Showing posts with label mobile consultant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mobile consultant. Show all posts

SAP Mobile DSD - 5 Considerations

I want to thank Anup Alex, VP Consulting with Unvired, for sharing his mobile and SAP expertise with us in this guest blog article.

Direct Store Delivery (DSD) is a method of selling or distributing products for a variety of industries like food, beverage, personal care, etc. SAP offers a module on DSD which is part of SAP's  ECC/ERP.  DSD has tight integration to SAP SD, MM, FI and Logistics which makes it one of the preferred solutions across the world.  In addition, SAP offers a Mobile DSD solution as an optional module for customers who like to avoid the manual paper based approach. There are a few considerations when implementing Mobile DSD in an enterprise that I want to share from my experience.

Is the current business process good enough to implement SAP DSD?
There are a few things you may want to consider when implementing SAP DSD. These are things like the use of Bill of Material (BOM), Empties management and Single Sales Area for each route.  Without these, you may be limited in the use of some features SAP DSD provides out-of-the-box, or you will need to custom development them.

Mobile DSD or Paper Based DSD?
Over the last 6-8 years, there has been a lot of demand for mobilizing the DSD process in enterprises. Mobilization eliminates much of the manual effort required to enter data in order/delivery, cash collection, stock, money checkout and check-in. Customers can be issued real-time legal invoices with electronic signature capture, PODs, cash receipts etc, all in real-time at the customer's site. Mobilization can also provide on-the-fly determination of promotions and seasonal discounts which are powerful features of an ERP like SAP ECC. In summary these features can provide faster sales and logistics execution, and eliminate theft.

Which scenarios are meant to be driven via Mobile DSD?
SAP DSD supports Delivery Driver, Van Sales, Pre-Sales and Mixed scenarios. In an ideal world, using a single Mobile DSD solution for all these scenarios would be best and would optimize your ROI.

Many customers also choose to add customer/product surveys, checklists and some field service related features to the solution so their mobile salesforces can collect this data onsite.

The right technology platform to mobilize DSD
While mobilization is important to optimizing the benefits of DSD, it’s very important to choose the right platform to enable it. Some key requirements are:
  • scalability
  • native support for multiple device types
  • offline/online capability
  • high volume data handling
  • roles/group management
  • a messaging platform for instant alerting and notifications
  • geo capabilities
  • central device administration and remote trouble shooting
  • seamless online-offline capability of device software.

Selecting the right devices to mobilize DSD
Selecting the right mobile device is very important.  Often companies, in order to save money, simply leverage existing devices to run MDSD.  However, especially in the MDSD world where there are deliveries, a ruggedized device should be considered.   In the ruggedized handheld category that means you will most likely be choosing between a Windows Mobile device or the new ruggedized Android devices.  Even though Windows Mobile OS is outdated, it still may have an edge over Android in-terms of enterprise readiness.  It is easier to integrate with many different peripherals such as barcode scanners and printers. Android on the other hand could be giving the better results in terms of application software usability experience. I would also suggest looking at new ruggedized Android tablets.

For non-delivery driver scenarios, there is a plethora of smartphone choices including iPhones, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone and tablets.

~ Anup Alex, VP Consulting with Unvired
*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Geo-fencing, GPS Tracking and SAP Enterprise Mobility

Geo-fencing
Have you thought much about geo-fencing and its value to your business?  To me, it is a very interesting feature of most GPS tracking systems and a useful feature when you want to track locations of resources, materials, equipment and other assets.  Here is how geo-fencing works - when a location-aware device (GPS tracking enabled) enters or exits a particular geographic area that is configured (in the GPS tracking system) with a geo-fence boundary, the device sends or receives an alert/notification.  This notification can be the trigger for any number of clever business processes that you can design.

How is a geo-fence useful?  You can view, in real-time, when vehicles, equipment, materials and mobile devices enter or exit a job site, depots, routes or any other geographically defined area.  You can see when a truck is arriving at a warehouse and route it to the first available warehouse dock.  You can let the job site manager know when materials are about to arrive so they can be prepared to receive it.  For security reasons, you can set geo-fences around job sites so any vehicle, machine or equipment leaving the job site after work hours sends you a notification.  This can be an effective anti-theft feature.

You can also use geo-fencing to notify customers when you are nearing their location.  Let's say that a service technician is dispatched to a customer's location.  When the service technician is estimated to be 15 minutes from the customer's site, a text message is automatically sent to the customer notifying them of the estimated time of arrival.  This certainly is an appreciated customer service interaction.

Another scenario is the arrival on your job site of a specialized piece of equipment.  When it is 1 mile from the job site, the site manager is notified so they can meet the driver and show them where the equipment needs to be off-loaded.

Another use of geo-fences is to identify all resources and assets within a particular area.  Let's say a service technician is dispatched for an emergency repair at a remote location.  It might be prudent to look for other maintenance or repair jobs that can be done at the same location while the service technician is there.

