A Case Study on Mobilizing Business Process

Nomadic information environments have a strong potential to convert e-business into mobile business (m-business). A number of research articles have been published in the literature on mobile commerce and wireless technologies, but very limited research has been reported on actual applications of m-business. The inadequate knowledge of managers and inexperience with mobile applications often characterized by third party opinions are among major factors inhibiting mbusiness development. In this paper we explore the opportunities for utilizing mobile technology in customer care operations, specifically focusing on crossboundary process improvement. Our argument is that business process redesign and changes in supporting infrastructure are necessary first steps to unsure successful transition of e-business applications that is to be potentially enhanced by the capabilities provided by mobile technology. Our paper contributes to this by presenting results of an exploratory single-case study. We document and explain a new customer care mechanism mobile web-based system piloted within fine paper supply chain of the case organization, one of the leading fine paper producers in Europe. Results demonstrate that both customers can benefit from it and that paper producing company will achieve significant performance improvements.