NEW ORLEANS, La., Feb. 28, 2000 - Accenture, a leading global management and consulting firm, today unveiled its Mobile Corporate Portal to help businesses achieve a competitive advantage by providing access to real-time information and business tools for field personnel. The portal supports applications that allow employees to use their mobile phones to access corporate data bases, search the Internet for information, and respond to real-time surveys through a quick polling capability.
The portal, the latest innovation from Accenture’s Wireless Internet Development Lab in Kansas City, offers users access to a unique set of data applications using the mini-Web browser of a mobile phone.
"Mobile Corporate Portals will play a leading role in defining the next generation of e-commerce and enterprise services, as the power of the Internet converges with the untethered, real-time nature of mobile communications," said Richard Siber, Associate Partner, Accenture Wireless Communications Practice.
Accenture developed the Mobile Corporate Portal specifically to meet the business needs of enterprises with a mobile workforce. It provides a single, mobile interface for business content and transactions for employees, distributors, suppliers and customers. A variety of company services can be accessed via a mini-web browser on the mobile phone.
This portal is being used in a pilot program involving hundreds of firm employees who can access the company directory, update daily contact information, check travel information and flight status, and reserve office space.
Fred Fosnacht, Partner, Accenture Communications and High Tech Industry Group, said the portal was developed to meet the needs of Accenture’s clients around the world. "These companies are industry leaders, many of which set the standard for eCommerce as we know it today," said Fosnacht. "Now they continue to push the edge of the envelope, transforming the way they operate and compete to further enhance the benefits of mobility for their customers and employees."
Fosnacht said the pilot program, conducted at Accenture offices in Kansas City and St. Louis, was notable for demonstrating how rapidly new wireless data services could be developed and deployed at the enterprise level. "This has profound implications as our clients demand rapidly deployed solutions that afford anywhere, anytime access to the Internet, the tools and the data they need," said Fosnacht.
This same rapid response capability helped Accenture develop a wireless Internet application for use at the CTIA WIRELESS 2000 show. In two weeks, Accenture adapted its Mobile Corporate Portal to allow data-enabled cellular phone users to consult the show agenda, get breaking news reports, and respond to audience quick-poll surveys following keynote presentations.
"The convergence of IP technology and mobile communications has created yet another new Internet-driven business model at the enterprise level," said Siber. "And, while dominant players have already emerged in the consumer wireless market, the enterprise market is still a green field. Wireless capabilities will become a critical component to solutions in this area."
Accenture’s Communications & High Tech group serves the rapidly converging areas of Communications, Electronics & High Tech, and Media & Entertainment. With 12,000 dedicated professionals and revenues of $2 billion in 1998, the unit provides services to more than 80 percent of the world’s largest electronics, communications, media and entertainment companies, as well as leading "dot coms."