Honeywell Solution Buzzes with Communications

This article originally appeared in the Dec. 2012 issue of Next Gen Mobility Magazine.

Honeywell (News - Alert) Solution Buzzes with Communications

Before, during and after Hurricane Sandy, the largest hurricane to ever hit the mid-Atlantic and eastern shore of the U.S., Honeywell Instant Alert delivered more than 6.9 million alerts – the most for one weather-related event – to K-12 schools, higher education, municipal, health care and corporate customers. The service sends customized critical information and alerts via voice, text, and e-mail messages to phones, cell phones, smart phones and computers.

More than 530 organizations in a dozen states used Instant Alert to send details on storm forecasts, states of emergency, road conditions and closures, public transit updates, comfort station locations, pedestrian curfews, power restoration schedules, fuel availability, school and business closings, program cancellations and more to keep people informed and safe. For two days during the storm, 1.1 million alerts were delivered each day.

Global biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp. used Instant Alert extensively throughout the storm.

“For our employees here at Celgene, one of the things that remained a constant and reliable source of communication was the Honeywell Instant Alert System,” says Perry Karsen, Celgene COO. “We were able to communicate site closures and status updates on the condition of our New Jersey locations. We were even able to utilize the Honeywell system to encourage our employees to volunteer or contribute to the American Red Cross for relief efforts.”

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Online Shopping is So Money

Consumers who use their smartphones for holiday shopping are expected to shell out 72 percent more than those who do not plan to use smartphones, according to a Deloitte (News - Alert) survey of more than 5,000 U.S. consumers.

Nearly half (45 percent) of consumers surveyed plan to shop online for holiday gifts and 68 percent of smartphone owners plan to use their devices for holiday shopping, according to the study. Deloitte also found that the conversion rate for shoppers who use a retailer’s mobile app is 21 percent higher than those who do not and that in-store sales influenced by consumers’ smartphone use will account for $36 billion, or 5.1 percent of total holiday retail store sales.

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Mobile Internet Now Preferred Mode of Web Access

The use of mobile devices to access the Internet is becoming the medium of choice, with 69 percent of all Internet users surveyed doing so daily, according to Mobile Web Watch 2012 – a study of consumers in Europe, Latin America and South Africa conducted by Accenture (News - Alert).

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Big data

The U.S. mobile data market grew 3 percent quarter over quarter and 17 percent year over year to reach $19.9 billion in the third quarter of 2012, according to Chetan Sharma Consulting (News - Alert). The firm notes that data is now almost 43 percent of the U.S. mobile industry service revenues. This space is on track to reach $80 billion this year.

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Windows Phone (News - Alert) 8 Uptake Illustrates Benefits of HTML5

A recent survey of more than 1,400 mobile executives reveals that there will be “aggressive” adoption of Windows Phone 8 in the enterprise over the next 12 months, reports HTML5 developer Sencha, which conducted the study. The company is using the report to emphasize the value of HTML5.

“This survey supports our experience with our customers in the last 12 months – they are not willing to bet on any one platform, and in fact are adding more to the mix with their upcoming support for Windows Phone 8.  It is clear that they continue to embrace choice and support a very diverse and growing set of devices,” says Paul Kopacki, vice president of marketing at Sencha. “They are also embracing open standards technologies to avoid development costs, vendor and platform lock-in and other challenges that native application development creates. As long as there is choice and competition in the marketplace, technologies such as HTML5 will remain an ideal approach for them to fully tap into the power that a diversity of mobile devices can bring to their businesses.”