“The trend is clearly headed toward networking terminals“

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“The trend is clearly headed toward networking terminals“

Mobile hand-held terminals are able to do more and more things and retailer’s demand for being connected via WLAN (=wireless local area network) to inventory management is rising, states Dr. Andreas Müller in a EuroCIS.com interview. At Höft & Wessel in Hanover, he is in charge of research and development in the MDE area. “If you work offline, you use a simple system, but you still don’t utilize mobile terminals to their fullest possible potential.” He thinks WLAN is expendable when it comes to mobile self-scanning. Müller also explains when customizing pays off in retail and which special requests the Discounter retail chain Netto had in its latest major order.

Foto: Mobile terminals communicate with inventory management and logistics. How difficult is the implementation? Are there really standardized interfaces? How is retail protected from issues?

By now, most systems come at least with open interfaces, which is already great progress. It’s also true to say that today mobile terminals are used as a supplement to existing IT systems. The typical trading firm already uses older versions of mobile terminals. You also cannot start a project in a green field, but you have to take existing legacy systems with their proprietary interfaces into account. What’s more, standard does not automatically mean interoperability. The devil – as is often the case- is in the details.

Retailers can scan at their shelves and transmit data into their company network via a docking station. What supports this good old solution?

Such offline-solutions are very easily implemented and have the great advantage, in that mobile data collection as a system works independently from networks or servers. Nevertheless, the trend is clearly headed toward networking terminals, and there are good reasons for it. Today mobile terminals don’t just primarily serve as data collectors anymore, but they also transmit information between the employee at the shelf and inventory management in real time. Work processes can be created more productively this way. If you work offline, you use a simple system, but you still don’t use mobile terminals to their fullest possible potential.

By now, has W-LAN really become the standard for retail?

At least the predominant part of our customer base today is obtaining WLAN-capable terminals. Even if today not everybody has installed WLAN company-wide, there are at least developments planned toward it. IT budgets are limited of course, which is why retail companies need to consider carefully before an investment into a WLAN infrastructure which business processes in wireless communication profit the most from this. In many cases, they decided against nation-wide coverage and use WLAN targeted toward specific areas in their markets.

In logistics users attach importance on sturdy equipment. How does retail view this?

Our equipment is a tool, not a toy! Mobile Terminals, specifically in online-operations, support business processes critical in time and mission. Here you need to be able to trust technology 100 percent. It is therefore quite logical that retail favors equipment which is able to tolerate moisture or falls. The borders between logistics and retails are blurred anyway. If mobile devices are used in a vehicle, the demands in terms of temperature, falls or moisture are of course not terribly high. I would also not say that using the devices in a store puts less stress on them than use in a warehouse does.

Retailers offer their customers mobile terminals for self-scanning. The data flows into inventory management. Who needs real-time data via W-LAN and for whom is this input at the end of the day sufficient?

I think WLAN is indeed expendable when it comes to mobile self scanning. Here it is more likely the software suppliers who strongly count on online use. This is often justified with more opportunities to adapt information specifically to the individual profile of the customer. However, thus far there has never been a request in self-scanning, which cannot also be carried out offline.

Actually, your question is also not asked correctly. In offline self-scanning, data does not just get synchronized at the end of the day, but is actually already done with each customer check-in and check-out. Unlike competitor devices, our dispenser makes the automatic output/return station, a wire-connected network communication with all mobile terminals, possible. At the time of release, the self-scanning device is configured in real time with the preferences of the customer. If you have created an electronic shopping list on the Internet for example, it will be directly transferred to the terminal. In the same way, the list information is very quickly read out during a return to the dispenser or at the check-out. All this is also possible without WLAN.

Many retailers rightly shy away from an online operation with mobile self-scanning terminals. Not only would the entire sales area actually have to be completely illuminated, but the high number and concentration of devices can be problematic, if WLAN capacity is also needed for other applications.

Low Cost standard equipment or Customizing and pay more: How do you estimate demand for both of these market segments? How much is the difference in price?

Intelligent Customizing can reap significant additional benefits for the user. We already realized this a long time ago. Many of our customers make use of these possibilities. Customizing is a large area, which ranges from a simple logo imprint to an essentially modified product, which is why of course you cannot make any general statements on pricing. I would like to suggest that most customers would be positively surprised, since Customizing due to our flexible module concepts is significantly lower priced than they might have expected.

Standard equipment and Customizing are not contradictory to each other, but complement each other greatly. CPU-platform, operating system, radio communication etc. definitely have to be consistent with the Standard; there is no alternative for that. Customizing usually happens in the area of user interface and at the peripherals. According to my knowledge, there are no universally valid standards in these areas, which gives manufacturers the chance to differentiate.

We think that the mobile terminal needs to adapt to the needs of the user and not the other way around. If you invest in a mobile solution, you have a right to expect that individual processes are optimally supported. More and more potential customers see it the same way. This is what makes our business model so successful.

Höft & Wessel focuses on adapted devices according to customer requirements: How much sense do user special requests make?

All of our customers are experienced professionals in their line of work, and we also don’t do Customizing just for the sake of Customizing. At first, there is always the counselling interview, because there are often several ways to implement a user request. Successful Customizing lies in being able to do so without the least amount of effort. For example, companies often want to adapt the devices to their corporate design. This – particularly with systems that are also used by customers – fundamentally makes sense. Especially with color housing designs you have to pay close attention, so you don’t create any disadvantages. After all, you want to be able to use standard accessories like Cradle and Akkus, which are all color-coordinated. Our designers know this and develop intelligent solutions to support Corporate Designs, which don’t cost too much.

Example Netto: What were the special requests?

Netto wanted a special keyboard-layout. This is a common request, which we can easily implement with benefits to the user. If you have direct access to frequently-used keys, it saves valuable time during each transaction. An operator, who finds a keyboard configuration that’s already familiar from previous devices, manages the new device without another training course. Think about the cost savings this alone gives a large organization like Netto.

EuroCIS, CeBIT and LogiMat – all three trade fairs happen each year at the same time. You participate in all three. Which appointment is most important for Höft & Wessel?

All three are of equal importance to us, which is why we would welcome a rectification next year. At the EuroCIS this year, we have the largest trade fair booth.

What trade fair trends do you expect in the area of mobile terminals?

With our new products skeye.e-motion, which is specifically aimed at the market segments of field service and logistics, we focus on a trend toward compact, very sturdy handheld devices with a bigger display. With UMTS communication and a fast 806MHz PXA-320 computer core, we think we are very well positioned in the competition. The product is unique in its own way, and definitely has the potential to set a new trend. As far as self-scanning is concerned, we once again overall see the propensity to invest after the restraint we saw in retail during 2009, which was not exactly an easy year. We are also well primed for this.

Interview: René Schellbach
eurocis.com