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My Best Articles on Mobile Commerce Strategies 2015

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In 2015, a master strategy for mobile commerce emerged.  Mobile apps need to be personalized, but that is not enough. Personalization without context, relevance, value to the customer and permission is just creepy and/or obnoxious.  We recognized a new kind of partnership is required between customers and trusted vendors.  One that requires a deeper level of earned trust, and one that provides mutual benefits through the sharing of data.  We call this relationship a MME Data Partnership. Parts of MME Data Partnerships can be found within many existing loyalty and rewards programs.  Although the purpose is rarely understood.  These programs define how the collection and use of specific data will be used to provide mutual benefits.  It is an overt agreement by both parties to share and use data in return for defined rewards.  Within a MME Data Partnership we found three types of data, we call 3D-Me, are needed to optimize a mobile user experience: Digital data - online and mobile

Instantly Personalizing Mobile Apps - Cutting Through Chaos

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Unique Consumers and Unique Profiles Smartphones, laptops, PCs and in-store visits have made path-to-purchase journeys very complex and confusing for online retailers to recognize and support.  Consumers can search and discover products and services using a smartphone on their way to work.  In the evening they can pull out a tablet and engage in immersive research while laying in bed.  They may decide to review some more on their desktop at work, then at lunch time stop at a brick and mortar store to look at the product in more detail.  That evening, they purchase the product online using a laptop.  How is a retailer or e-tailer going to cut through this chaos and recognize individual consumers and their needs along their path-to-purchase journey? In our research at  Cognizant 's "Center for the Future of Work" we found online shoppers use different devices for different categories of products.  In fact, 56% of online shoppers use multiple devices on many online pat

Mobile Technologies Revealed: Web and Native App Development Strategies

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Our resident Cognizant mobile and digital technology guru, Peter Rogers, shares his insights into web and native app development strategies in this guest post:  Enjoy! ******** Peter Rogers I often meet customers who want to transition web developers into mobile application developers. Apple has clearly tried to address this market using Swift but that does not offer a cross platform solution. Developers who have come through this transition will traditionally wrap the latest and greatest web framework (like Angular 2 or React) using Adobe Cordova through initiatives like Ionic. However great the latest web frameworks are though they can never compete with pure native mobile user interfaces powered by dedicated hardware acceleration. It may be a simple solution but the net result is never going to be present the best possible user experience and there will always be problems with Apple App Store submission and changes to WebView technologies designed to gently nudge developers t

Latest Research on Mobile Consumer Behaviors and Mobile App Requirements

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I just finished a major research paper titled, "Cutting Through Chaos in the Age of Mobile Me."  Our findings reveal current mobile consumer behaviors, the challenges in creating mobile apps for them, and specific recommendations and business strategies for winning in an age of "Mobile Me."  Download the full report here http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Cutting-Through-Chaos-in-the-Age-of-Mobile-Me-codex1579.pdf . Video Link: https://youtu.be/IqN6NbY_Q0A ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Analyst and World Traveler View my profile on LinkedIn Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Subscribe to Kevin's YouTube Channel Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies ***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation

Beacon Essentials You Must Quickly Learn

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Our resident Cognizant digital/mobile expert, Peter Rogers, asked me to recommend a digital strategies topic to share, and I suggested Beacons for this week.  I confess to reading about them daily without knowing much about them, so I want to thank Peter for this article!  Enjoy! ******** Digital & Mobile Expert Peter Rogers Let's start with a Basic Beacons 101 class: Beacons do not push out notifications. They broadcast an advertisement of themselves (traditionally their UUID, major and minor values) and can be detected by Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices. The proximity from a number of Beacons can be measured using typical triangulation techniques in order to get a (very) rough idea of (typically) indoor location. The Beacon UUID, major and minor version values are typically used for identification and used to map to either a message, service, media content, website, application or location inside the Native App. Beacons can have their UUID, major and minor ve

The 18 Laws for Winning with Data, Speed and Mobility

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I have given nine presentations in the past 10 days on mobile and data strategies.  I have met with companies in the energy, media, insurance and banking industries.  I have brainstormed and discussed these laws for winning with data, speed and mobility, and they have held up.  In the age of mobile me, where information is the prize, a new set of laws and strategies are required to win.  In my new report, " Cutting Through Chaos in the Age of Mobile Me ," I discuss many of these laws and how they are applied in mobile apps and mobile commerce. Data is the modern commercial battlefield. Information dominance is the strategic goal. Real-time operations and tempos are the targets. Advantages in speed, analytics, business operational tempos determine the winners. Real-time business speed is enabled by advances in mobile information, sensors and wireless communications. Competition is now focused on optimizing information logistics systems (the systems involved in maximiz

