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Showing posts from March, 2015

Mobile Apps, Analytics, Code Halos and Mass Personalization

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Kevin Benedict, moderates this panel of digital experience and mobility experts including Benjamin Pring, Ted Shelton and Jack C. Crawford as they review and discuss the findings of Ben Pring's recent study  Putting the Experience in Digital Customer Experience . Video Link: https://youtu.be/xsPDWReccF4?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital t

IoT, Software Robots, Mobile Apps and Network Centric Operations

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Articles about the IoT (Internet of Things) have moved from technical journals to our daily newspapers.  In this article we will go beyond the simplistic applications talked about in the local paper and discuss how IoT and complementary technologies, including software robots , can add real business value to the rugged outdoor work found in many industries. In the rugged blue collar environment, vehicles, high valued equipment and other assets can be connected to the IoT to wirelessly report on their status, hours of operation, location, environment, maintenance and repair needs. This data can alert management when there is a problem, event or automatically create service tickets or send alerts when an action or decision is required. The IoT has the ability to provide "situational awareness" across large geographic areas and thousands of assets all at the same time.  This capability helps both decision-makers and automated systems (software robots) better understand how to

Enterprise Mobility - Adventures and Lessons from the Mobile World Congress with Jon Reed

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Diginomica's Jon Reed interviews Cognizant's Senior Analyst for Digital Transformation and Mobility, Kevin Benedict on what he learned this year at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.  This year 93,000 people came together to learn and review the newest mobile, wireless and connected smart technologies at this event.  Much has changed in the past 12 months and this interview covers many of these trends. Video Link: https://youtu.be/8jwkhZgck1U ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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 St

Networked Field Services and Real-Time Decision Making

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Investment in space travel has provided many direct and indirect benefits to society.  For example, weather forecasting technology, solar energy, scratch resistant lenses, water purification systems, enriched baby food and air quality monitoring have all made advancements because of investments in space travel research.  Likewise, the military has made huge investments related to the implementation of Network-Centric Warfare technologies and mobile data collection strategies that are now providing benefit and revolutionizing the way commercial field services organizations operate. One of the most important capabilities that mobile solutions offer organizations today is the ability to provide better visibility, in near real time, into the activities and events taking place in the field – let’s call it situational awareness.  Historically, it has been difficult to ensure that quality and service standards and processes are followed on remote jobsites and in mobile environments.  The

Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure and Digital Transformation Discussion with Expert Ved Sen

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In this Google+ Hangout OnAir, I have the privilege of discussing the findings of my recent report, Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure,  with UK based mobile and digital transformation expert Ved Sen. We discuss the challenges identified and possible solutions.  Enjoy! Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Introduction Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Part 1 Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Part 2 Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Part 3 Video Link: https://youtu.be/IMYHORGxMYY?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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

Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Part 3

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In this new report titled Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure, I ask 80 IT and business professionals involved in enterprise and consumer mobility to answer a series of questions.  The results will be shared here in the following article series.  This is Part 3 in the series. Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, An Introduction Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Part 1 Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Part 2 Question: Do you (or your clients’) have IT systems that are too slow or incapable of supporting real-time mobile application requirements? Click to Enlarge Eighty-four percent report IT systems in their inventory that are completely incapable of supporting real-time mobility.   It is important for enterprises to take inventory of their IT systems and to thoroughly understand which systems can support real-time mobility, and which cannot, and then analyze the cost of non-support.  This inventory must be reviewed alongside forecasted technology and market tre

Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Part 2

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In my new report titled Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure, I ask 80 IT and business professionals involved in enterprise and consumer mobility to answer a series of questions.  The results will be shared here in the following article series.  This is Part 2 in the series. Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, An Introduction Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Part 1 Question: Are your (or your clients’) mobile strategies and plans inhibited or limited because of the current IT environment, infrastructure and/or design? Click to Enlarge Current IT environments, legacy systems and IT architectures are inhibiting mobile strategies and plans according to 78% of survey participants.  This represents a major competitive obstacle as data points to increasing use of mobile devices and applications.  Both the business and the IT organizations must quickly reach a consensus on how to invest and upgrade mobile infrastructures and supporting IT environments in order to remain comp

Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report, Part 1

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In my new report titled Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure,  I ask 80 IT and business professionals involved in enterprise mobility to answer a series of questions.  The results will be shared here in the following article series.  You can read the introduction to this report here . Question #1: How important will having optimized mobile applications and user experiences be to the future success of your business? Click to Enlarge Thirty-percent answered that optimized mobile applications and user experiences are “Critical” to the future success of their business, while seventy-percent of survey participants answered “Important” to “Very Important.”  These definitive responses suggest that businesses understand the key role mobile applications play today and will play in the future. What is left to be determined, however, is whether businesses fully understand how much effort and investment optimizing mobile applications and user experiences will require.  The quality of the use

Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Report - Introduction

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Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure Fortune 500 firms recognize the ubiquitous use of mobile devices, integrated sensors and broadband access to the Internet are profoundly impacting user expectations and the demand for real-time wireless information exchanges.  This can be witnessed in the fast changing expectations and shopping behaviors of mobile device empowered consumers all around us today. Demands for real-time wireless information exchanges, business analytics, media and transactional data are challenging traditional IT infrastructures, business processes and business strategies that were never designed to support a mobile and real-time world.  It is our belief that these demands and the challenges with supporting them will change the competitive landscape in most industries. Data has a shelf life.  It has a greater economic and competitive value the quicker it can be consumed and utilized. If mobile shoppers can open a mobile app and instantly be presented with a hyper-per

