Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
\Well, at present we don't provide the exibility customers want, but data
privacy certainly will be an issue in what you are planning now. Let's look at
the most common use case," Edward said. \A corporation takes out a contract
with us to support its salespeople. One of its representatives is in Stuttgart,
and his phone keypad fails. He visits our Stuttgart oce, and we put his
phone into a test harness to bypass the keypad and download the state into a
courtesy unit; we swap the SIM into this new unit, and the salesman can go
on his way. Before he leaves we estimate the time to repair, and he tells us
that by then he will be in Berlin. We commit to deliver the repaired phone
to his Berlin hotel."
\What about if there is some extra delay?" Eleanor asked. \Suppose there
was a deeper problem requiring a return to the manufacturer that didn't show
up until you had done the keyboard replacement?" \Well, then we send an
SMS giving a revised estimate. He can then reply to the SMS, or access our
website, to conrm the new time." Claire leaned forwards. \But he might
have returned home by then." \Yes, but he can change the delivery address
if necessary. He can also do that if his own plans change." Claire was not
satised. \What happens if the phone is already in transit to Berlin when
he makes the change?" \Well, our logistics support has to cope with that.
We do a confirmation check before the phone leaves the local depot, and the
couriers are instructed to ensure the customer has not yet checked out before
they complete the delivery."
\The loan phone is returned using a prepaid wallet; the user's information
was copied to the repaired phone before it is dispatched. After all this, the
corporate account is billed for the work." Nigel frowned. \What about the
state in the loan phone?" \Well," Edward spread his hands. \If the user
needs complete synchronization, he can come in to the local oce to make
the exchange; that also means we can do the SIM swap for him. But we find
people are generally happy to make separate records if they know they are
using a loan phone. We can e-mail the state back to them after return of the
phone if they want."
Marcus looked around the group. \Well, any comments on what we have
heard so far?" Nigel looked up. \It seems to me that there is a huge piece of
design work to do here," he said. \We need to look at a number of dierent
infrastructure use cases, and it will take my team some time to understand
the application structure, plus the security aspects, and the user interface
issues, just for starters." \Hang on," interrupted Eleanor, \we need a design
the business side can understand; we have got to keep it simple for them,
or we can't have a meaningful discussion about the processes they need."
Ivor frowned. \But we need to check over precisely that detail to pick up
inconsistencies that would give us compliance problems later." Trudy nodded.
\And we need to think from the start about whether our corporate standards
and procedures will be suitable.
We need to have all the detail there," she
