[DeadManRoaming]

Greetings Smartphone fanatics,

I work for a brokerage firm who insists on living in the past and leasing out-of-date laptops to its Reps. I've been trying to convince my boss that smartphones are the way to go. Unfortunately, my knowledge in the area is limited...and let's just say my idea hasn't found the green. Is there a company that can help explain these "gizmos" to a bunch of Techno-Savvy wannabes? Preferrably, a company that is comfortable dealing B2B, 10+ devices with IT training and support.

I don't think setting up a meeting between the boss, myself, and young high school kid at the local mall kiosk is going to get this idea to the green.

Is there anyone who has the answer??????

[dcsipe]

I'd suggest talking to one of the Cellular Vendors. Who is your business using for cell-phone service? I'm sure they can (possibly) send a pre-sales engineer who can explain everything to you. Maybe not. Definitely worth a try though.

Maybe PalmOne has reps that can do this as well.

[Azazello]

I'm surprised that RIM (owners of Blackberry) haven't come whoring themselves in front of your execs, touting the wonders of "instant" email. They have to our company, and it's been one of the worse support nightmare we could have had.

As for palmOne, forget about it. They lost the corporate market because they are the sux0r when it comes to promoting the benefits of their undeniably superior product. They haven't improved their marketing or promotion channels, last I read, and probably never will.

As you know, the CTO (or worse, CFO) ultimately decides which technology path to take on these things. If you have his or her ear, try presenting a simple breakdown of what services your team needs (and don't) with a mobile computing device, what services are met/not with a laptop vs. PDA. You don't have to worry about cost - leave that to the finance people.

Being in IT, I hate to say that you have an uphill battle. It IS cheaper to squeeze as much use out of antiqued equipment than update to a new technology. Example: this year, we reached the milestone that over 60% of work PCs now have WinXP, running on lowend Pentium 4 boxes. We hope to have over 90% by year's end. That means that under 40% are still running on P3's, WinNT. Yes, I am one of them. Yes, I work in an investment bank (over 30,000 employees worldwide)...

[cgordonn]

Is there anyone who has the answer??????

How are you looking to replace your old laptops with a smartphone (i.e. Treo)? Are you needs just for email, or for other functions as well, such as document processing, etc. I have had suimilar issues getting my former employer to begin using smartphones, but was able to sell them on it on a test basis, prior to my departure from the company.

CGordonn

[gtwo]

There was a wonderful post at Treonauts.com concerning exatly this by an IT manager who was sold on Treos and laid out solid arguements for them.

I am not sure if Treonauts has a search function -- but I am sure this posting was in the last 3 months. It might help you in formulating your action plan, you might even be able to contact the author.