PricewaterhouseCoopers, the world's largest professional services organization, and Palm, Inc., a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet applications and a leading provider of handheld solutions, today announced a global alliance agreement to provide mobile enterprise business solutions to clients.
Under the terms of the agreement, Palm and PricewaterhouseCoopers plan to work together to help companies quickly integrate existing enterprise systems with mobile capabilities. The two organizations intend to develop and market mobile enterprise solutions based on Palm(TM) handheld computers. The solutions will enable clients to gain further benefits from critical enterprise applications deployed by businesses including CRM (Customer Relationship Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and B2E (Business-to-Enterprise).
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Palm have successfully conducted a deployment program, Palm@Enterprise, which "mobilized" various business functions within Palm. The mobile-enabled environment allows a secure and stable channel for Palm employees to access a personalized portal with corporate email and calendar functions, as well as enterprise systems using Palm handhelds.
"We view mobile business as an entirely new way of capitalizing on enterprise systems, enabling greater overall work force effectiveness," said Marilyn Stemper, PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting Services partner focused on mobile business initiatives. "The combination of our extensive consulting capabilities and relationships with wireless network operators worldwide, coupled with Palm's innovative technologies, allows us to help clients quickly realize the benefits of a mobile enabled enterprise."
"Palm is executing on its strategy to deliver secure, mobile solutions to large organizations," said Carl Yankowski, chief executive officer, Palm, Inc. "In so doing, we want to form relationships with those who have demonstrated leadership with enterprise clients on a global basis. PricewaterhouseCoopers' Management Consulting Services practice is a logical choice for this collaboration."
Palm has been working with its Palm Economy members focused on enterprise solutions to stimulate development of "behind-the-firewall" enterprise applications. In parallel, PricewaterhouseCoopers' Management Consulting Services practice is working with clients globally to exploit the benefits of mobile business by providing strategic advisory services, encouraging the mobilization of enterprise software and assisting in application development and systems integration.
According to Pooneh Fooladi, Internet services senior analyst with IDC, "Using handheld computers and other mobile devices to conduct business remotely continues to gain momentum and is fueling the next generation of telecommuting. As corporate environments continue to evolve into virtual enterprises, employees are more geographically dispersed and require greater mobility. In these extended business communities, organizations will gain enormous benefits by providing employees and business partners fast, easy remote access to networked resources and electronic communications."
"The mobile Internet is a critical channel to interact not only with employees but also with customers and business partners," said Jesus Mantas, PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting Services partner at Palm. "Those companies that integrate mobile devices with existing systems and infrastructures will have a clear advantage in boosting productivity, generating greater workforce efficiencies and increasing the bottom line."
PricewaterhouseCoopers has begun introducing Fortune 100 clients to the new mobile-enabled solutions at PricewaterhouseCoopers' North American and European demonstration facilities located in Philadelphia and Heathrow, U.K. PricewaterhouseCoopers' Management Consulting Services practice has more than 500 professionals dedicated to mobile business globally. In addition, clients can draw on the capabilities of more than 1,500 professionals knowledgeable in mobile-related solutions such as enterprise systems, B2E and customer relationship management.
[ Home | Contact | MobiChat | Experts database | Let's do it ]
Comments to the content of this page can be posted on the MobiChat discussion group