Some companies have service contracts to maintain and repair all customer equipment for a given period of time.  In these situations, the service organization tries to optimize their services and service visits in order to maximize profits.  I worked on a mobile project with a commercial HVAC company (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) in the UK that worked on these terms.  The first thing they did when they signed on a new customer is geo-tag all equipment that they agreed to service.  This enabled them to understand the exact location of all equipment under contract.  Once this was completed, they could geo-fence areas and know exactly how they could optimize service visits in particular areas.

There are an unlimited number of uses for geo-fencing.  I know SAP has a program in place to quickly determine the location of their employees in case of emergencies.  SAP wants to be able to support their employees in times of emergencies and they can set geo-fences around particular areas to quickly see who is there.  I don't believe they are using GPS tracking in these cases - I think they just have a way to see who is in a particular area based on schedules, home and office locations.

The military uses geo-fencing to organize their missions.  Weapons have defined effective ranges.  Aircraft have limited ranges based on fuel consumption.  Soldiers have travel limitations based upon available transportation.  Are they required to walk, drive or be flown in.  All of these tasks and resources have limits.  Understanding locations, resources, schedules and limitations enable commanders to effectively identify and organize missions based upon these variables and timing.  In my mobile strategy workshops I call these "optimized intersections."

*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 5 Lessons Learned from Mobilizing SAP in the Cloud

I am excited to present this article from mobility expert Srini Subramanian.  He is the CTO at Unvired and shares his experiences implementing mobility in the cloud in SAP environments with us.


Working with SAP customers on the cloud has been a rich learning and myth busting experience in many ways.  Contrary to popular belief, a number of SAP customers do have a strong affinity for deploying solutions via the cloud.  So what are the insights from our first set of cloud customers?

1. Cloud is relevant and top of the mind for SAP customers 
Many of them already use other solutions such as Salesforce, Workday, Successfactors, etc. and integrate these SAAS / cloud solutions to their SAP systems in a number of ways.  A cloud based delivery of the mobile platform struck a chord with many of the CIO/CTO and IT heads that we spoke to.  It is also a known fact that on-premise or hosted data centers running the dedicated SAP instances need to co-exist with the cloud based platforms / solutions.  A flexible approach to cloud deployment without disrupting existing landscapes is what customers want.

2. Security
Data security is of paramount importance to all customers.  Business data is being unlocked and the safe guarding of that data while it is put to innovative usages needs to be the bedrock of any cloud platform.  The heads of IT recognize that email on mobile is already putting sensitive data on the device and data from business systems like SAP is not new, but only enhancing the amount of data on the device.  Also MDM solutions complement the security needs of the mobile platforms.

Security in the mobile context can be: Data on the cloud, data in transit and data on the device.  The mobile platform does not need to replicate the data from customer systems to the cloud.  Data is held on the cloud in encrypted form only for as long as it is required to be delivered safely to the device.  Data in transit is secured via standard HTTPS/SSL and data on the device is stored in encrypted databases.

3. Time to deploy, rapid change
Companies want to deploy mobile solutions rapidly and they don’t want to wait.  Reasons are many but the primary one is that deployments on mobile devices are in response (or to preempt) to business demands (like approvals on the Go, sales order creation etc) and are time sensitive.  In many cases, deploying the solution a few months later means reduced business relevance.  So solutions need to be rapidly deployed and be adaptable to rapid changes requested by business users.

4. ROI matters, no more POCs
Good old fashioned ROI still matters. Customers are hesitant to make huge investments into POCs with limited production relevance. Customers want quick and free trials with their own SAP systems and mobile devices eliminating the POCs. After the trial, customers are more interested in iterative roll out of mobile processes and investing in shorter bursts as and when required.  Customers want to see bang for the buck quickly as unlike investments in SAP and other systems wherein the investment is depreciated over 10 to 15 years.  Mobile investments are for much shorter periods of 2 to 3 years.  BYOD phenomenon, short device life and mobile manufacturer / telco driven periodic device refresh have driven the shorter shelf life in the mobile investments.

5. Pay as you go / scale as you go
This is a preference for many customers.  Rarely do we find that customers want to go for a big bang deployment of mobile solutions.  Additional deployments, requiring purchasing of (expensive) additional users, are a dampener for larger mobile adoption.  Also significant churn in employees’ headcount due to challenging business circumstances means customers want to not just buy additional users but also return users.  This new trend / requirement of return of users is done much easier in a cloud environment. 


Author: Srini Subramanian, Chief Technology Officer at Unvired, Inc. srinivasan.subramanian@unvired.com
***

If you have lessons learned that you would like to share here, please contact me!

*Would you like my free mid-year enterprise mobility survey report?  If so, please take the survey now and receive the report for free!

