While mobilising isn’t that hard in most cases, click here for some useful tips we’ve learned over the past decade when helping businesses to mobilise.

• Tablets and SmartPhones using Android v3 (or later)
• Apple iPhones and iPads
• Microsoft Surface Pro

Experience shows that about the smallest plans available, typically 500Mb per month, easily handle a device that syncs several times a day. You may want to block users from using business mobile devices to surf the internet, as this will increase the volume of data traffic.

Most performance problems are due to users running multiple applications and downloading large non-work files such as movies, particularly on older devices. Check the mobile device, remove superfluous applications and files, and then see whether performance improves.
If this solves the problem, ensure that your field staff understand the rules. If not, contact us.

No. The database on the mobile device exchanges data with the SmartTrade office database by “syncing” every 15 seconds. Changes made in the office will not appear on the mobile device until synchronisation occurs, and vice versa.

The advantage of this approach is that a field staff can continue to use SmartTrade Mobile when disconnected from the internet, say when in a basement without broadband coverage.

If you want live access to the office database from the field, consider using a laptop or tablet and a wireless Remote Desktop (RDP) connection.

It depends. To provide wireless connectivity to mobile devices, SmartTrade needs an broadband connection with either a fixed IP address (recommended) or using dynamic IP software.

Using dynamic IP software isn’t risk free, as was demonstrated in late June 2014 when Microsoft took unilateral legal action against the supplier of No-IP, denying many innocent users service without warning. Fortunately this fiasco was resolved quickly, Microsoft apologised to the innocent users and presumably won’t be as aggressive in the future.

Yes. Some users prefer using a laptop or tablet with internet connectivity, as it allows them to run the business from out of the office. With the high speed internet connections now available, it's much the same as working on a PC in the office.

Advantages of using a laptop or tablet out of the office are:

• More convenient screen size.
• The full functionality of SmartTrade Essential or Ultimate is available, including quoting, printing invoices
• Access other programs such as Outlook or your accounting package.
• Data resides on the server in the office and will not be lost if the laptop fails or is stolen.

Yes. All of your own appointments created in the schedule in SmartTrade Essential or Ultimate are available in SmartTrade Mobile.

Only appointments connected to a job that has been dispatched to you.

If another employee has a Google Calendar account, his or her appointments can be sent from SmartTrade Essential or Ultimate scheduler to Google Calendar. If you are authorised to see the employee’s Google Calendar, then you can see all his or her appointments.

The SmartTrade scheduler doesn’t connect to the calendar if the employee uses Outlook, nor does it receive appointments back from Google Calendar.

If you have a mobile printer and use SmartTrade Essential or Ultimate remotely. Documents can’t be printed from SmartTrade Mobile.

There relatively few mobile printers on the market, including the Canon PIXMA, HP Officejet 150 and Brother PJ663, and they are expensive compared to desktop printers.

Most users return the job to the office and then print out the document.

You can prepare a quote on SmartTrade Mobile and email it to a customer.

Yes. Features include signature capture and emailing the invoice to the customer direct from the mobile device.