Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

The Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to field mobility that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Google Maps currently covers 187 countries, providing 26 million miles of driving directions and covering 75 percent of the world’s population. Read Original Content

An enterprising team in Los Angeles has created Road Stoves, allowing customers to locate their favorite mobile food vendor. Mobile food vendors install GPS units in their trucks and customers can download an iPhone or Android app to locate the participating vendors. Read Original Content

Tablets and smartphones could become the control point for the connected, automated home of the future, allowing homeowners to dim the lights, open the curtains, engage the alarm or check in on our kids via video feed. Read Original Content

Since 1995, Syclo has enabled hundreds of companies in 37 countries and industries supercharge their businesses with mobility.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Syclo. http://www.syclo.com/.

A new system utilizing bar codes and smart printers has allowed Koegel Meats of Flint, Michigan to streamline their antiquated labeling and product tracking operations. Read Original Content

Consulting firm Burns and McDonnell has found that using rugged tablets and specialized mobile data collection applications has markedly increased the efficiency and accuracy of data collected by its field staff. Read Original Content

Siemens and Streetline have partnered to create an M2M solution for urban parking limitations.  Wireless sensors detect the presence of vehicles in individual parking spaces.  A free smartphone app provides real-time data to motorists, guiding them to available parking spaces, allowing them to keep track of the time left on the meter, and pay for parking. Read Original Content

Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

Welcome to Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility in Asia.  Asia is predicted to be the fastest area of growth for enterprise mobility between now and 2016.

Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly

Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly

Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly

Also read Mobile Health News Weekly

Also read Mobility News Weekly

The GSMA has predicted that China will become the largest mobile broadband market in the world by 2016, with 639 million mobile broadband connections.  India is predicted to come in second with 367 million, followed by the United States with 337 million. Read Original Content

The mobile commerce market in India is just emerging, but m-payment and m-banking segments have shown significant growth over the last few years. Research and Markets has added a new report to their offering – "Mobile Commerce Market in India 2012". Read Original Content

ABI Research predicts mobile Internet will account for 44 percent of Hong Kong’s and 40 percent of Japan’s mobile revenues in 2012.  China is growing, with a predicted 25 percent of 2012’s mobile revenue coming from mobile Internet, up from 23 percent in 2011.  In India, mobile Internet will represent 19 percent of the 2012 service revenue. Read Original Content and Read More Original Content

ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

 Profit by Outsourcing, a web development company in India, has launched Mobile Application Development Services.  The goals of the new services are to enable enterprise mobility for its customers and their end users in the service areas of client professional services and customer support. Read Original Content

Taiwanese firm AppWorks Ventures and 24 app design teams held a press conference last week to present apps designed to make life for mobile device users more convenient. Read Original Content

Mobile Health News Weekly – Week of April 8, 2012

The Mobile Health News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to mobile health that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

A recent study by Philips showed compelling and tangible benefits gained from telehealth solutions: 89 percent of health agencies reported an increase in quality outcomes, and 76 percent cited reduction in unplanned hospitalizations. Read Original Content

GreatCall has launched a subscription-based LiveNurse iPhone app, designed to connect patients with care providers in real-time. LiveNurse offers unlimited access to a registered nurse 24 hours a day and seven days a week along with a medical library and symptom navigator tool. Read Original Content

In the developing world, there are only about 11 million hospital beds but 300 million computers and 2.2 billion mobiles. The telecommunications company Etisalat is pushing new mHealth technology, such as its Mobile Baby app, which combats maternal deaths linked to childbirth in developing countries. Read Original Content

Webalo technology eliminates the need for traditional mobile application development tools and custom programming to provide in hours, instead of weeks or months, mobile access to the specific enterprise data and functions that smartphone and tablet users rely on to do their jobs.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Webalo, www.webalo.com.

As detailed in a recent IT Business Edge article – “Health Care Providers’ Interest in Business Intelligence Growing” – many organizations and institutions in the healthcare industry, specifically in the U.S., are beginning to realize the benefits of Business Intelligence solutions. Read Original Content

Two years after passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, mobility is helping guide healthcare IT. For example, mobile devices allow a doctor to immediately record a patient’s vitals, medications and diagnosis, which can then be stored securely on virtual servers and shared through a national network for other providers to gain access. Read Original Content

UnitedHealthcare has donated $700,000 to the Sacramento-based California Telehealth Network to expand telemedicine training and provide technical support for rural and underserved hospitals and clinics in California. Read Original Content

SAP Acquires Syclo – A Second Cup of Coffee and 25 Comments

This is the second article in this series on SAP's announced intent to acquire Syclo.  You can read Part 1 here.

