The iPhone goes to work
Two business software vendors debut applications for Apple's iPhone and iTouch; users respond favorably.
Sidney Hill -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 9/24/2009 10:05:05 AM
Software vendors are trying to turn Apple Inc.'s widely popular iPhone into a business tool.
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This week, NetSuite, a supplier of a cloud-based ERP suite, and product lifecycle management (PLM) software specialist Dassault Systèmes released applications for the iPhone.
Both applications also work on the Apple iTouch media player.
NetSuite says its applications deliver "on-the-go access to its integrated business management suite, including real-time dashboards that deliver key ERP, CRM, and E-commerce operational data."
The full range of functionality available on the NetSuite mobile applications includes:
• NetSuite Dashboards including KPIs, report snapshots, trend graphs, scorecards, reminders, and recent records. The dashboards are interactive, allowing users to drill down and explore trends with the touch of a finger.
• NetSuite Calendar with support for accepting or declining events and marking tasks complete.
• Lead, Prospect & Customer records tailored to mobile sales, field service, and executive leadership, including access to associated contacts, marketing campaigns, opportunities, quotes, orders, purchase history, financial history, cases, and issues.
• Productivity tools that leverage native capabilities of the device, such as click-to-call from any NetSuite record containing a phone number, click-to-email from any NetSuite record containing an e-mail address, and click-to-map (via Google Maps) from any NetSuite record containing a physical address.
Dassault Systèmes is giving users access to 3D product models via the iPhone and iTouch. The Dassault application-called 3DVIA Mobile-allows users to search, share, and interact with the library of 3D models housed at 3DVIA.com, an online community that Dassault hosts for product designers and others seeking to share ideas.
More than 120,000 people have joined the 3DVIA community so far. Now, iPhone and iTouch users who register can search the thousands of models posted on the site. With just the touch of a finger, 3DVIA Mobile users may select, spin, pan, zoom and inspect 3D models in real time.
With 3DVIA Mobile, users can also enhance, or "augment," photographs with highly realistic 3D models from 3DVIA.com.
"At 3DVIA, our goal is to make it easy for people to tap into the power of 3D as a communication medium," said Lynne Wilson, CEO, 3DVIA, Dassault Systèmes. "With 3DVIA Mobile, users can find cool, realistic 3D content from our library and immediately enrich their photos, right on the iPhone. They download and position the model on a picture for an instant 3D mash-up that blends 3D digital data with the physical world. It's both fun and viral because people like and want to share their creations."
As 3DVIA's content library continues to expand, and its current 120,000 registered user community grows, 3DVIA Mobile will further evolve as a professional collaboration platform, Wilson added.
Business users like the productivity boost they can get from these new mobile applications.
"This is a great release by NetSuite," said Elliott Rabin, President, Ridout Plastics Co. Inc. , a plastics manufacturer based in San Diego, Calif. "Access is very fast overall, and trend graphs are much faster than through a browser. From a CEO view, I can see my KPIs and can get top ten information quickly-by sales, customers, sales reps, etc. Like in a browser, the app lets me find a customer quickly through searching-and I'm one who loves ‘recent records' for quick access to information. The iPhone application adds tremendous value to my NetSuite experience."
NetSuite for iPhone and iPod touch is available now for free on the App Store. Dassault's 3DVIA Mobile can be downloaded from the App Store for $1.99 USD.
To see a video demonstration of the 3DVIA Mobile application, click here.
For more information about the iPhone in business settings, click here.
