Mobile & Wireless Business Applications in the Italian Utility Market: an Empirical Study and a Decision Model

Mobile and wireless business applications are a must-have for 21st century enterprises that use innovative business models and available technologies to supply mobility to their employees and to control business activities in real time. This real time control of distribution and production plants is essential for utility companies, in order to obtain the multiple benefits deriving from the implementation of mobile and wireless business applications. This paper´s aim is to determine the available applications and their impacts on the internal processes of a utility company, thus giving a framework to support the generation and choice of the different options. The model is based on empirical research carried out in many of the major Italian utility companies; the research analyzed the decisional process and the main impacts of the implemented applications, such as automated meter management, field force automation and remote control.