I am now on my second cup of coffee, a different day, but still pondering SAP's announced acquisition of Syclo.  On the Linkedin group,  SAP Enterprise Mobility (you should all join!), I conducted a poll.  The question was, “Do you think SAP's announced intention to acquire mobility vendor Syclo is a good move?"  Here are the poll results and comments as of this afternoon (105 respondents):

72% - YES

17% - NO

10%   - I don’t know

It seems the overwhelming opinion is that it will be a good thing, however, many of the comments seemed to reflect more frustration from the SAP ecosystem than the poll numbers reflected.  IT departments and systems integrators are obviously having a challenge keeping up with this rapidly evolving field and SAP's moves.

Comments:

1. I think this will add more confusion for customers and partners who I am sure are scratching their head and trying to figure out which way to go now.
2. I think SAP will benefit from this acquisition, especially in the utilities sector.
3. Syclo already supports SUP, so it makes sense to add it to SAPs mobile portfolio.
4. The only logical conclusion I can draw is that they [SAP] probably wanted to keep Oracle away.
5. SAP has been selling SUP licenses by millions so it would be interesting to see how those customers will react now.
6. Syclo has a suite of well-respected vertical mobile applications, which already run on the SUP platform. 

By blending the two I see a flexible, broad-brush, technical platform with industry focused market messaging and improved ability to execute/deliver. 
I therefore see this as a good thing for SAP and for customers who wish to get into mobility.
7. This will upset partner companies like ClickSoftware who are heavily investing in SAP and the SUP platform.
8. I think [success] will depend on how well SAP is able to integrate Syclo Agentry platform and Syclo SMART suite with SUP, as they all have very distinct and desirable features.
9. In my eyes SAP has not done a good job at offering a simple mobility roadmap.  It is confusing.
10. I definitely think that the acquisition of Syclo will be beneficial for both Syclo and SAP.
11. SAP customers favor standards and stability!!! 
With SUP the mobility platform already became very complex with too many possibilities and no clear direction. 
Partners are already hesitating to invest, as they don’t know how the whole thing is evolving.
12. What’s the message to customers who just bought some SUP licenses and just started an EAM project?! What do they say to partners which invested in SUP Apps?! What do all the account executives at SAP tell their customers after preaching that Sybase is the answer to all mobility questions for a year now?
13. SAP is just losing its credibility with customers and partners.
14. This move is throwing the whole mobility efforts back by at least 12 months.
15. 

It’s unclear at the moment how the Agentry platform fits, but I can see SAP merging functionality into the SUP MBO/Integration components to further improve the integration capability of the platform.
16. SAP has already more choices to mobilize their workforce than they can explain to clients. Why invest in one more absolutely different solution with a new server, a new landscape, new licensing and even worse, no real 4GL?
17. Clients already dealing with Sybase, now need to communicate with SAP, but these guys have no idea on how to get more licenses. Ask 10 sales people and get 20 different answers....
18. Before investing into a new product, SAP should do their homework and solve the main 
issues they have - the lack of a clear and fair license strategy to their clients that is communicated through all channels.
19. I have seen Syclo and ClickSoftware’s scheduler integrated and deployed at a utilities.  It was an EAM implementation. It was not initially a happy marriage but nevertheless provided a good ability to extend SAP to Ruggedized devices with good capability to integrate with GIS thrown in.
20. My guess is that SAP bought Syclo for the following reasons; Syclo customers, Syclo employees and their expertise within field services and asset management.
21. What is the road map for Syclo's Agentry framework?
22. This will result in confusion on the part of many customers who were looking at the SAP EAM Mobile solution.
23. Once the dust settles, I think this will turn out to be a long-term winner.
24. SAP customers and partners now face a daunting task of updating their own SAP mobility strategy - for the 9th time?
25. From the point of view of a customer still trying to work out its mobile strategy this constant change is simply making me wait. I'm not about to make a major investment in skills and technology for a mobile platform that might become obsolete with SAP's next purchase. SAP need to let things stabilize now. Please...

Change is always difficult, and rapid change is even more difficult.  I worked with the folks at SAPinsider on an analyst paper a couple of months back and we found that developing a mobile strategy was one of the biggest challenges.  This intended acquisition is likely to make developing a mobile strategy even more of a challenge in the short term.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Next week, on Thursday, April 19th, I will be participating with Syclo on a webinar organized by ASUG. I will be talking about the role of mobile enterprise application platforms now and in the future.   I hope you can join us, register here.

Read Part 1 of this series here.
Read Part 3 of this series here.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.