Starbuck's Code Halos and Mobile App Strategies

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Starbuck's Starbuck's is expanding the roll-out of their mobile ordering, loyalty and payment app.   This is one of the most interesting mobile apps from a major retailer that I have seen.  Before I summarize the key features and benefits, let me share the purpose of Starbuck's latest roll-out according to The Seattle Times' Angel Gonzauez,"...to draw more customers into a digital ecosystem that is closely entwined with its rewards program, whose users tend to buy more, and more often."  This is part of their plan to double revenue to $30 billion by 2019. Key points: Users of the app will be able to order and pay remotely - without being in the store.  No lines to stand in. The mobile app user can see, in real-time, how busy each store is (based on real-time POS data and mobile order volumes), and an estimate as to how long each store would take to deliver the order, and how long it would take you to walk or drive there.  The user can then select a

The Library of Kevin Benedict's MWC15 and Chennai Videos

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Kevin Benedict & Mani Bahl Chennai, India If you missed, ignored or somehow avoided watching the video series I filmed circumnavigating the globe these past two weeks talking about mobile technologies and digital transformation, then you have one more chance for redemption.  Here is the complete library for your enjoyment.  This series is also very good for healing insomniacs, and for ending a bad date.  Enjoy them or not! Digital Transformation, Future Job Opportunities and Chennai India Merchants of Ideas and Innovations Managing and Cultivating Mobile and Digital Transformation The State of Digital Transformation and Mobility in Asia - An Interview with Manish Bahl Barcelona the Smart City What's New in Mobility in 2015 - Reporting from MWC 2015 Mobile Expert Interviews: Microsoft's Rob Tiffany at MWC15 Mobile Expert Interviews: Xamarin's Steve Hall Kevin Benedict Interviews Micron's Mike Bokan at Mobile World Congress 2015 IoT and Sensors from AM

Barcelona the Smart City

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In this short video I review the recent Smart City award that Juniper Research recently gave to Barcelona and what it takes to be a smart city these days.  Enjoy! Video Link: https://youtu.be/ticVDU8V2fY ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Circumnavigating the Globe and Learning about Mobility, IoT and Digital Transformation

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I just circumnavigated the globe over a two week period.  I have never done that before.  I learned about mobile solutions, digital transformation, IoT, big data, Indian culture, the British Empire, English East Indies Company, Barcelona history and many other interesting subjects on this trip.  In this short video I summarized what I have learned about technologies and the latest trends over the past few weeks.  Enjoy! Video Link: https://youtu.be/-pISDSvz9aY?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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

IoT and Sensors from AMS at MWC15

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Last week, at the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, I had the opportunity to learn some very interesting details about IoT sensors.  In this short video interview I ask AMS to demonstrate and explain how their IoT sensors work.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://youtu.be/JWY7UGOjWMU?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst

Kevin Benedict Interviews Micron's Mike Bokan at Mobile World Congress 2015

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In Boise, Idaho, Micron is a very big deal.  They employ thousands of engineers and technicians in Boise to design, develop and manufacture memory for smartphones, sensors, computers and any other type of system requiring memory.  They are also a major donor to Boise State University and many other organizations in the region.  They are also a big deal in the rest of the world as their memory is found in most mobile and wireless devices at the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona this year.  In this interview with Micron's Mike Bokan, VP of Worldwide OEM Sales, we discuss the different kinds of mobile and IoT devices that require memory.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://youtu.be/xyr4r2TKhgU ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Mobile Expert Interviews: Xamarin's Steve Hall

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This week I am reporting and working at the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Spain. Between meetings, I hunt down mobile experts to interview and share with you here.  Today, we are privileged to have Xamarin's Steve Hall as our victim/guest.  In this interview we review Xamarin's latest press releases, partnerships and software development strategies.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://youtu.be/Ob01Io7IOLY ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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: These are my person

Mobile Expert Interviews: Microsoft's Rob Tiffany at MWC15

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This week I am working in Barcelona, Spain and attending the Mobile World Congress 2015. Yesterday, I met with my friend Rob Tiffany from Microsoft and recorded this interview on the latest developments in Microsoft Mobility.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://youtu.be/IBhnucLh60g ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and ha

What's New in Mobility in 2015 - Reporting from MWC 2015

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In this segment, filmed in Barcelona, Spain at the Mobile World Congress 2015, I share my observations of the latest trends and developments in mobile technologies and solutions in 2015.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://youtu.be/bqIZqdx4DDs ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companie

The Following Two Videos on Mobile Technologies are too Controversial to Show Here

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Sometimes I record video commentaries about the mobile industry that are just too controversial to publish.  They may identify trends, or identify select technologies and perhaps even vendors that you should avoid or embrace, while at other times the information is just too scary.  These two short videos, filmed in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress, are examples of videos I cannot publish. Video Link: http://youtu.be/BdI5TV3bTw0 Video Link: http://youtu.be/i5fwH2lUn-k?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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 G

Selfie Sticks - 2015's #2 Mobile Innovation Product of the Year and #9 World Wonder

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Step aside Thomas Edison, there is a new invention in town - the Selfie Stick.  It is changing the world of lonely travel, perception and image.  Don't leave home without it. Video Link: http://youtu.be/MtiFgm4P3eM?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of th

The State of Digital Transformation and Mobility in Asia - An Interview with Manish Bahl

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I had the privilege last week, while working in India, to interview Cognizant's Head of the Center for the Future of Work in Asia, Manish Bahl.  In this interview we discuss the current state of mobility and digital transformation across Asia.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://youtu.be/MtiFgm4P3eM?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn 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: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformati