As a consumer, you no longer need to be an Executive or a TV star to have a “blinging” smartphone. Media convergence has been a key driver in mobile usage within the consumer base. TV, internet, telephony and smartphone apps have all blended together.

1. Business Process Convergence and the Push
for Mobile Enterprise Apps
By Colleen Wong-Sala
From toddlers to teenagers to grandmothers,
people of all ages are getting access to smartphones.
The smartphone has become our main tool
for communications and entertainment.
From sending text messages, taking and looking at photos,
surfing the web, online banking, gaming and IM.
Over the last few years in Canada and in the U.S.,
smartphones and data plans have become affordable.
Manufacturers have made it easy for consumers
to upgrade to the latest versions
even before the end of the
product lifecycle or service agreement plan.
As a consumer, you no longer need to be an Executive or a TV star
to have a “blinging” smartphone. Media convergence has been a
key driver in mobile usage within the consumer base. TV, internet,
telephony and smartphone apps have all blended together. As an
end user, you are able to watch a TV show on a traditional plasma
screen, stream it online or watch it from your phone. You are able to
interact with the stars directly in real time through various social
apps. You can be as directly involved with an episode as you desire;
even alter the outcome of a show or an event. Producers no longer
have to do re-writes just to obtain more viewership. Through con-
vergence, consumers are empowered and have the ability to
transform how businesses operate.
Vortex Connect Inc. August 2011 Page 1

2. With everyone being two clicks/swipes away, businesses
have to be able to respond faster than ever. Regardless of
industry type, consumers and clients want to be served
better and faster. They expect tailored services / products
and interactions on their terms. Businesses that are still
operating on quasi-manual processes will be forced to use
new tools to keep up with the ever changing marketplace.
Businesses can mobilize at very little cost through
mobile software-as- a-service (saas) based applications.
Businesses can leverage their existing infrastructure with-
out having to rip-out and re-write their current programs.
The return on investment (ROI) is realized regardless if
your organization is a five man shop or a 20,000+ person
organization. Employees can use their own personal
phones or corporate issue smartphones to complete their
jobs and tasks in real time. Mobile business applications
will improve on process efficiencies at all levels. Dedicated
/ shared computers to complete tasks and activities will be
a technology of the past. It is estimated by 2013, 80% of
the workforce will have tablets or similar devices.
Companies like Vortex Connect understand this new era
of running business applications.
As a mobile workforce management company
Vortex specializes in business-to- employee (B2E) communications.
With an entrepreneurial spirit and a staff of 20 people
and growing every quarter, Vortex Connect helps businesses
communicate with their employees more efficiently through apps
built on various smartphone platforms and web apps.
Vortex’s sweet spot is to facility employee communications
during times of anomalies, emergencies or fluxes.
Applications like alerts broadcasting and shift management
addresses those issues.
Vortex Connect Inc. August 2011 Page 2

3. The Port Authority of NY & NJ and Kings Daughter Medical in Mississippi
are using Vortex Connect Alerts and Shift Connect
to mobilize their staff.
Organizations can now be prepared for any emergency
like the plane crash in the Hudson River in 2009
or
when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.
With Operations Alerts Messaging
as the emergency broadcast backbone,
employees will be notified in real time
via SMS, email and IVR of any incidents.
Employees on or off duty
would be able to view their messages,
respond and be able to take immediate action.
They will know what, when, where
and how they will be needed for the disaster.
With the Shift Connect app
to manage shifts within a schedule,
dispatchers can push available shifts to eligible employees.
Eligibility could be based on
skillset, priority, existing bargaining agreements and rules.
The employee that claims the shift would have
their timecard and schedule updated.
They would not need to worry about handling paperwork
and can focus on the emergencies at hand.
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4. Outside of emergency situations, the Vortex suite of
mobile applications can also be used to manage day-to-
day operations. Apps that manage process workflows are
Mobile Manager & Employee Connect, as well as
Connect Operations Data Management.
Mobile Manager and Employee Connect provide
self-service functionality for the smartphones.
Staffs members can submit, view and edit timesheets,
capture time in various methods and render HR / Payroll
related information to employees.
By using the Connect Operations Data module
as a task management tool,
field / service / multi-site staff will be able to have their
task workflow pushed to their smartphones.
Head office and the employee will have full visibility of the
task life cycle from task receipt, to completion and audit.
Projects will never be left sitting in an inbox and forgotten
about. By using smartphone centric apps your employees
will always know when they will be working, how
much they will be getting paid, their accrual balances
and what jobs they be required to perform when they
arrive on site.
Mobile applications facilitating business to employee communications will
become a standard.
Employees will be able to fulfill their job tasks right from a smartphone.
Long are the days of lugging around a laptop!
Workflow driven mobile apps will help the maturation of the marketplace and drive
workplace productivity.
Vortex Connect Inc. August 2011 Page 4

5. Vortex Connect is a mobile business applications company
specializing in business to employee communications. Through
the suite of mobile and web applications Vortex can transform
your business and mobilize your workforce.
Vortex Connect Inc.
411 Richmond Street East, Suite 200
Toronto ON M5A 2X5
(t) 416 203 7787
(e) sales@vortexconnect.com
(url) http://www.vortexconnect.com
Vortex Connect Inc. August 2011 Page 5