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| Eggs with Benedict Brussels |
Two members of the audience traveled from different countries just to attend our breakfast series on enterprise mobility.
I learned from one of the attendees about a digital pen that they use in South Africa for "proof-of-delivery" applications. It is called Anoto and enables the user to write on pre-formatted forms and the embedded scanner in the pen digitizes the data and the location it was written on the form. This data is uploaded to the integrated enterprise system and is extremely accurate. They have been using it in production for some time now with great results.
One of the attendees shared that the executives in their company had approved buying expensive smartphones, but not mobile applications to go with them. As a result, the smartphones are only used for voice, text and email, although recently the pressure has been increasing for mobile applications.
Another attendee reported that their CEO was insisting that he use only an iPad to manage the entire global company, but this is still just a dream as no budget has been approved to deliver the require mobile solutions. The will is there by all parties, just not the resources yet.
More feedback was that the highest demand internally at one company in attendance was for mobile CRM for their field sales organization. They want to use iPads because of the technical nature and complexity of their products.
Also in attendance was an experienced investor, consultant and former telecom CEO there to learn more about the latest developments in enterprise mobility. We had some very interesting discussions following the meeting. He is looking for investment opportunities within enterprise mobility.
At each of these meetings held across Europe this week I have asked the same question, "Where is your company on the mobility maturity curve?" So far all of the attendees have answered that they are a 1 or 2 on a 4 point maturity scale. There is a huge amount of pent up demand for mobile solutions reported, but resources, time and budget have not yet been fully dedicated.
Today I also spoke to an SAP customer with over 80,000 employees. The attendees from this company were not aware that SAP acquired Sybase and that SAP/Sybase had mobility offerings. They had been trying to figure out how to develop or find existing mobile SAP Workflow apps. They were not aware that SAP already has this. SAP, you owe me.
Tomorrow I wrap up a very busy week of meetings, breakfasts and travel by presenting the last Eggs with Benedict meeting in London. My tour sponsors at K2 Partnering have promised me that they will provide Eggs Benedict for breakfast tomorrow. I will hold them to it.
Upcoming Events
Eggs with Benedict - European Tour - Mobility Strategies and More, June 27 – July 1, 2011
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
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group
Read The M2M News Monthly
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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