Data Collection and the Modern Battlefields of Business

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Dr. John Snow's Map In 1854 Cholera broke out in the Soho neighborhood of London.  Hundreds of people were struck down and died within days.  No one, at the time understood where the disease came from, how to treat it or how it was transmitted. A local physician, Dr. John Snow spent every possible moment of his day studying the victims and data in an attempt to understand the disease.  His biggest challenge was a lack of data.  He had only the list of the dead and a blank map of the neighborhood.  What he needed was more data.  This was solved when he met the local priest, Henry Whitehouse.  Whitehouse had recorded the time of death, and the location where all the families lived and died.  When these sources of data where combined, and then overlaid on a map, visual patterns emerged which ultimately led the two to see the common denominator for all the victims was drinking contaminated water from the Broad Street water pump. The pump handle was removed, people stopped drin

Cutting Through Chaos in the Age of Mobile Me - New Report

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Supporting real-time enterprise mobility that is personalized and contextually relevant takes a lot of work. In fact, it takes digital transformation. We have all grown accustomed to using personal consumer apps that know and understand us (think airline apps and Netflix), our preferences and provide contextually relevant content. Today, we expect the same from all of our apps both consumer and enterprise. Download the full report here " Cutting Through Chaos in the Age of Mobile Me ". Ninety percent of mobile users highly value personalized mobile experiences. In order to deliver these experiences one must have real-time data collection, analytics, personalization engines and mobile applications capable of supporting real-time personalization. One must also have an operational tempo within their IT systems and business processes capable of supporting real-time. These capabilities make possible innovative new business processes that provide significant competitive advanta

Mobile Expert Interviews: Dan Bricklin, Co-Developer of the First "Killer App"

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I am excited to share an interview I conducted yesterday in Boston with a member of software programming royalty, Dan Bricklin.  Dan was the co-developer of the world's first software "killer app", Visicalc .  Visicalc, a spreadsheet app for the Apple II series of personal computers, was so popular in the 1980s, that companies spent thousands of dollars on computers just to run the $100 software program.  Dan worked closely with Steve Jobs, Bill Gates many others in the early years of personal computers.  His life is outlined here on Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Bricklin . Dan still programs and designs productivity apps.  He is the CTO of Alpha Software , the developers of sophisticated digital forms for mobile devices. Dan has received many honors for his contributions to the computer industry from the ACM, IEEE, MIT, PC Magazine, the Western Society of Engineers, and others. In 1981, he was given a Grace Murray Hopper Award for VisiCalc.  In 1996, B

Strategies for Combining IoT, Mobility, AI, CROME and 3D-Me

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None of us like slow mobile applications or those that ask us stupid questions. Our time has value. Google reports 82% of smartphone owners research and compare prices in stores, and we don’t want to be standing in the aisle answering questions the mobile app and vendor should already know. We want our apps to recognize us, the context, and to understand our needs. We want real-time mobile applications connected to mobile commerce vendors running at real-time operational tempos. In addition to speed, 90% of 18-34 years olds strongly value personalization in their mobile applications. Personalization comes in at least two forms, latent and real-time. Latent personalization means it lays dormant waiting for an application to be launched and then applies a stored personalized content profile. Real-time personalization, however, means dynamic real-time data, consisting of digital, physical and personal (3D-Me data) data, is being always collected and combined with CROME triggers (real-

Mobile Expert Interviews: VMware's Sanjay Poonen, PT 2

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In Part 2 ( watch Part 1 here ) of my interview with VMware's Sanjay Poonen, we discuss VMware's strategies toward the enterprise mobility market, recent announcements and plans going forward.  In addition, Sanjay announces the new AirWatch led Mobile Security Alliance with 10 initial members. This alliance supports customers seeking to mitigate the growing mobile threat landscape by providing advanced security solutions. Charter AirWatch Mobile Security Alliance members include Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, FireEye, Appthority, Lookout, Pradeo, Proofpoint, Skycure, Veracode and Zimperium. Also, SAP and VMware plan to integrate the ACE (App Configuration for the Enterprise) approach to enable secure, instant deployment and login of SAP's SuccessFactors and Concur mobile applications on iOS and Android devices. Enjoy! Video Link: https://youtu.be/JPptgrVmGTY ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker

Mobile Expert Interviews: VMware's Sanjay Poonen, PT 1

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I had the honor of sitting down with and interviewing VMware's EVP and GM of End User Computing, Sanjay Poonen last week on VMware's beautiful 500 acre campus in Palo Alto, CA.  In this interview we cover the past, present and future state of enterprise mobility, SAP's recent mobile developments and partnership with AirWatch, mobile security, application management and much more.  You cannot get a more insider view of mobility today!  Enjoy!  Watch Part 2 here . Video Link: https://youtu.be/bGTH9ZSwzdk ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst The Center for the Future of Work, Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn Read more at Future of Work Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Browse the Mobile Solution Directory Subscribe to Kevin's YouTube Channel Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Africa, Mobile Phones and Refugees

