By Jenalyn Rubio
February 1, 2008

“Decisions are always based on the information at hand; the business requires us to provide complete, relevant, timely, and accurate information at all times,” says Earl Ferrer, national IT manager at DHL Philippines, during his presentation at the Computerworld Philippines Executive Briefing on Managing Mobility. According to Ferrer, there is now a need to react to issues faster as the availability and accessibility of information have become the competitive advantage.

As part of its mobility strategy, all senior managers at the company are now equipped with Blackberry handhelds to provide them with access to business information at all times, especially e-mail. “Aside from the Blackberry, we distribute 3G cards because some of the applications cannot be accessed from a Blackberry. A hundred percent of our sales people who go out of the office have laptops to make sure that they’re connected to the office at any given time,” discloses Ferrer.
IT staff, on the other hand, are equipped with Dopod smart phones which allows them to have remote access to the company servers.

“All the mobile phones of IT people in DHL have remote connection capability; we are able to dial-up to our servers regardless of where we are,” explains Ferrer. As IT people, Ferrer’s team needs to react on matters quickly so they have a system that alerts them about any network or server link problems. The system uses network management software which passes through the Globe Txt Connect, an engine that requires a specific formatted message to be sent to a specific user-defined number. For instance, if the company server is slowing down, the network management software sends an information alert to the IT people via Globe TXT Connect. “We do the same with the links; we have redundant links on all areas, so if one link goes down we are alerted so we can address the problem immediately,” notes Ferrer.

Being mobile, however, means exposure to security risks. Ferrer says it is very important to have secured remote access by investing on the necessary technologies that will allow mobile employees to connect securely from anywhere. “When you do mobility, you basically open up your network to access from anywhere or potentially from anybody, so the first thing you do is make sure that you have very secured access otherwise your information, which is the most critical asset of the company, will be open to everybody else,” he says.

Ferrer says that mobility allows field workers to make a decision based on reliable business information that can be remotely accessed from anywhere. “If a meeting is suddenly called and you are not in the office, you need not worry because you will still be able to access everything. With the IT department, if we’re being asked to fix something, I would have the people ready and able to act on the problem immediately,” he says. “In a nutshell, mobility allows us to do work even if we’re not geographically inside the office.”

Mobility for deliveries
Mobile technologies have also provided a means for DHL to ensure that packages are secured at all times, including periods when the packages are in transit. The company has invested on courier handheld scanners, global positioning system (GPS) for vehicle tracking, speed and brake monitoring, and geo-fencing. Ferrer explains that with geo-fencing they can define a virtual geographical area to make sure delivery vehicles follow approved routes.
DHL couriers are equipped with handheld scanners which are used to collect data on what to pickup, where to pickup, and when to pickup a delivery; along the way, couriers also have to scan the package several times for visibility. “In terms of the delivery confirmation alert, once you receive deliveries from DHL you see couriers swiping something on their scanners; that information confirming delivery is sent via GPRS to our system. The main thing is, our package itself is so mobile that we have to track it; tracking or mobility does not only have to refer to people but also to your product,” says Ferrer.

DHL also has a system that allows them to address potential failures. “Say, a plane leaves Manila for Singapore and it’s running late, the people in Singapore would know that we have to bring in more people and more equipment so that we can avoid delays at the destination site; the idea is we have a system that allows our people to get alerted via email or via SMS that there is a potential failure so they have time to act on it before it actually happens,” explains Ferrer.

Future Mobility
In the future, Ferrer says that majority of the deployments for mobility would be within the office. “With regard to the client, I think we have done the better part right now,” he says, referring to the SMS alerts for customers about the status of their package. “A long time from now, we hope to be able to tell customers that the van will be at their doorstep at a definite range. Right now, we are able to tell them when the van is an hour away, but with GPS and all other technologies around, we hope to be able to tell them and give them a shorter period of waiting time,” Ferrer says.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is also something the company is looking at for its global system, but Ferrer says that, for RFID to work, it should be accepted in all countries. He adds that since there are several issues that still need to be addressed, RFID deployment remains a goal.

“Right now, we have visibility because we have around 20 scans from pickup to delivery, but with RFID you technically don’t need to have all those scans because you know where the delivery is at any given time, and that would really be helpful. DHL is doing a lot of testing in this area; we’re looking at what’s available in all countries to be able to deploy it. So, as of yet, it’s still in the testing stage,” adds Ferrer.

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