Recruitment and Enterprise Mobility

I was surprised this past month, while participating in the SAP PCN Enterprise Mobility round tables at SAPPHIRENOW 2011, to hear from a number of very large SAP customers that recruiting is impacted by how much enterprise mobility is supported by a company.  I had just not connected the dots.

They said young talent just graduating from the university does not want to work for a company that is not able to support their favorite mobile devices.  Being told that a company will not support integration on their iPhone or iPad just does not seem right to them.  It seems old fashion and out of step with the times.

I had not thought of recruiting as a motivator for enterprise mobility.  I had not thought of mobility ROIs in terms of being able to recruit top talent.  After thinking about it though it makes sense to me.  My wife already looks unfavorably on companies that don't have a mobile app.  She feels they are not providing good customer service if they don't have an application.

Here is an example, we accumulate Marriott hotel award points.  My wife wanted a Marriott mobile app to check on awards points and to make reservations.  We could find no mobile app.  She was baffled that Marriott would not support a mobile application and thought it was a poor representation of their business for not having one.

In our house, Amazon.com's mobile application is used weekly to purchase household items and books.  Our purchases have gone up dramatically as a result of Amazon's mobile app.  We participate in Amazon.com's free shipping program and we know our FedEx and UPS drivers well.

Getting back on the subject of recruitment and mobile applications.  People are spending more time on mobile devices today than desktops.  People are spending more time on social networking applications on mobile devices than on desktops.  The mobile device is much more than just a business tool today.  It is a portal into a person's life.  People will not look favorably on a company that does not support this portal in the manner their accustomed to.

Do you agree or disagree?

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise:  The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform


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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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