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Boise's Congolese/Rwandan Refugee Community This week a friend texted to ask advice on an appropriate welcome gift to present newly arriving Syrian refugees in Boise, Idaho. Without hesitation I said a cheap mobile phone with prepaid minutes. Why?  We are active in the refugee community and over the past three years have lost new refugees in the city. We have had kids waiting for moms that we can't find.  We have missed numerous doctor appointments because of language barriers and a lack of communications.  We have learned the value of even the simplest and cheapest of mobile phones. We have learned, working with the mostly Congolese/Rwandan refugee community, that when people have phones, coordination is far easier and more efficient.  When refugees first arrive, they are scheduled with non-stop appointments with different agencies, healthcare services and schools.  They are in a new culture, with a new language, in a new city/state/country, with many new systems all inv

Mobile and Digital Expert Interviews: Ashutosh Didwania

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Last week I was honored to speak at the Maritz Innovates event in St. Louis, MO. The topic was my new report titled, Cutting Through Chaos in the Age of Mobile Me .  It will be out in two weeks.  This report is big!  We worked with RIS to survey 5,000 consumers on their mobile shopping habits - stay tuned.  While at this event, I met digital transformation and mobility expert Ashutosh Didwania with Digital Works at Cognizant.  In this interview we discuss the role of mobility in digital transformation.  Enjoy! Video Link: https://youtu.be/volb9SH9n-U ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst The Center for the Future of Work, Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn Read more at Future of Work Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Browse the Mobile Solution Directory Subscribe to Kevin's YouTube Channel Join the Linkedin

Mobile Insights - Feeling the Force (Force Touch) with iOS 9

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My friend and Cognizant's mobile and digital technical guru, Peter Rogers, has been playing again. In this "must read" article he shares how iOS9 handles touch and sensing.   Enjoy! ********** Every time there is a new games console release (especially when Nintendo is involved) rumours are always floating abound of a technological support for textures that you can actually feel on your touch screen. Basically the ability to sense different materials through the screen. It is a lovely idea and the closest we have come yet is probably haptics ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haptic_technology ) and electric shock feedback ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRQAijNKSEs ). Well, we are not there quite yet but Apple certainly came close with the iPhone 6S announcement of 3D Touch ( http://www.apple.com/iphone-6s/3d-touch/ ). After revolutionising the touch screen world with multi-touch, it then made perfect sense to add a force element to the touches in order to offer dif

The Digital Transformation Imperative

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Rahul Tyagi It is my belief that mobile technologies drive the train of digital transformation.  It is the effort of supporting a real-time mobile user that is forcing enterprises to rethink business processes, IT environments, budget priorities and business strategies. In this article my colleague and digital transformation strategies expert Rahul Tyagi, shares his insights on digital transformation.  He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and IIT, Roorkee, India.  Enjoy! ***** The dictionary meaning of digital is anything that has digits [not helpful]. The software industry has been dealing with digital for the past five decades via mainframe software, PC software, client-server software etc. So why we are talking about digital now? I recently conducted a Google search to find what the world is saying about digital. I looked at the Federal Government Digital Strategy, I skimmed thru Cisco’s Digital Point-of-View, reviewed MIT Sloan's digital perspective and many mor

Mobile Expert Interviews: Apperian's CEO Brian Day

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The enterprise mobility marketplace is changing rapidly as companies consolidate and transform.  While some enterprise mobility vendors disappear and leave the market, Apperian continues to grow and take on additional investment.  This week they announced a C level round of investment for $12 million.  I wanted to learn more about their strategies and why VCs continue to bet on them.  Enjoy! Video link: https://youtu.be/0CBf-qwnbVc ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst The Center for the Future of Work, Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn Read more at Future of Work Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Browse the Mobile Solution Directory Subscribe to Kevin's YouTube Channel Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies ***Full Disclosure: T

Mobile Commerce Strategies and CROME Triggers

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In my research on mobile commerce and mobile consumers' behaviors this year, the need to personalize a user's mobile/digital experiences always comes up as a top priority.  Everyone wants an experience that is relevant. However, as I pondered these studies, it occurred to me that personalization is only a part of the solution. If you received an SMS message on your smartphone about a shoe sales (your favorite brand and style), that ended yesterday, at a location hundreds of miles away, the personalization would be without value.  Yes, it is your preferred brand and style, but not in your location or at a relevant time.  So there is something missing. We, at Cognizant's Center for the Future of Work, have identified through our research the need for CROME (contextually relevant, opportunities, moments and environments) triggers.  CROME triggers are bits of data that provide context, which can be used to provide relevant personalization at a specific time and place. For e