Hayes said he recognized that Tennant's success came from first defining a strong business need and then bolstering that definition with a strong business and IT partnership. As a result, he works in the same physical office space with a project manager from the business side, Ron Everitt. IT director Greg Hayhurst is part of the project team, too.

Hayes said Tennant knew up front that the weakest link in the mobile system would be the wireless cellular links. But those links have been made reliable by using internal cellular radios instead of portable laptop PCMCIA cards.The portable cards did not provide as strong a signal, partly because they had smaller antennas, Hayes said.

The field workers can mount their laptops in their trucks, but and don't need an additional antenna on the trucks to make connections. In the U.S., Tennant relies primarily on Sprint's Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) network, he said.

Industry analysts said Tennant's success is in line with results from other companies. Sometimes, a field service wireless application can began offering an ROI in the first three to six months after deployment, said Stephen Drake, an analyst for IDC.

"There can be anything from cost savings on not having paper distribution and mail costs, to finding [that] three or four data entry clerks are no longer needed and can be repurposed," Drake said. "For the field force, there's even the possibility of a better work-life balance, since the field force no longer has to go home and do paperwork for two hours. There can be broad returns."