Beyond surfing the Web's vast library of information, office workers rely on e-mail to get their work done or to make decisions quickly.

According to Jeff Ratzlaff, Nokia's Asia-Pacific marketing director for enterprise solutions, companies should start looking at rich e-mail--e-mail with attachments such as voice messages and Web-site links.

"To increase productivity of mobile workers, e-mail should not remain as just text e-mail," says Ratzlaff. Rich e-mail can communicate more, and users can view those attachments.

However, for such enhanced e-mail messages to be useful, users must also be able to view their rich e-mail through any mobile device, be it a notebook, PDA or mobile phone. "This helps leverage the investments made by SMBs on mobile devices, and allows employees to use their preferred device," he adds.

Companies today can also choose from a slew of technologies that simplify implementation of mobile e-mail which keeps staff productive even when they are out of the office. Below are examples of such technologies.

The BlackBerry for Enterprise offers PushMail functionality which enables corporate users to connect to their Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino e-mail servers.

Push mail to workers
Office workers in Singapore can send and receive corporate e-mail wirelessly using the BlackBerry service, which is popular in Europe and more recently, in the US.

The BlackBerry for Enterprise offers PushMail functionality which enables corporate users to connect to their Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino e-mail servers, when they are out of the office.

Companies have to buy the BlackBerry device, subscribe to a monthly service and install the BlackBerry Server on their corporate network.

According to Goh Li Li, assistant vice president for business mobile products and services at StarHub, installation charges, cost of the BlackBerry handhelds and monthly subscription plans (unlimited local data usage) vary, depending on the company's installation requirements.

Companies can also choose to subscribe to the BlackBerry for Individuals service which allows users to access both their business and personal e-mail accounts, including Hotmail and POP3-enabled ISP accounts, anywhere, anytime (up to 10 e-mail accounts can be integrated into the plan).

Beyond purchasing the device, individuals would need to subscribe to a monthly subscription plan of S$39.90 (US$23.20) which includes 4 MB data usage. There is a one-time registration and SIM-card activation charge of S$36.75 (US$21.40). The retail price of the BlackBerry 7230 is S$788 (US$458.90) but could vary depending on current promotions. SingTel offers a similar service.

However, companies that prefer to use the more familiar Nokia or Sony Ericsson phones, for example, need not fret.

Introduced last week, StarHub's latest service called StarHub Duality provides e-mail connectivity to Windows Mobile- or Symbian-based devices such as the O2 Xda II, Sony Ericsson P900 and Nokia 6600.

At S$28 (US$16) per month for 4 MB of data access or S$68 (US$40) for unlimited use, the service is another proposition for SMBs.

Both services from StarHub have similar features such as push e-mails and calendaring, but they are targeted at different corporate segments, says Li Li.

"For companies who have invested in other mobile devices, Duality would be the perfect service for them as the cost of investment for these handhelds have already been taken care of," she explains. "For companies whose corporate headquarters are already using the BlackBerry, adopting it locally would be a natural transition."

Nokia means business
Nokia is trialing a technology designed to help companies keep employees productive regardless of their location.

The Nokia One Business Server is an appliance that allows employees to access e-mail, contacts, appointments and other important personal information from any browser-enabled mobile device.

Currently on beta-trail in the Asia-Pacific, the Nokia One Business Server automatically reformats content--text, attachments, graphics, Web pages--to fit on small-screen mobile devices. There is no need to change existing enterprise applications or data; it eliminates the need to install and support any client-side software, says Nokia's Ratzlaff.

The Nokia One Business Server works with corporate e-mail platforms such as Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes.

Besides investing in the hardware, firms should also budget for the connectivity costs. "Curently, mobile data connections can still be quite costly depending on plans being utilized. But going forward, the expectation is for such costs to be rationalized as mobile data uptake increases," says Ratzlaff.

A prototype of the Locatrix application which provides information about a person's location and availability.

Locatrix makes the right connections
A new service from Australian start-up Locatrix Communications aims to help colleagues or business partners to connect more productively.

Called the Locatrix Personal Availability Service, the novel application keeps people informed on how best to contact one another. Users share their availability, context and location with a select group of colleagues, friends and family.

Mark White, CEO and founder of Locatrix Communications, says that by "providing context to mobility", this service gives co-workers, customers and partners a more efficient way of working.

Productivity is lost when telephone calls are made without connecting because the person is busy or non-contactable, he adds.

"By providing useful personal availability information to those who need it and integrating this information into their productivity tools, we make it easier for people to successfully connect," he explains.

The application runs on any network--fixed or mobile. It works over multiple devices including mobile phones, laptop computers and PDAs.

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