The Mobile Strategy and Management Challenge

Believe it or not, a fair number of people like my workshops on mobile strategy.  The problem though is a fair number don't.  Why?  Sometimes developers come into my sessions, stay for 15 minutes and then leave.  They were expecting to learn how to develop mobile apps, or how to secure and integrate them with back-office systems.  They had no interest in learning about enterprise wide mobile strategies.

Enterprise wide mobile strategies are increasingly a business and IT leadership issue.  They involve brand, product and service strategies.  They involve plant operations, logistics and transportation.  They involve asset management, field operations and sales.  Enterprise wide mobile strategies touch every corner of the business.  Enterprise mobility is no longer an IT issue, or just a technical discussion.  Enterprise mobility is a C level discussion today.  Because of this mobile solution vendors must change their marketing strategies to address the needs of both business and IT decision makers rather than developers.

I had two people from different large oil companies come to a session I was leading in Orlando this month at the Enterprise Mobility 2013 conference.  They both had just suffered cyber-attacks that had caused major damage.  They only wanted to know about mobile security, not enterprise wide mobile strategies.  I understand.  That was the disaster on their plate that day.  They had no time to discuss strategy.  The challenge though is that without a strategy, it is hard to deliver mobile solutions that are strategic enough to matter.

I was reading an article from Forrester Research over the weekend.  Forrester Research is predicting the prices of mobile solutions will rise in 2014.  Why?  They will become more strategic.  They will offer significant competitive advantages.  They will support innovative products, services and business models.  They will make a difference.  The time for POCs (proof of concepts) is over.  It is time to execute with a strategy.

*I am in London speaking on mobile strategies and mobile led transformation with Forrester Research and Cognizant on Friday, December 6th.  Let me know if you would like to join us!  Email me here.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.