The iGenie Webpad from Alpharetta, Georgia-based Access Data Technologies is not a solution in search of a problem. It is a proactive tool for increasing customer satisfaction and developing new revenue streams.

Ross McKee, president of Access Data Technologies, dreamed up the wireless Webpad while waiting for more than an hour for his car to be serviced. As an antidote for lost productivity, he imagined a rugged, tablet-size device that would not only allow customers to wirelessly access the Internet from the waiting room, but also provide value-added services to the owner of the business.

“iGenie is a total wireless (Wi-Fi) solution including an access point, an iGenie wireless Internet Webpad with embedded iGenie software, security and content filtering,” McKee told NewsFactor. With just a few taps, the iGenie lets users “take a trip around the World Wide Web for just pennies,” he said, “even if you have never used the Internet.”

Survey Says

Through surveys on the iGenie, one business — an automobile brake shop in Charlotte, North Carolina — was able to determine that more than 70 percent of its customers listened to the same local radio station. That type of customer data is invaluable when making decisions on advertising budgets and media purchases, especially for small businesses.

The iGenie wireless Webpad is integrated into point-of-sale and customer billing systems. The heart of this new product is the iGenie software, which handles all aspects of activation, billing, customer surveys, remote management and streaming advertisements.

Because Access Data is a software integrator specializing in traditional client/server application deployments, thin-client deployment and outsourced IT, the new product offering has become a natural extension of its core competencies.

Digging Deeper

Doctor’s offices, auto service centers, hotels, sports bars and casual restaurants are among the first to integrate the units into their daily operations. iGenie can offer child-protected access to games and casual entertainment, or full access to the Internet.

The iGenie devices usually are purchased as part of a multi-unit package. Some early customers have bought systems with half a dozen Webpads, but others start out with a single unit. The Webpad device features a soft rubber jacket and moisture-proof enclosure. Each unit integrates a 10-inch TFT LCD and touchscreen with a custom user menu and comes with its own recharging station.

Billing customers for access can be controlled at each location, and Access Data’s consultants will integrate the solution into existing point-of-sale systems to provide a one-bill offering for the patrons of each establishment. Pricing of each system varies depending on configuration and volume.

What’s the Problem?

One way to design a product is to seek out all of the potential uses for a standard technology. Another is to identify a hole in the market and develop a solution with the most suitable technology. The latter tends to have a higher success rate since the customer base has been clearly identified. Technology for technology’s sake tends to be a harder sell.

In the telecom and networking industries, standards are hard to come by. Usually years in the making and hard-won by the various vendors and service providers that participate in the process, standards allow manufacturers to operate in an environment where certain compatibility concerns have been removed. Barriers to entry for new companies and solutions are often lessened as well.

Such is the case with many new wireless LAN (local area network) ventures. As a result, 2003 may be a year in which hundreds of “me-too” companies try to squeeze 802.11-based wireless LAN solutions into every conceivable product they can dream up. But do they really solve a problem or fill a need?

The Internet Is Not the Solution

The market for fixed Internet access terminals in public venues has had few success stories. Each new concept tends to be summarized as yet “another in a long line of Internet Appliance products in a category that most have given up for dead,” Giga Information Group mobile enterprise analyst Ken Smiley told NewsFactor.

How many Internet kiosks have you seen lately? New varieties of public Internet access stations seem to appear on the public landscape year after year. But they tend to die out from abuse, high maintenance costs or just plain apathy.

Access Data thinks it can buck that tide by making Internet access a customer-satisfaction tool for its business customers.

“The best bet for a company like this would be to convince someone like AT&T that iGenie should be the de facto device on the end of an AT&T offering,” Smiley said.

Granting Value-Added Wishes

As the rollout of iGenie progresses, Access Data may add new channel partners. The company already has cultivated a relationship with Houston’s G-TEL Enterprises, one of the largest payphone operators in the United States. G-TEL will be offering the iGenie product line as a new service to its customers, which include a wide variety of businesses, ranging from hospitals to hair salons.

Based on initial customer response, the Access Data solution may be the one of the best ways for small businesses to leverage the cost-effectiveness of Wi-Fi networking. The product’s customer satisfaction mission is clear. Once the Webpads are integrated with product promotions, advertising and intelligence-gathering mechanisms, iGenie may be able to grant a few more wishes.