Enabling Presentations From Mobile Devices Can Make People More Effective and Efficient

After the Economist Intelligence Unit’s report that eight out of ten global companies expect mobile computing to have a significant impact on their business in the next five years¹, the area of mobile presentations has received added impetus with successful UK trials for Infrablue’s IRMA system for preparing and delivering wireless PowerPoint presentations from handheld devices without using a laptop computer.

After extensive tests of Infrablue’s IRMA device with customer facing teams, the innovation manager of a leading global mobile telecommunications company believes that it will help mobile and nomadic workers in their daily lives. The tests were conducted as part of the company’s wider ongoing strategy of seeking ways to increase use of mobile devices in the workplace. The results also support the EIU survey finding that 84 per cent of companies believe that improved employee productivity results from mobile working.

The company’s innovation manager explained: “IRMA Bluetooth is a new product which allows the user to make presentations from the mobile device. The user has to install the software on the handheld and spend some time getting used to it, but after that, it works exactly as promised, so that the user makes a PowerPoint presentation without a laptop. The product will probably have increased appeal when it is able to support a wider range of handheld devices, and particularly when it is pre-installed on those devices. Our colleagues have definitely bought into the wireless presentation concept though – there’s a lot of enthusiasm about it.”

The lightweight IRMA system combines compression software and a 110-gramme pocket-sized Bluetooth communications device. After uploading the IRMA software, the user transfers their PowerPoint slides from laptop or PC to their handheld, which has also uploaded the system software. During presentations, the handheld sends the compressed PowerPoint presentation slides direct to the projector which is connected to the IRMA unit using a standard VGA connection – no laptop is needed.

The company innovation manager explained: “We conducted the trials with IRMA because we believe that there are increasing opportunities for businesses to make greater use of mobile phones and handheld devices, instead of using personal computers. Every office has a PC, but people still only use a very small percentage of the functions while laptops remain difficult to carry around regularly. Enabling people to make presentations from mobile devices can make people more effective and efficient in their daily life.”

Enhanced mobile working when travelling or “away from the desk” remains a world-wide efficiency issue: US market research by analysts Yankee Group indicated that 35 per cent of the country’s workforce now spends one fifth of its time away from its main place of work.

The innovation manager believes that IRMA has exciting applications for mobile communications: “We, like any communications company, see this innovation as an exciting platform for upselling our services. But it’s going to be the end users who will identify the killer applications.

He also says that the product’s longer term potential for flexible working is clear: “I think it will make life easier, particularly for nomadic workers. They don’t want to carry a laptop with them when travelling day by day. It’s still striking how many times laptops are left in cabs or bars which shows how difficult it is to transport and guard them. Smaller devices like mobile phones really do provide an exciting alternative for different companies.”

IRMA Bluetooth is available at a RRP of £299-00 while special distribution agreements are available. For further details, contact: Infrablue on 0207 031 1189 email: e-mail protected from spam bots.

1 Economist Intelligence Unit survey of 309 global businesses’ attitudes to mobile working, 2004.

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