“With Windows Azure, we can interoperate with any system and any devices the customer has. So, we can focus on engineering great mobile solutions and not have to worry about infrastructure support.”

Randy Starr, Vice President of Technology, Blue Dot Solutions

Independent software vendor Blue Dot Solutions wanted to streamline installation and support of its mobile applications so that it could reduce costs, accelerate sales cycles, reach new customers, and create a more predictable revenue stream. By using Windows Azure to support its Cyan mobile solutions framework, Blue Dot can lower sales barriers, ease its installation and support costs, and develop a new revenue model.

Business NeedsBased in Denver, Colorado, Blue Dot Solutions is an independent software vendor (ISV) that delivers mobile workforce management solutions that extend enterprise management systems developed by other ISVs. More than 900 asset-intensive organizations in more than 10 countries use Blue Dot mobile workforce management solutions.

For example, for the enterprise application software vendor Infor, Blue Dot delivers a mobile extension for the flagship Infor Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution that allows field workers to connect to their company’s Infor EAM system from mobile devices. Infor brands the Blue Dot mobile workforce management solution as an extension to Infor EAM, and pays royalties to Blue Dot on the upfront license and per-device fees paid by Infor customers. Blue Dot then typically charges the Infor customer to configure, install, and support the extended mobile solution in the customer’s on-premises IT environment.

But deploying a high-performance Blue Dot mobile solution in an on-premises environment could require a relatively significant investment in infrastructure and support that creates a sales barrier for some small to midsize end customers. For enterprise customers, Blue Dot often drew high-level involvement from its IT

departments, which sometimes slowed decision and sales cycles.It usually took Blue Dot 3 to 10 days to install a mobile solution in an end customer’s on-premises environment, but it could take a few weeks. Ongoing support for each end customer often required multiple Blue Dot resources. “It took a lot of work to support all of those unique infrastructures,” says Randy Starr, Vice President of Technology at Blue Dot Solutions. “It was a complex and time-consuming logistical challenge that was eating into the profitability of each project.”

Blue Dot wanted to reduce its own costs, accelerate sales cycles, reach new end customers, and create a more predictable revenue stream. The company recognized that it could use cloud technology—off-site computing resources delivered as services over the Internet—to explore new sales and revenue models and make it faster and easier to develop, deploy, and manage its mobile applications.

SolutionIn 2010, after evaluating several cloud-based solutions, Blue Dot developed a multitenant framework for mobile applications, called Cyan, with Windows Azure, the Microsoft cloud services development, hosting, and management environment. Windows Azure provides on-demand compute, storage, networking,

Partner: Blue Dot SolutionsWebsite: www.bluedotsolutions.comCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Professional services—IT services

Partner ProfileBlue Dot Solutions delivers mobile workforce management solutions to asset-intensive organizations. With offices in Colorado, Texas, South Carolina, and Scotland, Blue Dot serves more than 900 customers.

Software and Services Windows Azure Platform− Windows Azure − Microsoft SQL Azure

Technologies− Microsoft .NET Framework− Windows Communication

Foundation Solutions− Software-plus-services

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Windows AzurePartner Solution Case Study

ISV Powers Mobile Framework and Enhances Revenue with Cloud Services

and content delivery capabilities through Microsoft data centers. Blue Dot has used Windows Azure, the Microsoft SQL Azure database service, Windows Communication Foundation, and the Microsoft .NET Framework to build several Cyan applications, including an Infor EAM extension called Advanced Mobile for Infor EAM Work Management.

With Windows Azure, Blue Dot can easily synchronize Advanced Mobile for Infor EAM with hosted and on-premises Infor EAM environments supported by Java, Ruby, PHP, and other development standards. End customers can access the mobile solution with hand-held devices, tablet computers, or smartphones supported by operating systems such as iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7. Blue Dot is using Windows Azure to develop a metering component for Cyan so it can implement a managed services billing model based upon average usage per device.

One Blue Dot customer, a public agency, was managing its field-service workforce with Infor EAM, but it needed a more effective mobile solution. The agency had to manually distribute paper work orders, and mobile employees could not receive updates or submit reports from the field.

In 2011, the agency adopted Advanced Mobile for Infor EAM powered by Cyan and Windows Azure. Without having to support any new on-premises infrastruc-ture, the agency delivered tools its employees now use to retrieve work orders; submit labor bookings, equipment histories, and invoices; conduct asset inventories; and access agency files—all from the field in real time.

BenefitsBy supporting its Cyan-based mobile solutions with Windows Azure, Blue Dot helped to lower sales barriers, ease its installation and support costs, and develop a new revenue model.

Lowered sales barriers. By developing mobile solutions to run in the Cyan cloud—which eliminates the need for new infrastructure and support—Blue Dot can lower barriers and accelerate sales cycles.

Starr cites the company’s public-agency customer as an example. “That customer simply could not support any additional

infrastructure,” he says. “But with Windows Azure we helped them service a 100 square-mile area more accurately and efficiently.”

Easier installation, reduced costs. Instead of up to several weeks, Starr estimates that it will take no more than three days to configure a Cyan mobile solution for a new customer, and that Blue Dot technicians will spend 40 percent less time supporting Cyan environments. Blue Dot can pass the savings to customers and, more importantly, support three times its current engagements without increasing its current staff level.

“With Windows Azure, we can interoperate with any system and any devices the customer has,” says Starr. “So, we can focus on engineering great mobile solutions and not have to worry about infrastructure support.”

New revenue model. As Blue Dot delivers more solutions with Windows Azure, it will transition to a managed services revenue model. The company anticipates a 75 percent increase in revenue due to a combination of reduced sales obstacles and significant new income when—at 18 months—subscription fees from managed-services customers exceed what their traditional licensing fee would have been.

“When we offer customers the transition from capital expenditure to subscription-based pricing, it lowers that initial hurdle,” says Starr. “It also enhances our revenue stream and makes it much more predictable.”

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Document published July 2011