Bill Crawford, Global Offering Executive, EDS Mobility Services claimed that "the benefits of managed mobility services provided by ECO can be measured in hard numbers with reduced cost of ownership and managed risk, as well as the soft benefits of improved productivity and increased collaboration enabled by linking remote and mobile workforces around the world."

ECO is the first managed service offering that is completely device-, technology- and service-agnostic, combining a full selection of hardware, middleware, security and software products from EDS' industry relationships into a comprehensive service suite that leverages enterprises' existing IT infrastructure. Migrating to a fully managed mobility service model enables companies to eliminate capital expenditures and provides a predictable, utility-based cost for mobile workforce solutions that are supported against committed service level agreements.

"Our research shows that the enterprises are looking to the marketplace to not only identify mobility solutions but also to manage all aspects of negotiation, integration and operations," said Eric Goodness, principal analyst at Gartner Research. "For vendors to be successful in the mobility space, they must be able to frame pragmatic solutions according to the enterprises' unique requirements for cost containment, performance and flexibility."

Global Carriers
EDS offers ECO as an extension to its existing customer contracts, or to new customers through channel partnerships established with mobile communications companies including Orange UK. By establishing master service agreements with mobile operators, EDS delivers global coverage and an integrated service delivery model with guaranteed, carrier-class quality of service. Carriers benefit by incorporating a complete suite of managed data services that serve as an entry point into the lucrative market for enterprise mobile workforce solutions and provide a means to increase average revenue per user.

Pilot Programs
EDS is currently in pilots to provide mobile access to Intranets and enterprise supply chain

According to a recent study by industry consulting firm A.T. Kearney, having secure, around-the-clock access to this information can increase employee productivity by as much as 30 percent and provides an investment pay back of less than two years. Wirelessly-enabling core business processes and enterprise applications such as Field Force Automation, Sales Force Automation and Supply Chain Automation boosts profitability through reduced cycle times, increased asset utilization and increased service levels.