As mobility continues to affect the way we live, work and play as consumers, it’s no surprise that retailers and other businesses are going mobile. As is evident with the exhibitions at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

One notable exhibit was PaySaber, a secure, mobile credit card solution for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Best of all, they offer different solutions depending on the size of your company.

For example, if you’re a small, on-the-go company, such as a food truck, you may be interested in the PaySaber Clip, similar to the more commonly known Square.

For larger businesses, there’s PaySaber POS, which includes a barcode scanner, thermal printer and encrypted card reader all in a light-weight, mobile point of sale (POS) system. In addition to simply taking payments, it’s easy to manage inventory, conduct returns and print receipts or invoices. Businesses will also be able to access real-time reporting and product, inventory and customer databases and more. From there, reports can be made in commonly used programs such as Excel and QuickBooks.

It’s interesting to watch how mobility has and will continue to affect POS solutions. Now, how long will it be until we can all just pay through our cell phones–no credit card needed!

Share your thoughts on mobility in POS systems, or let us know that you’ve liked at CES so far by commenting below, or on our Facebook or twitter pages.

VDC Research recently released an enterprise mobility report as it pertains to the transportation industry. Recognizing that mobile solutions play a significant role as organizations leverage technology in order to cut costs, the need to automate and mobilize the supply chain remains strong.

Currently, VDC estimates that the market for enterprise mobility solutions in the transportation sector will reach $2.5 billion, growing by over 10% annually through 2015. Although IT budgets continue to remain tight, it’s clear that mobile technology solutions maximize productivity and improve customer service, thus making them worth the investment.

The transportation industry faces many challenges, including:

• Carrier related issues such as freight capacity, driver shortages, service regulations and fuel surcharges
• Cross-border compliance regulations
• Lack of process/logistics control
• Use of paper-based, time intensive processes

Although much of the transportation implements advanced mobile solutions, there’s still a large amount using paper-based systems, which leaves a much wider margin for error. Those in the transportation industry are able to take advantage of mobile technology in order to reduce costs, enforce regulations, gain visibility and rapidly respond to urgent situations.

Learn more about mobile solutions for transportation.

Going mobile can save time and money by increasing efficiency. But what should you consider before making the plunge and choosing a mobile technology vendor?

In Barcoding Inc.’s most recent newsletter, an article by Bruce Redke, Business Development Manager at MobileFrame was featured.

In case you missed it, a summary of the article is below. View the original article and sign up to receive Eye on ROI, Barcoding Inc.’s monthly newsletter.

Top 10 Questions to Ask when Evaluating Mobile Technology Vendors
Many organizations are looking to see the benefits of going mobile, but what should you be looking for in a mobile technology vendor?

Ask yourself:

1. How is the application developed, and what level of expertise is required to write, edit and update current apps—will coding be needed?

2. Which mobile computers are supported and what kinds of devices will need to be supported— laptops, tablet pc’s and/or desktops? Can all data capture forms needed be used on these devices and will you need separate installers for each of them?

3. How will mobile workers receive backend data—is it an automated process?

Read the rest of this entry »

World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization that provides aid worldwide, has recently been able to help even more people in an efficient manner by using the right technology. Intermec mobile computers were paired with Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS), an aid distribution system that uses web-based mobile applications to manage responses to disasters, in order to automate how aid-agencies such as World Vision deliver their humanitarian services. With the proper mobile solution, aid is able to be delivered more effectively and efficiently, and most of all, to the people in need.

Watch the video below to see how aid is being delivered to individuals from Uganda and Haiti in a fair and efficient way.

Learn more about Intermec and what they do.

As mobility becomes a priority, the retail industry is changing the way they do POS

During my most recent trip to the mall, I was asked if I wanted my receipt printed or emailed to me. “E-mailed to me,” I said, as the girl behind the register handed me an iPod touch and asked me to sign. I used my finger to sign, right on the screen of the device. Intrigued, I thought, is this the future of retail?

The answer is yes. More and more retailers are trading in traditional POS solutions to use an iOS device. To help retailers with their search, Software Advice put together a top ten of their favorite iOS POS applications.

In addition to these apps, retailers also have the option of using browser-based POS software, which can be used on the iPad and for retailers that only need to process credit cards, external attachments, such as Square, are also an option and are fully functional on all iOS devices.

As mobility continues to be a driving force in retail, and everything we do, it will be interesting to see which retailers make the switch from traditional POS systems to a mobile one, and when. Share your thoughts on mobility in the retail industry by commenting below, or on our Facebook or twitter pages.