Mobility News Weekly – Week of April 8, 2012

The Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly

According to the 2012 State of the Mobile Web survey, higher education has reached the tipping point when it comes to mobile web solutions. Only 39 percent of respondents don’t have any mobile solution yet, and 59 percent plan to implement such a solution within a year.  Read Original Content

ComScore’s latest report shows that 49.5 percent of mobile subscribers downloaded apps in the past ninety days. That’s an increase of 4.6 percent over the three-month average from late last year.  Read Original Content

Despite the fact that Nokia ended 2011 on a very low note worldwide, posting a $1.4 billion loss in the fourth quarter, a recent Gulf News report shows that it happens to be the top selling smartphone manufacturer in the Middle East.  Read Original Content

ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

The Reality Checker report on Business Intelligence and Management Information found that 15.2 percent of 56 individual survey respondents were implementing mobile systems in 2012 versus 8.7 percent last year. The figures for cloud development were 6 percent in 2011 and 4.2 percent in 2012.  Read Original Content

In mid-December 2011, 17 percent of American adults reported they had read an e-book the previous year. By February 2012, that share increased to 21 percent.  Read Original Content

The latest Gartner research forecasts 118.9 million tablets will be sold this year, a 98 percent increase from last year’s sales of 60 million units.  Read Original Content

Mobile Marketing News Weekly – Week of April 8, 2012

The Mobile Marketing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile marketing that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

In Forrester’s “Combine social and mobile to build business-to-business customer relationships” study, the research company looked at how social media and mobile can be used together to cultivate a relationship with customers. The report also looked at how business-to-business professionals expect their marketing budgets to be used in 2012. Read Original Content

Mobile paid search budgets grew 221.1 percent during the first quarter of 2012 as smartphone and tablet penetration continues to grow, according to a new report from IgnitionOne. Read Original Content

The gap between smartphone and tablet behavior continues to grow, signaling how the two devices need to be treated with different marketing campaigns, according to a new study from Forrester Research. Read Original Content

Verivo is a leading provider of enterprise mobility software. Verivo helps companies accelerate their business results. Its unique technology empowers teams to build, deploy, manage and update their mobile apps -- rapidly and securely. Verivo’s mobility platform is used by hundreds of companies in numerous industries, worldwide. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Verivo.  To learn more, visit www.verivo.com

Samsung has joined forces with OpenX Technologies to offer a mobile advertising platform to compete with similar services offered by Google and Apple. AdHub Market allows advertisers to focus their commercial messages on Samsung's tablets and smartphones. Read Original Content

Clickatell has released its new Clickatell Mobile Campaign Manager, a CMCM platform that can be accessed from any web browser and provides simple, straightforward setup and operation. CMCM uses a 5-digit U.S. short code origination address to send text messages to U.S. mobile phone numbers. Read Original Content

According to research conducted by Markets and Markets Business Market Research Firm, the global worth of the mobile applications market is set to reach $25 billion by 2015, which will establish an increase in value of $6.8 billion on the figures recorded in 2010. Read Original Content

SAP Acquires Syclo - A First Analysis Over Coffee

WARNING!  These are my (Kevin Benedict's) personal thoughts and opinions pondered over a cup of my favorite coffee shop's bowl of soul, on the outdoor patio, in the warm spring sunshine of Boise, Idaho.

My first thought when I received the news today that SAP is acquiring Syclo, was, "Smart move SAP!" I respect the fact that SAP is willing to double down on enterprise mobility.  I also respect the fact that SAP is willing to brave the inevitable criticism for having bought the same solution twice.   SAP has smart leaders.  They have made an aggressive and brave decision with this acquisition.  I think they recognized an unmet need, estimated the impact, valued the market and fixed it.  I am sure this was not an easy decision.  It will raise many questions, but I am sure it will make Sapphire 2012 even more interesting (perhaps even more than Van Halen in concert).

SAP has doubled down on enterprise mobility, while Oracle is still not even in the game.  I find it fascinating that the SAP leadership has a vision and is charging ahead while Oracle is on the sidelines.  How curious.

Oracles on the Sidelines

SAP thought they were getting all of the features that Syclo offers (MEAP, SDK, production ready mobile apps, experience, talent, etc.) when they bought Sybase in 2010. However, once they had critically examined Sybase post-acquisition, they realized there were gaps.  Mainly, they spent $5.8 billion, in large part to gain a mobile solution, but then realized there were no batteries included (i.e. mobile apps).

