iQlink Consulting Services

iQlink has over 40 man years' of experience in implementing and supporting customers' mobile business applications in the UK, the rest of Europe and the Middle East.

Consulting
Training
Feasibility Studies
Implementation Methodology
Support

Consulting Services

Full time personnel at iQlink have in excess of forty years' accumulated experience in implementing and supporting our customers enterprise mobile applications. The company provides a variety of technical support and services that have been designed to meet our customers’ enterprise mobility needs. Our support services include packaged options that will ensure your enterprise is operating at optimal productivity and efficiency, with the ability to transition to different plans as business needs change.

iQlink offers technical knowledge, mobile applications experience and resources which have ensured successful implementations at each of our customers. Regardless of your mobile application and the scale of your deployment, implementing a mobile business application is a streamlined and efficient process due to iQlink’s implementation methodology.

Our company’s services include mobile application health checks to ensure that applications are taking full advantage of the mobile platform and suppliers’ technology enhancements, mobile application requirements definitions and specifications, application development, education and training, go-live and post go live support with out of hours options and a 24*7 customer support portal. All of these services can be tailored to meet a prospective customer’s particular requirements.

Our technical skills set includes all of the major mobile device platforms, Java, SAP’s ABAP, XML, C, C++ and a number of assembler level languages. Our analysts have experience across a wide number of vertical industries including food and beverage, logistics, supply chain, service management, transport, heavy and light manufacturing, government, motor sport, pharmaceuticals and retail. iQlink’s project managers have direct working experience with most of the widely-used project management methodologies.

iQlink has designed a number and wide-range of mobile business applications.

Training

iQlink offers an extensive range of customer education and training that is supplied on demand as either public courses or as private company training tailored to each customer’s specific needs.

Our well equipped training centre in Bracknell can accommodate up to ten students and includes high speed internet access and a LAN connection to our on-premises mobile application servers. Our fees are highly competitive and there is a range of hotels nearby.

A sizeable proportion of our customers prefer to have the capability to support their mobile business applications once they are in production. Consequently, the majority of the education courses we provide focus on training our customers' companies to develop and support the products that we sell including SAP Console, the Movilizer and Handyman. 10Seconds software’s workflow approval applications for SAP and AirWatch mobile device management training are provided over the internet to customers (e.g. Webex) free of charge.

Feasibility studies

For many of the companies that we work with, the idea of mobilising the business applications is seen as a challenge and we are often asked to help companies to make better informed decisions by providing a comprehensive assessment of the costs, challenges and feasibility of introducing mobile solutions.

For “on-premise” applications we help identify the number and types of devices required (bar-code readers, truck-mounted terminals, printers etc), the number and location of the RF access points, the size of the servers required, the cost of the software and implementation, training requirements etc. We then calculate a realistic ROI based on all of the known costs and anticipated benefits. We are also able to help customers to understand if voice picking systems can realistically improve the speed and accuracy of picking in the warehouse, and what benefits could be expected from RFID.

Our consultants operate in the same value-four-money space as our customers; we are not prejudiced in favour of the latest fads in mobile technology. For example, we have helped a large multinational organisation to improve their warehouse systems by redesigning some elements of the solution they already used. This approach was highly cost-effective and reflects our “customer first” philosophy which is appreciated by iQlink's customers.

On mobile applications require an understanding of the different mobile devices available and the most suitable platform, plus security considerations and carrier tariffs so that the combination used by our customer is suitable for purpose and cost-effective. The mobile device requirements of blue-collar workers are sometimes different to those of white-collar workers; something we recognise and take into account when making recommendations.

With an experience of over 30 implementations plus a very stable workforce, iQlink is also able to make suggestions regarding which applications a company should get started with and why some are more suitable as pilot business applications than others. Our employees are also up-to-date with the latest research and trends in the industry.

Implementation Methodology

iQlink has developed a mobile business applications implementation methodology that breaks down the process into four distinct stages to guide the technical and functional aspects of every installation.

1. Assess
iQlink’s assessment process is often a post-feasibility activity in which we and our customer document current information, future requirements, and expectations needed to introduce or enhance mobile business applications within your company. Our consultants bring their experience to customer technical and end-user meetings and workshops and through an iterative process produce a blue-print of the application’s mobile business requirements.

We then compare the requirements to the product functions and identify any gaps. We are able to advise customers of the best path to resolving them and a maximum price quote for delivering the mobile solution which we undertake not to exceed. We will procure mobile equipment and servers on your behalf if customers request that we do so.

2. Develop
We install software onto your application development servers and configure the application to match your business requirements. If required, we will also make program enhancements and changes. We test the application with your data and your company evaluates the work against the blueprint. When satisfied our customers move the software application through their development, QA and into their production environment.

A mobility project is sometimes part of a much larger project. In these cases our consultants will work within a customer’s project management structures, methodologies and reporting requirements, integrating with the project team as seamlessly as possible.

3. Verify
Wherever practical we recommend that the project development is verified by managing a pilot production environment for a limited set of devices, and users. This approach is cautious and helps to ensure that user practices conform to expectations and trap any unforeseen practices or errors. By verifying the development in this way iQlink and the customer are able to identify needed adjustments and improvements prior to the full-scale deployment.

4. Deploy
Mobile deployments involve placing one or more business applications on a hand held micro-computer that has access to the company’s business systems. The user experience of recording onto mobile devices and not paper can require extensive support during the early stages whilst end-user confidence is being built and any issues with volume use are identified and resolved.

iQlink supports its customers through this critical stage by ensuring that our consultants help is available when required, and by our management monitoring the process carefully with the customer. Optional out of hours support including weekends and 24x7 can be provided if required.

Support

iQlink provides a number of support options that can be tailored to meet our customers specific requirements.

We provide second level product support to our customers as part of our commitment to the software product maintenance agreement between our customers and our suppliers. We can supplement this support by providing up to 24*7 go-live support, application support, leave cover and meeting staff retraining and new staff training requirements. Some of our customers outsource all of their mobile application support to iQlink.

All of our support agreements include Service Level Agreements according to the priority level of the call. iQlink provides its customers with a service portal where calls can be logged and progress reviewed. The performance of the support function is checked regularly by iQlink’s management.