CHAPTER 6 : WIRELESS DEVICES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

MINICASE 1: HERTZ GOES WIRELESS

Q1. Which of these applications are intra business in nature?

A1. Intrabusiness defined in this case study as m-commerce applications mainly conducted within an organization. In this case, Hertz has used some mobile applications in several services it has provided. It has used wireless intra business applications for quick services and communication amongst its employees. Wireless applications in the non-environment have been around since the early 1990s. For instances, such applications include:

Wireless networking for example, used to pick items out of storage in warehouses via PCs mounted on forklifts

Delivery status update for example, entered on PCs inside distribution trucks

Collection of data such as competitors inventories in stores and customer orders for example by using a hand-held device, from which data were transferred to company headquarters each evening.

The table below shows some examples of typical intra business workflow applications before and after the introduction of wireless services:

Before Wireless Work orders are

After Wireless

manually Work orders are automatically assigned and routed within

assigned by multiple supervisors and dispatchers.

minutes for maximum efficiency. field service

Field service technicians commute Home-based to dispatch center to pick up paper work orders.

technicians receives first work order of the day via mobile terminal and proceed directly to first assignment.

Manual record keeping of time, Automated productivity tracking, work completed and billing record keeping and billing updates. information. Field service technicians call in for Electronic transmittal of additional new assignments and often wait because of radio traffic or unavailable dispatcher. Complete work orders dropped off Technicians close completed work at dispatch center at the end of the day for manual entry into the billing or tracking to system. available orders from the mobile terminals as they are completed. At the end work orders with no waiting time.

Uncompleted orders are manually of the shift, the technician signs off distributed technicians. and goes home.

The intra business applications that Hertz used was: Quick rentals: When you arrived at the airport, Hertzs curbside attendant will greets you and transmits your name wirelessly to the renting booth. The renting booth employee advises the curbside attendant about the location of your car. All you need to do is go the slot where the car is parked and drive away. This system, which once operated over a WLAN, is now part of a national wireless network that can check credit cards, examine your rental history, determines which airline to credit your loyalty mileage and many more. Instant returns: When you want to return the car, right in the parking lot, the lot attendant uses a hand-held device to calculate the cost of the rental and print the receipt for you. With this technology, you will check out in less than a minute, and you do not have to enter the renting booth at all. Car locations: Hertz is experimenting with a Global Positioning Systems (GPS) based car-locating system. This will enable the company to know where a rental car is at any given time, and even how fast it is being driven. So,

with this system, the company will know whether you have driving faster or not.

Q2. Identify any finance and marketing-oriented application?

A2.

Finance-oriented applications:

1. Quick rental: When you want to return the car, you do not have to go to the renting booth at all. This is because you can check out less than a minute right in the parking lot. Here, the lot attendant uses a hand-held device to calculate the cost of the rental and print the receipt for you. This is the one of the finance-oriented applications used by Hertz. 2. Instant Return: Another finance oriented application is the instant return application that enables customer to check out within matter of minutes. When the customer returns the car to the parking lot, the lot attendant equipped with a hand held devices will immediately process check out for the customers without having the need to walk all the way into the renting booth. The handheld devices the lot attendant is equipped with allows the lot attendant to calculate the rental cost and also print the receipt out immediately for the customer.

3. Besides that, the system, which once operated over a WLAN, is now part of national wireless network that can check credit cards, examine the customer rental history, and determine which airline to credit the customer loyalty mileage and many more.

Marketing Oriented Application:

1. In car cellular phones : Since the year 1988 Hertz have been renting out

cellular phones together with the cars as a marketing tool. The cellular phone that is rented out allows the customer to have communication feasibility especially to those who has cellular phone that do not have international roaming functionalities. Despite no longer being such a big thing this application has greatly increased the amount of business Hertz has. 2. Never Lost Onboard: With an onboard GPS system installed on some of the cars, Hertz are offering a Never Lost feature. Leveraging on the onboard GPS and an electronic mapping system, customers are directed to their destination through a screen with computer generated voice prompts. Not only is the directed to where he or she wants to go, the customer is also provided with information like the location of the nearest hospital, gas station,

restaurant and tourist area. All this is made possible through the use of the onboard GPS system which has proven to a very good marketing tool. 3. Additional Customer Services: Another application that is marketing oriented in nature is the additional customer services application. Through this application, customers have access to information like city guide, location guide, emergency telephone numbers. city maps and a lot more. This information can be downloaded into the customers PDA or other wireless devices. 4. Car Locations: Another example of a marketing oriented application is the car locations application. Using the GPS system, Hertz is able to track the whereabouts of the car at any given time. Apart from the location of the car, the company also has access to information like how fast is the car driven.

Q3. What are the benefits to Hertz of knowing exactly where each of its car is? As a renter, how do you feel about this capability? A3. By knowing exactly where each of its cars is, several benefits will be derived:

Prevention of crime: This will prevent or avoid cars stealing by the customers. Some of the customers will take advantage in stealing the car they have rented by giving the wrong or other people personal identity for the car rental company records. By giving all the information and details needed by its customers, the car rental company will give them a car. At this time, they will take advantage and steal the rented car. So, by having the system of knowing where each of its cars is, Hertz can detect and find the car immediately.

Help in distress: Besides that, it is easy for Hertz to go and give a help to their customer that are in trouble or to the car that was breakdown. By having this kind of system, Hertz can send immediately its employees to help their customer or giving/changing a new car for them. This will avoid uncertainty such as stress and tension faced by the customer because of long wait and wasting their time.

By knowing exactly where each of its car can prevent crimes from occurred. If there is a case where the police found out that the car that have been rented by Hertzs customer is bring the illegal items of stuffs, they can immediately help the police by giving the information and details regarding suspected car. So, this will help the police to catch and do the investigation on that car.

Business Planning: By knowing where the car is, Hertz can use this information to plan for any future promotion or expansion effort. For example if Hertz notice that a lot of its customer rents the car to a specific place, Hertz can use this information to come up with promotional package that can be used to attract more business.

As a renter, I would feel safe and do not have to worry wherever I go because Hertz will always take care and alert whatever Ive done. This would allow me to drive safely and when Ive got trouble or problem, this technology will help Hertz to send their people immediately to help me since sometimes we do not know where exactly we are. This also allows time saving and quick services for their customers.