Topics On Technology/Mobile Computing

Having your Email, Contacts, Calendar and Tasks on your phone has become an expected necessity for sales forces across the country. These devices keep you connected with business associates and allow your mobile users to better organize their day. Additionally, access to the web and other applications are becoming more important as we move into a more connected age.

Some technologies allow you to just have your Email on your mobile device. Others allow you to have your Calendar, Contacts, or Tasks synched in a piecemeal fashion. Perhaps requiring you to connect or dock your device in a cradle and do a wired synchronization with a computer connected to your corporate network. This frankly is yesterday's technology. What if someone updates your calendar for you at work when you are on the road? Are you going to get that update? Will you miss the meeting? Then there are your contacts. Your associate gives you an updated email for a sales lead and you update your phone. You later sit at a computer that you have not manually synched with and send an email to that person. Will they get your email? Issues like this come up constantly if you do not have your data centrally and wirelessly synched. Email, Contacts, Calendar and Tasks can and should be synched wirelessly and securely across your internet data plan. This eliminates headaches, confusion and missed opportunities. But how do you do this?

Microsoft Exchange Server supports these technologies out of the box. It includes a technology called ActiveSync that synchronizes your whole Exchange Mailbox with your mobile device including Email, Contacts, Calendar and Tasks. It does this both wirelessly and continuously allowing you to extend your Microsoft Exchange experience to the mobile sphere. If you have Exchange Server, you only need a smart phone of your choice and a data plan to make this work.

Also, ActiveSync is not limited to mobile devices. If you have this technology implemented, you can synchronize with Microsoft Outlook anywhere you have an internet connection. You can be on your home computer, your laptop, or a computer you have borrowed for the day. Indeed your Email, Contacts, Calendar and Tasks can all be at your fingertips wherever you are.

Ask your IT professional about mobile computing and ActiveSync today. If you have questions or need further assistance please do not hesitate to call Earl Consulting Services for help.