Syclo, on the other hand, offers not only a mobile middleware platform (some say it is better than SUP), but has many industry proven, in production, mobile applications.  These are real mobile apps.  Apps that can transform companies.  These are mobile apps that husky, uniform wearing men and women, with five o'clock shadows use to build national electrical grids and other mud covered systems and objects.

Not only does Syclo offer a library of "real" mobile applications that are in production, but they bring desperately needed enterprise mobility skills, real customers and a passion for mobility to the SAP family.

Let's get back to the subject of mobile enterprise application platforms (MEAPs).  When SAP announced the acquisition of Sybase in 2010, I detected mostly unspoken frustration in the eyes of the Syclo management team when I interviewed them about the acquisition.  I believe they felt their MEAP was better than Sybase's.  It will now be interesting to see which MEAP wins out in the long term.  Yes, I know that Syclo has announced that their solutions will now run on SUP, but I think they agreed to this mostly under duress.

Syclo's SDK is designed to produce "real" production ready mobile apps, not just partial code for programmers.  I know of many large deployments of production mobile apps from Syclo.  Syclo has earned their stripes, and now SAP and SAP customers will benefit from this.

The biggest complaint about SAP mobility has now been addressed - the lack of production quality, real mobile applications being used by happy customers.  It will now be very interesting to see how the SAP mobility stack, stacks up.

The inventory and options for developing mobile solutions has now jumped up another notch.  It was already a challenge to figure out the best way to design, develop, integrate, deploy and support a mobile solution.  Now, instead of having hundreds of different ways to build a mobile solution in the SAP world, there will be more.  It will be interesting to watch how SAP works to simplify their message given so many possible ways mobile apps can be implemented.

SAP will now have the Sybase Unwired Platform, Agentry 6.0 and Smart Mobile Suite from Syclo, Sybase 365, NetWeaver Gateway and all of the other SAP ecosystem partners.  Things will get interesting!

I know the management team at Syclo and value their passion, expertise, perseverance and talent.  They have not always been the flashiest company, some even drive Smart cars, but they have demonstrated their value by quietly deploying thousands and thousands of real mobile applications around the world in production environments and making customers happy.

Now comes other challenges for SAP.  How do they merge and consolidate so many good mobile solutions that may not always be compatible with each other?  Will these solutions be adequate for B2C (business to consumer) apps, or is that a unique category that requires a different acquisition or internal development effort?  I know Syclo has been evangelizing their B2C apps for the past few months.  This is a recent push and it will be interesting to see how it holds up under more scrutiny.

How will SAP manage relationships with important partners like ClickSoftware which also has a powerful and competing enterprise mobility solutions called ClickMobile. SAP private labels a ClickSoftware solution called, SAP Workforce Scheduling and Optimization by ClickSoftware.  It has its own mobile client.  Again, this will be interesting to watch.

Does the Syclo acquisition enhance mobility in the cloud?  I am not sure.

I love enterprise mobility, and its a good thing because now my coffee is cold.

Read Part 2 in this series here.
Read Part 3 in this series here. 
Read Part 4 in this series here.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.

Kevin Benedict Speaking about Mobile Strategies in Atlanta on April 26th

Motorola Solutions and ClickSoftware are organizing an enterprise mobility lunch event in Atlanta, GA on April 26th from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM (see details).  I have the honor of being asked to speak at this event.  If you are in the area I would love to meet up and discuss enterprise mobility with you!

I will be speaking on the topics of mobile strategies for the enterprise, mobile trends, analyst views and managing the real-time enterprise.

In addition to my presentation, you will also be learning about:

• Advances in mobile technology, wireless bandwidth, and web services making NOW the perfect time to plan and execute on your company’s mobile vision.
• Creating a competitive advantage through collaboration between peers and across departments.
• Using mobility as the catalyst and enabler for aligning the entire enterprise service policies.
• Defining pre-requisites for tomorrow’s mobile platform to support and connect all mobile employees.
• Selecting a device that meets the needs of the business as well as the demands of the users.

This will be an intimate lunch event and seats are limited so register soon!
*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.

