Enterprise Mobility, Digital Transformation and the Virtuous Cycle

Mobile World Congress 2014

Last week over 80,000 people interested to learn how mobile technologies can improve the lives of humans, societies and businesses attended the Mobile World Congress 2014 (MWC14). The great thing is that all of these interests can and are happening at the same time.  It was and is a truly virtuous cycle.

While in Barcelona I stayed at a hotel on Gutenberg street.  Gutenberg street was named for Johannes Gutenberg who introduced printing to Europe. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the printing revolution which is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period.  It played a key role in the development of the renaissance, reformation (Gutenberg Bibles), the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses (source Wikipedia).

There are a lot of similarities between mobile and Internet technologies and the Gutenberg Presses. They all enable information to cross borders, economic classes, religions, political divides and races. Today it is possible for the accumulated knowledge of the world to be accessible to all that have an Internet connection and a device able to connect.

Gutenberg Press

The mobile technologies I witnessed at MWC14 are a transformational gift to humanity.  No longer can despots rule through secrecy and the assumed disorder and ignorance of the masses.  Mobile devices connected to social networking platforms have not only freed and democratized information and education, but also news, activities and events.  Mobility is the death to censorship, secrecy and tyranny.  It cannot improve the world without a good plan and organization to back it up, but it can certainly make the information necessary easier to access.

Mobile technologies and social networking platforms enable spontaneous swarming effects which can quickly bring order out of disorder, and at the same time disorder out of order.  Events can change overnight with real-time information. It has forced governments and despots to recognize the practice of governing has changed forever and that information transparency reigns.

The power of information, real-time information, should not be underestimated.  The ability to organize quickly for good has never been easier.  The ability to directly engage with friends, family members and customers anywhere in the world has never been easier.  Unleashed information changes the game forever.

We in the mobile industry are accustomed to focusing on the economic benefits of mobile technology - the ROIs - but I would encourage everyone to slow down once in a while and focus also on the societal benefits and the truly inspirational contributions mobile technology is bringing to humanity.

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation 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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Computing, High Speed Internet and Good Transportation is the Answer for the Heartland

There was an interesting article by Bill Kauffman in the Wall Street Journal today (October 20, 2009) in the Bookshelf section called Where Home Is, The Heart Isn't. It talks about the book Hollowing Out the Middle by husband and wife sociologists Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas that describes a trend where young people of intellect and ambition leave the middle of America for the coastlines. This migration has devastating effects on the middle of America according to the authors.

The sharpest insight in the book according to Kauffman is that "small towns play an unwitting role in their own decline" by promoting the idea that fulfilling one's dream means one must leave home for the big city lights along the shores.

I live in Boise, Idaho. A small town in the high desert at the base of the mountains far from any oceans. Mobile computing, high speed Internet and a nice airport has made this a great base to raise my family and develop a high tech career. I travel all over North America, Europe and even Australia from here. Hewlett Packard, Micron, Microsoft and Sybase have all established a presence here.

I propose that small cities or towns, far from the big city lights of the coast, can often provide a higher quality life, a higher standard of living and more options to travel and learn about the world. Why? The cost of living is often a fraction of what living in a large coastal city requires and you are left with more disposable income.

Let me pause here to say I love the coasts. I love traveling to San Francisco, Boston and New York City and other great cities. We travel to the coast often on business and as a family on relatively low cost airline tickets. We would be missing many wonderful experiences and sites if we never visited these locations. However, I must say it feels good to return home to the mountains and the blue turf in Boise.

Small towns in middle America must understand that mobile computing and high speed Internet have changed everything. Entrepreneurs can choose nearly any place in America to run national and international businesses. I am continually impressed by how many people I meet that work at large multi-national companies and live and work from home offices in Boise. The flights leaving the Boise airport are full of highly educated people working from home offices and traveling to see customers and attend company meetings around the USA and globally.

Today, "small" town should refer to the population size, not a frame of mind. I see Boise, Idaho as a place I live and raise a family, but the world is my workplace thanks to mobile computing, high speed internet and a great little airport.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobile Strategy, Sales and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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SAP and Mobile Computing

SAP's NetWeaver supports both connections to EDI trading partners, and to mobile computing devices. It is interesting to consider how similar traditional EDI and mobile computing are to each other. This article details some of the similarities.

The bottom line, both EDI and mobile computing require the exchange of data between the SAP ERP and a third party. In the context of mobile computing it is the mobile device. In the context of EDI it is your trading partner (supplier, customer, logistics partner, etc.)

If you would like to read more about SAP and EDI click here.

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http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com
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Technology Blogger Kevin Benedict Receives Top Contributor Award from SAP

Boise, ID (OPENPRESS) August 21, 2009 -- It was announced today that prolific technology blogger, Kevin Benedict was awarded the rank of Top Contributor by SAP SCN. This award was for the "contest year" which ran from August 1st to July 31st and was based on the participants rank within one of the specific categories on the SAP Community Network (forums, blogs, wikis, eLearning, downloads, etc.).

As a result of this award, Benedict joins a select group of alumnus in the greatest contributors "Community Hall of Fame" which includes a dedicated "wiki profile" on SAP's SCN. In addition, Benedict is invited to join the "Top Contributor" forum, a place for alumni to provide feedback and suggestions for making SCN a better and stronger community.

Benedict will also be receiving the "Top Contributor Quarterly" a newsletter reserved for Top Contributors that will provide advanced notices of new technologies and programs.

