It's also suitable for the insurance and real-estate industries. In addition to equipping mobile workers with the right hardware, companies also are providing effective and functional software.
Applications are available that broaden data access to handheld computer users.
In addition, some vendors of general market software are developing versions of those applications for particular industries. Cerulean says users of CE devices, Palm computers, and other handhelds will be able to query multiple servers simultaneously and receive instant responses. Using a keypad or stylus, users can access and update orders, customer contact information, service dispatches, and billing information residing on servers in an intranet or extranet. Difeo Oil and Propane Inc., a Brentwood, N.H., fuel supplier, plans to equip its fuel-service technicians with CE units loaded with the MobileFusion client software. That will eliminate the hassle of reaching technicians on the road regarding route changes.