Mobile Commerce News Weekly – Week of April 8, 2012

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Fifty-eight percent of consumers who have a smart device use location-based applications, despite concerns about safety and use of their personal information for marketing purposes, according to a survey from nonprofit global information security association ISACA. Read Original Content

Among the top 200 grossing apps at Google Play and the Apple App Store, 60 percent of all revenue came from purchases made through apps on smartphones and tablets. The iPad and iPhone app stores brought in daily revenue of $2.1 million and $3.3 million, respectively, in January 2012. Read Original Content

Nordstrom, the Seattle-based fashion and beauty retailer, is rolling out mobile point-of-sale devices. These mobile POS devices, a modified iPod Touch with a merchandise scanner and credit card slider, allow employees to check out customers from anywhere in the store. Read Original Content

Verivo is a leading provider of enterprise mobility software. Verivo helps companies accelerate their business results. Its unique technology empowers teams to build, deploy, manage and update their mobile apps -- rapidly and securely. Verivo’s mobility platform is used by hundreds of companies in numerous industries, worldwide. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Verivo.  To learn more, visit www.verivo.com

The new StockTouch app allows you to visualize the stocks of 1,350 companies on one interface. The app is an easy-to-read heat map that displays the top 100 U.S. and top 100 global companies in all 9 industry sectors of the market. The app covers nearly 75 percent of all global trading activity. Read Original Content

A chart taken from a Toluna/Econsultancy survey from May last year found that 19 percent of 2,000 online respondents had used their mobiles to compare prices and look at product reviews while out shopping. Read Original Content

The introduction of open loop "tap and go" payments could cut commuting time by nearly an hour a week, a survey conducted for MasterCard has found, and 47 percent of commuters would be willing to use their mobile phone to make transit payments. Read Original Content

MEAPs are They Needed?

On the SAP Enterprise Mobility Linkedin group I asked the question, "Are stand alone MEAPs (mobile enterprise application platforms) required for a large company implementing multiple mobile applications and multiple mobile devices that will be integrated with ERPs?"

Twenty-one people took the poll and here are the results:

• 76% said YES
• 23% said NO

I would like to ask the 23% for their strategy and guidance as to how one would effectively manage many different mobile apps, mobile devices, mobile users and mobile operating systems if you are not going to use a mobile platform.

I know some companies like appsFreedom and Webalo offer cloud based mobile apps for SAP that run on many different devices and mobile operating systems, but if you had custom mobile apps with complexity, wouldn't that be difficult to manage without a platform?

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.

Enterprise Mobility the Next Wave - Six Super Trends

Mobile Innovations

Today, only 32% of 602 SAP customers surveyed by insiderRESEARCH (download full report here) have an enterprise wide mobile strategy in place.  That means there is still a lot of work and thinking to be done here, but today we are going to take a break from today's environment and look at tomorrows'.

For the past few months I have been pondering the next wave of technology innovations that will have major impacts on most IT environments.  As a result, here are the "SUPER" trends that I would recommend IT organizations start watching and studying.  These are also the technologies that I would like to hear SAP discuss at Sapphire this year.

1. Enterprise Mobility, Part 2 - Customized, Context Aware, Pervasive and Predictive Content
2. Geospatial and situational awareness about everything - 4 dimensional field services
3. M2M (machine to machine, the Internet of Things) integrated into everything - Example Health Monitoring
4. Augmented and Assisted Reality on mobile devices - Examples Navigation and Google Glasses
5. Real-time and data-driven decision making - Think Big Data, Location Based Services and Real-Time Business Analytics
6. Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

In addition to these six super trends, there needs to be taught new ways of thinking in a real-time, data-driven world.  Just like the military teaches soldiers land navigation, it will be equally important for the commercial sector to be taught how to navigate real-time data effectively.  In a world that provides massive volumes of raw data that will absolutely overwhelm a manager, there needs to be training on how to navigate directly to the important data that impacts the missions.

If we want to boil down these six super trends to their essence, it is real time communications between  sensors, machines, people, big data and analytics.

Do you agree, or are there other super trends that I have missed?

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.

Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly – Week of April 8, 2012

The Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to field mobility that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

M2M solutions and services are a way for telecommunications companies to offer value to their customers.  While much of the focus in M2M has traditionally been in industries such as energy, transportation, healthcare, and security, consumer products present a strong area of potential. Read Original Content

There is a high growth opportunity in India for M2M modules. According to a study conducted by 6Wresearch the M2M modules market in India will generate $93.38 million by 2016. Read Original Content

The Mesa Rugged Notepad from Juniper Systems has been selected as a tool for a community-based wildlife monitoring program, conducted by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, where native Inuit hunters are recording valuable wildlife population harvest data throughout the Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut. Read Original Content

Since 1995, Syclo has enabled hundreds of companies in 37 countries and industries supercharge their businesses with mobility.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Syclo. http://www.syclo.com/.