As a Top Contributor, Benedict has also been invited to SAP TechEd Phoenix and Vienna, and to attend an invitation-only get-together for SAP TechEd Speakers, SAP Mentors, SAP Community Top Contributors, Bloggers, SAP Executives and ASUG Leadership.

Benedict has also been invited, as a member of a select group of technical gurus and business process thought leaders at SAP TechEd, to host a meeting at the Experts Networking Lounge in Phoenix & Vienna. He will also be awarded preferred seating in the Keynote Theater and recognition onstage during the popular Demo Jam.

Benedict is an industry thought leader in the areas of EDI, B2B, mobile computing and business process automation and maintains a popular enterprise technology blog at http://b2b-bpo.blogspot.com. He is the Business Development and SAP Relationship Manager at Crossgate, an SAP-centric and SAP co-owned EDI and B2B exchange. Benedict works closely with SAP customers and SAP sales teams to architect world class EDI and B2B strategies.

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http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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Tools, Parts & Mobile Work Order Solutions on Handheld PDAs

We have had several requests recently to combine mobile work order solutions with inventory and asset tracking applications for use on mobile handheld PDAs. This is not unusual, it just points out the fact that companies are recognizing a great deal of value from mobilizing business processes. Here is an example:

The company wants to track any employees that enter the stockroom where both inventory and tools are kept, and track anything that is removed by them. They would do this by matching the employee's ID cards, with the customer's work order and any inventory or tools that are used on the work order.

This solution would better control the use of tools and inventory, and ensure they are appropriately billed to the customer's work order. This system would provide the following ROI:

1. Reduce missing inventory
2. Bill the customer appropriately for inventory usage
3. Bill the customer appropriately for the use of tools
4. Track the tools and who has them (asset tracking)
5. Assign inventory and tools to an employee for accountability
6. Reduce the labor needed to manage inventory, billing, and assets
   

Re-engineering Business Processes with Handheld PDA Solutions

MobileDataforce's professional services teams are working on dozens of mobile software projects globally at any given time. As a result, we have gained through experience in-depth knowledge about how mobile solutions can change companies, their business processes and the way they think. Let's discuss a few of the things we have seen and learned:

1. Companies rarely understand the full extent of the changes mobile software solutions will bring to their organization
2. Most mobile software projects start small and have a very limited user base and business focus
3. As the users begin to test and adopt the new mobile software solutions, they most often expand the project as they quickly recognize the efficiencies that can be gained by using mobile software solutions that are tied into corporate database applications
4. There is usually some point about 80% through the mobile software development project when there is a loud "AHA!" that echos the halls of our clients' offices - they get it. They can see beyond their immediate project to the potential of mobility
5. Mobility is a process - a company may start with mobile phones, then move on to email syncing & SMS, then full bi-directional synchronization of corporate data to mobile handheld computers and specialized mobile software applications
6. Companies may start with mobilizing their field service technicians, but rapidly expand to mobile CRM, mobile shipping and inventory status, mobile asset management, quality assurance inspections and reporting, real-time mobile business analytics for the management team, route accounting and proof of delivery for the truck (or lorry) drivers. The more the company learns, the more they realize the benefits of mobile data solutions
7. If a company has started down the path to mobilizing their operations and business processes, but have chosen to hardcode or custom program each of these processes as separate projects - they will quickly realize their error in not starting with a full mobile software platform
8. The mobile software platform - is a server based product that supports a standardized way of designing, developing and deploying multiple mobile software projects in a manner that is easily learned and supported by IT
9. Once the mobile software platform (the PointSync Mobility Platform is one option) is in place, all IT developers, consultants and technical support personnel can be trained on the same platform and method for efficiencies and speed of development
10. The mobile software platform supports the design, development, deployment, support, version control of applications, publishing of applications to mobile devices, data security configurations, database integrations and much more

The key concept in this process is to start with a mobile software platform - this enables you to build up and support large numbers of mobilized business processes and projects in the same efficient manner. If a company chooses to custom build every project from scratch, the efficiencies of development and support will never be realized.

Handheld PDA Solutions for First Responders and Mobile Business Processes on the Server Side

I have written several times about the benefits of automating business processes on mobile handheld devices, so this time I am going to focus on automating business processes once the data is synchronized from the handheld device in the field to the server in the office.

Last week I visited Patron Systems in Boulder, Colorado. They are a software company focused on law enforcement and public safety. They have sophisticated business processes built into their mobile law enforcement applications that include real-time queries to multiple disparate databases to auto-fill eforms on laptops. Once the data is collected on the law enforcement form, it can be synchronized and routed to a police supervisor for review. It stays in a "work que" until the supervisor either approves or rejects it. If rejected it is returned to the original officer for editing and correction or if approved gets sent to the record management system for storage.

This is an example of how data collected in the field can activate an automated business process/workflow back at the office. The data is routed to a specific location, and a specific person/position to review, make a decision and then act upon. Once there is an item in the work que, the person is notified that there is an action required. This is an important concept - the person does not have to remember, or look things up, they are notified there is work to do. This is "automating" a business processes. If the eform is rejected as incomplete it will be sent back to the original author's "work que" and the officer will be notified. Again the significance of this step is that the workflow/business process will notify an officer in the field that there is additional work required.

The above example of an automated business process demonstrates the ability to start a process/workflow in the field, move the process to the office and then back to the field. This is a "mobile and automated" business process. The more you can define and automate "best practices" the higher quality and better your products and services will be.

Workflows can be automated by using mobile software platforms that are integrated with a central database server. Business rules, triggers and other methodologies and tools can be used to automate your processes on the database.