Gartner's New 2012 Magic Quadrant for Field Services

Have you seen the new 2012 magic quadrant on field services from Gartner?  It is quite strange.  SAP is listed in the bottom left even after the Syclo acquisition?  I thought Syclo was all about mobile enterprise asset management which is very closely aligned with field services (think preventative maintenance and repairs).

ClickSoftware, however, is listed far above everyone else in the top right quadrant.  The strange part is that SAP resells ClickSoftware's solutions as the SAP Workforce Scheduling and Optimization solution and it utilizes the SAP Mobility Platform.  What a small world we all live in.  It seems the Gartner analysis is less about the technology, and more about how it is positioned in the market.  I say that because you can get the same solution from both companies yet they are far apart on the MQ.

My analysis is that field services is much more than just a mobile app platform.  It includes dynamic scheduling, rostering, forecasting, time sheets, planning, etc.   Mobility is simply extending and enhancing the power of those solutions.  Without those connected back-office solutions, mobility loses much of its value.  That is how I interpret the MQ.  What about you?

More pondering... This must present a real dilemma for SAP sales folks selling into field services opportunities.  Should they sell their prospects the SAP Workforce Scheduling and Optimization solution by ClickSoftware, which is on their price list and listed in the very top right Gartner MQ for Field Services and sits on top of the SAP Mobility Platform, or should they sell their prospects just SAP Mobility Platform which is listed in the bottom left.  Yikes!  That is going to require some strategy.

In a timely but coincidental note, I will be joining Stewart Hill from ClickSoftware at 11 AM EST on November 13th to present a webinar titled, "Using Mobile Technology to Drive Business Visibility and Real-time Decision Making."  What a fun subject!!!  I invite you to join the discussion by registering here.
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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC, Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

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.

The Importance of Mobile EAM and M2M

Wireless Remote Sensors

In a session I attended on enterprise mobility a few weeks ago the speaker said that he divides mobility into three parts; 1) Extending mobility to internal employees, 2) Extending mobility to external customers, and 3) mobile EAM (enterprise asset management).  What do you think of those categories?

SAP announced their first three mobility applications that will be released in the next 5 weeks and one of them is mobile EAM that integrates with SAP.  They prioritized EAM, and then met with their co-innovation partner Syclo to ensure them that they were making a simple/basic EAM application and not competing in a significant way with the complex, industry specific mobile EAM applications that Syclo has invested in over the past decade.  At the same time Syclo is now embracing SUP as their platform for SAP customers.

In the mobility ecosystem SAP had three early co-innovation partners; RIM, Sybase and Syclo.  One of their co-innovation partners was a specialist in EAM.  Again, SAP prioritized mobile EAM.
 

Jim Snabe, Co-CEO of SAP mentioned sensors many times in his presentations during SAPPHIRENOW 2011.  Remote and wireless sensors are used primarily to monitor, track and manage enterprise assets.  High value assets of all kinds are now including wireless embedded sensors.  I spoke with the IT team at Whirlpool appliances last year about this subject and they have an entire product line of appliances that are "smart" and communicate with wireless sensors.

The military (download and read this whitepaper) and the healthcare industry are embracing M2M as fast as they can fund and implement it.  What is your organization doing to take advantage of EAM solutions and M2M?

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
Exclusive SAP Mentor and Blogger Briefing:  Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform
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
Redstone Arsenal's (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile


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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 Mobility News Weekly

Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly

Read The Field Mobility News Weekly

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.

M2M - Growth Opportunities for MNOs in Developed Markets

The new M2M analyst report that I just finished has now been uploaded and is available on the Maximizing Wireless Profits website.  M2M, machine-to-machine communications, is a very intriguing market.  It is closely related to enterprise mobility in that mobile devices (embedded mobile devices, remote sensors and monitors) are collecting and sending data back to a central server. The audiences for this report are mobile network operators (MNOs), M2M and mobile enterprise software companies.

Handset driven customer growth has reached the saturation point in many regions of the world and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are looking for new applications, new markets and new technologies for their next phase of growth. Machine to machine (M2M) devices and applications are an area of wireless data usage with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 25% per year through 2014 and a projected need for up to 50 billion M2M devices by 2025. In addition, low churn rates, low acquisition and operational costs, expected long product lifecycles, and a market that needs many additional value added services makes this a compelling market opportunity for many MNOs.

Why is the M2M market interesting for enterprises?  Nearly all high value assets and equipment that are remote or mobile could benefit from having an embedded mobile device in sensors and monitors that provide information wirelessly back to the asset management and tracking system at the office.  Pressure gauges, measurements, volumes, temperatures, operating hours, mileage, etc., can all be collected and wirelessly sent to the central management system. 

When a piece of remote equipment begins having problems, an alert can be wirelessly sent to the asset management and work order management system so repairs can be scheduled.  Maintenance schedules can also be set based upon data collected by remote monitors.

Embedded mobile devices can also be implemented to both send and receive data.  Some M2M systems provide the capability for instructions to be sent to remote monitors that will change settings on equipment.  I have read about large trucks having their engines adjusted remotely to improve performance or fuel mileage.

I believe that mobile enterprise application platforms (MEAPs) may expand to support M2M data integration that will be used by enterprise asset management systems and service optimization solutions like SAP's mobility partner ClickSoftware at some point.  The data, whether coming from a smartphone or a remote sensor, looks the same to the platform.  It is just data coming in wirelessly to the system.

There are some very interesting M2M companies like Enfora that are offering a wide range of specialized M2M devices, services and systems.  Enfora is a provider of wireless networking solutions that enable enterprises to access, analyze and leverage information from their geographically dispersed assets.  It is interesting to read about how their solutions are being implemented and the ROIs their customers are experiencing.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile & M2M Industry Analyst
CEO/Principal Consultant, Netcentric Strategies LLC
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://twitter.com/krbenedict
***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Mobile Expert Video Series: Syclo's CEO Rich Padula

SAP has many partners in the mobility industry, but only three co-innovation level partners in the enterprise mobility space.  They are:

1. Sybase (SAP announced their intent to acquire Sybase)
2. RIM (the BlackBerry folks)
3. Syclo (EAM - mobile enterprise asset management experts)

At Sapphire this year I was able to interview Rich Padula, Syclo's CEO.  I asked him to explain the "co-innovation" partnership program with SAP and what it really means.

Syclo's mobile solutions include pre-packaged and pre-integrated applications that mobilize CRM, ERP and EAM systems to improve communications and data capture.

For more interviews in the Mobile Expert Video Series click here.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile Industry Analyst
CEO/Principal Consultant, Netcentric Strategies LLC
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://twitter.com/krbenedict
***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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