The Army is actively working on the requirements for mobile electronic devices to be used to capture medical information to support deployed soldiers.  Plans are to demo a mobile medical app on the Joint Battle Command Platform mounted device later this year. Read Original Content

Rugged and mobile computing systems are essential for our military in the field.  Mobile Demand provides rugged tablet PCs to meet the needs for durable equipment. Read Original Content

According to IDC, 916 million “smart connected devices” were shipped in 2011, with revenue totaling $489 billion.  IDC predicts the number will jump to 1.1 billion for 2012, and 1.84 billion by 2016. Read Original Content

Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly – Week of April 8, 2012

Welcome to Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility in Asia.  Asia is predicted to be the fastest area of growth for enterprise mobility between now and 2016.

Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

DeNA, a mobile platform operator in Japan, has signed agreements with China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom to use their official app stores to offer mobile games.  The agreements give DeNA access to almost 3 billion subscribers of the three carriers. Read Original Content

Tokyo-based DeNA has partnered with the Walt Disney Company to develop mobile social games.  “Disney Party” was launched on March 28, 2012 for the Mobage network in Japan.  “Disney Fantasy Quest” will follow in April, with a third game available this summer.  Future plans are to release the games worldwide. Read Original Content

With low mobile Internet startup costs and 356 million mobile Internet users at the end of 2011, investors are urged to look into China’s mobile Internet industry. Read Original Content

ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

Accumulate and Potevio have partnered to develop mobile financial and mobile authentication services for the Chinese market. Projects include an NFC solution, mobile payments, and secure utility bills payments. Read Original Content

China has introduced a new $100 smartphone with the Shuidi handset, developed by Chongqing Guohong Technology Development. Read Original Content

Asian travel service provider Abacus International has launched its first customized mobile point-of-sale app for travel agencies.  The app development was a collaboration between Abacus, Kuoni India, and Excellent Management Limited. Read Original Content

ASUG Webinar - Enterprise Mobility 2012

I am going to be sharing my latest research on enterprise mobility and mobile strategies on an upcoming April 19th ASUG webinar.  I invite you to join!  Here are the details:

Join ASUG Gold Affiliate member Syclo for its webcast featuring Kevin Benedict, an independent mobility analyst and mobile strategies consultant.  Kevin will be speaking on Enterprise Mobility in 2012 scheduled for Thursday, April 19, 2012.  Register Here!  One challenge, it appears you need to email the contact if you want to attend the webinar, but are not an ASUG member.

Description: The demand for enterprise mobile applications is exploding right now and driving many organizations to make tough choices about their business and technology mobile strategies. Join the presenters of this webcast as they examine the 2012 enterprise mobility market, including its challenges, trends, and fragmented operating systems.

The second half of the webinar will be presented by ASUG Gold Affiliate member Syclo, who will be sharing how to efficiently develop and support multiple mobile applications on multiple mobile devices and operating systems.


*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.

Mobile Health News Weekly - Week of April 1, 2012

The Mobile Health News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to mobile health that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

With the cost of healthcare data breaches continuing rise year after year, it shouldn't come as a surprise that spending on the security of that information is estimated to hit $40 billion this year, and balloon to $70 billion three years from now, according to a recently published report from The Boyd Company. Read Original Content

With smartphones changing the culture in so many ways, more and more young people are using their mobile devices to keep track of their health, and the trend is not going unnoticed by advertisers. Read Original Content

International management consulting firm Accenture released findings about different attitudes around the world regarding mobile and connected health. Doctors in the United States were found to be the least enthusiastic among eight countries surveyed and U.S. preparedness for a future of connected health received a mixed review. Read Original Content

Webalo technology eliminates the need for traditional mobile application development tools and custom programming to provide in hours, instead of weeks or months, mobile access to the specific enterprise data and functions that smartphone and tablet users rely on to do their jobs.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Webalo, www.webalo.com.

About 33 percent of people with smartphones in the U.S. have tracked their diet or their exercises with their mobile devices, a comScore representative told The New York Times this week. Read Original Content

Recently, the Community Preventive Services Task Force made a positive recommendation for using mobile phone-based tobacco cessation interventions. The committee indicated that there was sufficient evidence for effectiveness of these interventions in increasing tobacco abstinence among people interested in quitting smoking. Read Original Content

According to a survey by QuantiaMD 80 percent of physicians surveyed owned a smartphone or tablet and 30 percent owned a tablet device. From this individual adoption, physicians are increasingly using their mobile devices in their clinical duties, creating headaches for many IT managers. Read Original Content

What's New in HTML5 - Week of April 1, 2012

Thanks for reading "What's New in HTML5!"  This is a series of articles that I publish each week to keep track of developments around HTML5 for the enterprise mobility market.

