The Palm Pilot has been around for several years. When I first saw one I thought cute, nice toy, but who needs it. Well, once again I proved myself wrong!

We use the Palm for customer contact list, schedule, memos, to do's, and time tracking.

One of my early concerns was would it recognize my horrible handwriting. I even have trouble reading my own handwirting. After about 10 minutes of learning how to print letters palm-style, I was off and running.

The beauty of the Palm lies in the simplicity of use. The Palm OS is very solid. Synchronizing data from and to your PC is as easy as pressing a single button. The basic concept of usage for the Palm is anywhere, anytime, anyplace.

There are hundreds of free or very reasonably priced software packages that you can download from the Internet. One of my favorite sites is http://www.tucows.com. Installing new software doesn't get any easier. There is even an Excel look-alike spreadsheet package that automatically interfaces with Excel.

Custom database options for the Palm

We were probably late in using handheld PDA devices, such as the Palm Pilot. But we are now finding an almost unlimited use for these handy, small and easy-to-use devices. What has opened the door is a software product called ThinkDB that can easily create custom applications. In a nutshell this product...

• Allows us to quickly develop custom forms and databases
• Allows the user to easily enter or maintain data
• Automatically synchronize with an Access database
• Allows non-PDA users to access and maintain the same data
  

Your data resides in one easy-to-use, always connected, handheld program. Whether you are away from the office or need a quick update, ThinkDB keeps you in control and up-to-date by using dbSync. Information from your handheld is automatically updated to and from your corporate data.

There are more than 300,000 PDA users who are already using ThinkDB. According to the ThinkDB people, the three most popular uses are...

• Collecting important data in the field in a structured way
• Broadcasting data to mobile teams
• Synchronizing corporate data with a mobile workforce
  

An example of a simple application is to retain customer and contact information. The Palm OS already provides a program to store contact information and associated company information, but it is limited in its capability. By creating a custom database you can define special fields to help define and classify your customers.

Depending on your needs, you could...

• Track all past sales and/or purchasers
• YTD and/or Last Year Customer Sales
• Current Orders
• Basically any data that helps your sales force
• Retain information on your product line such as technical notes, specifications, related products, etc. This data could also be provided to your customers for their convenience.
• Use it for performing physical inventory counting
• Use your imagination - What data do you want at your finger tips when in or out of the office?
  

For our own use, we have developed a contact management, project and time capture system.

The use of this technology could help eliminate those wasteful forms, such as expense reports, time cards, project reporting, surveys, procurement forms, research reports, and sales tracking.

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