mobile worker is able to interact with the data to make better decisions faster, and with minimal impact to the office staff. Increasing the productivity of the Mobile Worker is just one of the areas mobile computing can assist an organization.

Here are some of the other benefits of Mobile Computing:

• Increase number of jobs performed, customers visited, etc
• Eliminate redundant manual data entry and data transcription errors, reducing clerical data entry costs
• Provide real-time access to data in the field, ensuring workers have the information they need, when they need it
• Reduce invoice and accounts receivable lag time
• Improve customer service
• Increase time spent in the field by eliminating the need to return to the office to complete paperwork
• Increase efficiency and productivity of field workers

If those bullet points didn’t capture your attention, how does eliminating 7000 sheets of paper on a weekly basis sound? Miller Pipeline sure didn’t mind.

To learn more about how Mobile Computing can help your business reach new levels, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would love to show you how Mobile Computing can make a difference to your service based organization.

Click here to take the MobileFrame Application Challenge, send us your paper forms!!!

Send us your paper forms, we will build a custom application and demo it to you live the very next day!

Contact Us | Phone: 408.885.1200 | Email: info@MobileFrame.com

• Endless Professional Services Cycles (i.e. Development) – One company said that they have been trying to get their pilot started for the last year and a half. They’ve spent $100,000+ on Software and another $40,000+ on Hardware.  The hardware is still sitting in a corner collecting dust.
• Difficult to use Development Environments – Some of these groups purchased development environments that claimed to be easy to use. They weren’t. This naturally lead to issue #1 which is the need to pay for a lot of money for Professional Services.
• Lack of Product Documentation – This is something that most people don’t think about until its too late, but ALL of the organizations with failed implementations said that the lack of product  documentation (how to’s, wiki’s, frequently asked questions, installer guides,  etc.) rendered the already difficult to use Development Environment useless, which lead to the need to pay for Professional Services…
• Hidden Costs – one customer told me he thought that the provider he chose to develop his application was going to be the perfect fit – relatively affordable, solid, great product vision, and support.  However, when he needed to make a very simple change to his application (i.e. changing the label on a text box, and increasing the size of buttons), he was charged with 40 hours of development time.

If any of the above describes your organization I have good news….. MobileFrame can help you. Our development environment is easy to use.  Don’t believe me? Challenge us, send us your paper form, and we’ll build your application and demo it to you live on our very first phone call. Additionally, our professional services group has thousands of successful mobile implementations under their belts and can deliver your pilot in 2-4 weeks.  Not to mention we have a full suite of product related documentation, sample apps, online training, and support.  With the MobileFrame Platform, your company has the power to make changes to your application with our 100% code free mobile computing environment and deploy the changes out to the field in minutes. There are never any hidden costs and no need to pay us to make changes to your application.

If you are interested in having MobileFrame help you salvage your mobile project, contact us today!

Not surprisingly for this week we’ve decided to focus on : What a Mobile Computing Platform is, and why it matters (Disclaimer – MobileFrame is a software company that focuses on providing the most highly configurable and easy to use Mobile Enterprise Application Platform, that money can buy)

First and foremost what is a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform?

In its most simple form, a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) is a software based mobile computing strategy for providing organizations the means to deploy multiple different mobile applications on top of the same technology stack. Typically this type of Platform approach provides organizations with the ability to extend the data usually enclosed in multiple different back-end enterprise systems, deploy against multiple different types of operating systems, and connect or “Sync” over a wide variety of different types of communication mechanisms.  The platform approach usually involves the ability to scale quickly and easily, with a build once and deploy to a wide variety of different types of devices without the need to actually target a specific device or operating system.  This approach when carefully planned lowers overall total cost of ownership, and provides a central management point for all mobile application throughout the enterprise.

Typically there are several components to a mobile computing platform

1. Development Environment – Provides the ability to create the mobile application screens, and underlying business logic
2. Synchronization Server – Allows for bi-directional synchronization of data between the back office business systems, and the mobile worker
3. Consolidated Database – A Database that serves as the central data repository or the pass through to multiple different back end systems, also referred to as a Staging Database.
4. Client Software - This is software that gets installed onto each mobile client to run the mobile applications, manage the synchronization, as read / write to the local database if applicable

The Typical Problem:  ABC Corporation has 3 separate divisions that all would like to implement mobile technologies, each with their own unique needs.  When faced with the decision of what to do ABC Corporation must decide if they plan on building or buying their mobile solution, as well as who is going to make the selection of the solution vendor, devices, as well as who is going to manage and support the applications.  Unfortunately many organizations allow for each division to separately manage their own solution, leading to a decentralized approach.

This approach leads to some of the following challenges:

• Significant development costs
• High total cost of ownership
• Decentralized management
• Hard-coded applications, with the need to re-install whenever changes are made
• Developed for use with a single device type, and or operating system
• No out of the box integration mechanisms to manage the data
• Support related headaches, no centralized management

If ABC Corporation were to take the platform approach, they would gain the following benefits

• Rapid application development tools
• Code Re-use
• Single source toolset
• Mobility management (device management, etc.)
• Application updates handled wirelessly
• Out of the box connectors to multiple different backend systems.
• Multiple Device support
• Lower total cost of ownership
• The ability to make changes and deploy them instantly.

For these reasons and many others, organizations that are interested in going mobile have been looking at Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms, to provide the necessary tools, connectors, and support mechanisms to alleviate many of the common pitfalls of going mobile.  If you would like to see a demonstration of how MobileFrame addresses the mobile challenges within the enterprise, please contact us today!

www.MobileFrame.com | Twitter.com/MobileFrame | www.Blog.MobileFrame.com

The article did a good job of pointing out many of the limitations of mobile operating systems, including the lack of the ability to print out of the box, lack of bundled drivers, etc. While it is true that mobile printing isn’t native functionality to Windows CE, Windows Mobile, etc. It is native functionality inside of MobileFrame. In fact our customers don’t need to plan for the use of mobile printing; they can create new print layouts in minutes, and deploy them to field in seconds, all without the need to write a single line of code, or contact us for development. And, MobileFrame supports over 450 mobile printers out-of-the-box.

We’ve done the work to bundle print drivers, and allow users to easily create print layouts via our drag and drop GUI interface;  this eliminates the guesswork, and gives you the benefit of not having to worry about paying for someone to code a print layout.

If you would like to see a live demonstration of our capabilities, feel free to fill out this form, and we will schedule a time to chat.  Don’t forget to follow us on twitter http://www.twitter.com/MobileFrame

Make (i.e. Develop)

Buy

What many organizations don’t know is that they no longer have to make this decision.  There is a 3^rd and much easier choice…MobileFrame.

MobileFrame is a Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) product developed for the sole purpose of helping organizations design, develop, deploy, manage, and support custom mobile applications, without the need to write a single line of code.  And because MobileFrame is a full featured mobile computing platform it can serve the needs of your entire organization, and not just a single department or a single application.

With MobileFrame you have the ability to create your Custom Applications in Days and not Months, and roll out changes very quickly.  In addition, if you are looking for a pre-packaged solution MobileFrame also offers several pre-built mobile applications that can be custom tailored to your business requirements.

If you would like to see a live customer demo or receive more information please contact us.