I speak to enterprise mobility vendors, developers and consultants daily, and many of them advocate native apps over HTML5, but I am not convinced.  I spent time working in an IT department of a large electronics company early in my career, and I know many apps simply need to provide mission critical data, updates, alerts and data collection at the point of need.  These apps don't have to rock your world.  It is the data that is necessary.  This category of apps could easily and cost effectively be HTML5 apps and run on many different device types efficiently.  What do you think?

Zipline CEO Todd Hooper feels that HTML5 is great for corporate apps, but not yet ready for more than simple games.  Read original content

Nokia’s chief technology officer states, "Once HTML5 browsers and fully capable Web runtimes are in place on the common Kindle through iPhone, the Web app will begin replacing native apps".  Read original content

John Mueller of Google has changed his tune about HTML5, and now states that there’s no “bonus” for using HTML5, but that it has no downside.  Read original content

Telerik has expanded Kendo UI with a new release to provide developers with tools for JavaScript and HTML5 development for websites and apps.  Read original content

How to build an HTML5 video player – from a presentation at the recent HTML5 Video Summit in Los Angeles.  Read original content

BlackBerry sales are falling in Canada, and RIM sees HTML5 app development as a possible solution.

Read original content  More on this subject here.

As of March 25, 2012, the Tizen 1 and BlackBerry 10 browsers are at the top of the development/beta list of the HTML5 browser compatibility test.  Opera Mobile 12 and Firefox Mobile 10 are at the top of the “current” list.  Read original content

Adobe’s CSS Regions proposal seeks to remedy the weaknesses of HTML5 in written content presentation.  The proposal “defines a system for creating magazine-style text layouts in Web content”.

Read original content

Do-it-Yourself website builder Wix has announced its new HTML5-builder, which requires “zero knowledge of HTML coding or any other technical understanding”.  Read original content

Telenav has announced its new free Scout for Apps service which allows developers to access an HTML5-based mapping system and incorporate the functionality into existing websites.  Read original content

DevCon5, an HTML5 Mobile App and Developers Conference, will be held April 25-26, 2012 in Santa Clara, California.  Read original content

Mozilla has announced a new multi-player online game that shows off the capabilities of HTML5.  BrowserQuest is a “free open-source HTML5 mini-MMO” that runs in a single web page.

Read original content and more

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.

Mobility News Weekly – Week of April 1, 2012

The Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly

Smartphone penetration has reached nearly 50 percent among U.S. mobile subscribers, up from 36 percent a year earlier, according to data from Nielsen. More than two-thirds of consumers buying in the last three months opted for a smartphone.  Read Original Content

According to a report from Juniper Research, mobile phone firms are losing $58 billion (£36 billion) a year worldwide to billing errors and fraud.  The report found operators were "leaking" revenue because the complexity of networks made fraud and errors harder to spot.  Read Original Content

In the first quarter of last year, Android gained 7 points of market share in the U.S. smartphone market. The iPhone's share was dead in the water. The reason this was (and still is) a risk for Apple is that smartphones have become a platform game, which tend to be winner-take-all.  Read Original Content

ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

Outlandish international roaming charges will come to an end in Europe this summer as the European Union reached a preliminary deal to drop roaming charges significantly, capping the rates for voice calls, text messages and data for users.  Read Original Content

Dell has stopped selling smartphones in the U.S. as it tweaks its mobile strategy to focus more on emerging markets and higher-margin products.  Read Original Content

According to a new report from ABI Research, global handset shipments will increase 29 percent from 1.7 billion in 2012 to 2.2 billion in 2016.  Read Original Content

The Future is Here - M2M, Robotics and Mobile Devices

Fort Leonard Wood (a US Army base) had a ribbon cutting ceremony today for their new Robotics University.   These robots do amazing tasks that save lives.  They conduct some of the most dangerous tasks such as identifying and disabling IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

I recently read several books about the use of robots in the military and one of the robotics engineers was quoted as saying he loves receiving broken pieces of his robots in the mail.  Why?  Each broken, burned and exploded robot represents a potentially saved human life.

On this blog along with content about enterprise mobility, I write a lot about M2M (machine to machine), wireless embedded devices and remote sensors.  These are all fields and technologies closely related to enterprise mobility.  Each of the robots in the picture above communicates with and is controlled by wireless mobile devices.  These robots are machines controlled by machines (M2M) that use the Internet to communicate in real time.

Robots and remote M2M sensors are also data collectors.  They are collecting data in the field and sending the data back to a server for analysis and use in decision making.  At the server, analytics and intelligence software process this information, often in real time.

