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Solving the Problem
When selecting an approach for your pilot project, you should consider the following steps:
Give priority to standard commercial applications.
Evaluate and possibly select commercial applications in your industry.
As a last resort, do custom development.
Although much of the early focus in mobile applications has been on custom solutions, there are now a number of viable off-the-shelf products that you should consider first. The goal here is to ensure that we use commercially available products where possible. PIM tools, email, calendar, and document viewing apps can deal with a surprisingly broad range of problems. If a combination of these is not enough, then there may be a vertical solution already available in a shrink-wrapped or semi-custom state. Sometimes, there is a good case for a completely custom development effort, but even here, commercial wireless middleware or ASP-hosted services can play a role.