In the commercial sector, M2M sensors are often used to track and monitor assets, equipment, materials, cargo and supplies.  In fact, companies like ILS Technology partner with SAP, Oracle, IBM and many other ERP vendors to connect M2M devices to ERPs.  The data that comes in from these remote sensors will become increasingly valuable and important to companies.

There are many jobs and tasks that use humans inefficiently or in dangerous environments.  I regularly hear examples of how a person is sent to a remote site just to record and write down data from a piece of equipment in the field.  In fact, a couple of weeks ago I had dinner in Portland, Oregon with an engineering friend who was monitoring water levels in a Puget Sound tidal flat.  They hired a contractor just to drive out to the remote site several times a week for thousands of dollars in order to write down the recorded water levels.  I shared with him the capabilities of remote wireless sensors and he was very keen to utilize them on future projects.

I spoke with the Chief Customer Officer of ILS Technology, Lawrence Latham yesterday.  Lawrence says they spend their time connecting all of the disparate components of M2M systems together and simplifying their implementations so more companies can cost effectively take advantage of them.

Companies like SAP talk about, "Managing the Real Time Enterprise."  Managing a real-time enterprise will increasingly involve connecting devices or things to the internet.  ILS Technology's motto is "We Connect The Internet of Things."

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.

Mobile Marketing News Weekly – Week of April 1, 2012

The Mobile Marketing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile marketing that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

According to the latest edition of Mobile Messaging Futures, recently published by Portio Research, MMS – launched after the initial success of SMS to deliver multimedia content – has until recently been the second greatest revenue generating non-voice service, after SMS. Read Original Content

You are missing an opportunity if you do not have a mobile website and marketing strategy. According to Forrester Research, a mobile marketing agenda is on three out of four marketers’ lists this year. Read Original Content

New research from Forrester shows that although tablets were designed to be portable computers, the devices are being used primarily while users are stationary and at home and are also more likely to interact with shopping, banking and other time-consuming commerce-related activities. Read Original Content

Verivo is a leading provider of enterprise mobility software. Verivo helps companies accelerate their business results. Its unique technology empowers teams to build, deploy, manage and update their mobile apps -- rapidly and securely. Verivo’s mobility platform is used by hundreds of companies in numerous industries, worldwide. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Verivo.  To learn more, visit www.verivo.com

According to a recent study by Verve Wireless, over 50 percent of consumers say it’s very important their next car be mobile-friendly (capable of syncing with apps on their smartphone or be Bluetooth-enabled, for example). Read Original Content

At the recent Mobile Marketing Association Forum in Singapore, Gavin Mehrotra, director of international media for Coca-Cola Co., started his presentation stating categorically that: "SMS is the No. 1 priority in mobile at Coca-Cola.” Read Original Content

Mobile Strategies and Consumer Products Companies

Click to Enlarge

In February I worked with insiderResearch on an enterprise mobility survey.  We surveyed 602 companies.  I wrote a report (available for free here) on the general results of this survey.  I am now going to be digging deeper and reviewing the results by industry.  So stay tuned!  In this article I will review one set of results from the consumer products industry.

First a little background, 44 of the 602 companies were in the consumer products industry.  Seventy-five percent of these had annual revenues of more than $500 million.

Survey question:  How would you describe the mobile strategy at your organization?

• 36% (32% for all respondents) - Enterprise wide - governing all applications and devices
• 24% (28% for all respondents) - we have NO mobile strategy
• 24% (24% for all respondents) - experimental, each business unit and group does it's own thing with little or no oversight
• 17% (16% for all respondents) - distributed, each line of business or location sets it's own strategy

These findings are revealing to me.  Sixty-five percent of these consumer products companies don't have a corporate wide enterprise mobility strategy.  This opens the doors to silo strategies, redundant efforts and costs, waste and inefficient IT environments.  It also makes it very hard to standardize on mobile security, support and mobile application management.

Let's now analyze the results from the consumer products industry, and compare it to all of the 602 responses.  Thirty-six percentage of consumer products companies have an enterprise wide mobile strategy that governs all applications and devices, but only 32% of the entire list does.  That suggests there is a slightly higher level of enterprise mobility maturity in this industry, than the average.  However, the rest of the results are nearly the same.

The fact that 75% of these companies have annual revenues of over $500 million, and 65% still don't have a corporate wide enterprise mobility strategy, bodes well for a mobile strategy consultant like me, but not for the potential chaos that is coming to the IT organization if corporate wide standards, frameworks and platforms are not implemented fast.

***I also conducted an enterprise mobility survey of 118 companies in Q4 2011 with different survey questions.  You can get the results of that survey for free here.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.