Survey link - http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e64mo7lmh4g6ur76/start

*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

First Report - Mid-Year Enterprise Mobility Survey

I have just scanned through the first 53 survey responses, and wanted to share an early result.  By the way, if you have not already taken the quick survey, please do so here!  You will receive the final survey report free if you take it.

The question: What are your biggest challenges to implementing enterprise mobility today?  The top four challenges identified so far in order are:
  1. Choosing which mobile operating systems to support
  2. Selecting the right mobile security platform
  3. Determining the right ERP integration strategy
  4. Selecting the right mobile platform
Please invite all of your contacts to also take this survey so we can get the most accurate information possible to base our strategies on.  Here is the survey link, http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e64mo7lmh4g6ur76/start.  Remember, anyone that takes the survey gets the final report free!

*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Kevin Benedict's Video Comments: Optimized Intersections and Mobility

I believe that it is important to understand high level concepts in order to make sense of detailed plans.  Last week, I was in Spain attending a field services related conference and listened to a field services manager explain the importance of teaching service technicians the economics of service businesses.  He wanted his team to understand what it meant to optimize their business, and the role that mobile technologies played in that optimization effort.  I agreed!

In this segment of the Video Comments, I share the concept of Optimized Intersections.  Optimized Intersections consists of the following:

  • Mobilized workforce
  • Latitude
  • Longitude
  • Altitude
  • Time
  • Mobilized Objects
I hope you find this concept useful.



*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

ASUG Webinar - Enterprise Mobility 2012


I am going to be sharing my latest research on enterprise mobility and mobile strategies on an upcoming April 19th ASUG webinar.  I invite you to join!  Here are the details:

Join ASUG Gold Affiliate member Syclo for its webcast featuring Kevin Benedict, an independent mobility analyst and mobile strategies consultant.  Kevin will be speaking on Enterprise Mobility in 2012 scheduled for Thursday, April 19, 2012.  Register Here!  One challenge, it appears you need to email the contact if you want to attend the webinar, but are not an ASUG member.

Description: The demand for enterprise mobile applications is exploding right now and driving many organizations to make tough choices about their business and technology mobile strategies. Join the presenters of this webcast as they examine the 2012 enterprise mobility market, including its challenges, trends, and fragmented operating systems.

The second half of the webinar will be presented by ASUG Gold Affiliate member Syclo, who will be sharing how to efficiently develop and support multiple mobile applications on multiple mobile devices and operating systems.


*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

How Long is too Long for Mobile App Development?

A few years ago my team was developing a massive mobile application for a food and beverage distributor.  It was a mistake.  The complexity of the application, basically a mobile ERP, required an extended length of development time.  During this development cycle, the requirements changed weekly as our customer thought more about each workflow and business process.

The complexity of this custom mobile application, developed as one large mobile app, ensured repeated lengthy debugging efforts, increased costs and length of development time.   This was around 2005 and we had a lot to learn.

The project was ultimately done successfully and to everyone's satisfaction, but we experienced pain and learned a great deal.  Just about every company of size will have some need for custom mobile applications, however, do each of these applications need to be giant apps with long development times?  I think not.  The food and beverage mobile app should have been about a dozen different mobile apps.  Yes, they could share a menu or UI, but behind the curtains there should have been many separate apps that could be independently developed, tested and updated.

PSION EP10 PDA
An additional challenge was that every new version of the mobile app required a major effort to update all of the remote workers, mobile devices.  This was an inconvenient and expensive effort.

Today, there are new mobility vendors and strategies that approach these kinds of projects differently.  Webalo, for example, enables their customers to configure their own mobile apps in hours online in a SaaS based model in the cloud.  I read a press release about one of their recent customer projects today that was interesting and highlighted how much this model is different from the development and deployment models of old.  Here is a quote from their customer Nixon Hire, "Our customers’ needs are constantly changing, so we need to be flexible, and flexibility was one of the advantages we saw in Webalo,” said David Balmer, Group IT Manager at Nixon Hire. “We’re able to select the exact data and functionality that each mobile employee needs and give them mobile access in a remarkably short time for an insignificant cost.”

Many business models require constant and rapid changes to mobile apps.  I remember meeting with a large utility contractor about their mobility needs.  The utility contractor absolutely required mobile apps, and believed they would benefit from them but to my knowledge they never got them.  Why?  Every contracted job they did had different data requirements.  Building custom mobile apps that took months to design, development and deploy would never work for them.  They required a mobility vendor that would enable them to rapidly develop, edit, configure and deploy in days.  They needed basically a disposable mobile app for each new project.  This is not supported by your average mobility vendor business model.

Companies that require disposable mobile apps, or apps that need to be changed often and rapidly need a business model where they can subscribe to mobile services, rather than particular mobile apps.  Also, companies just learning about mobility can benefit from cloud based mobile solutions that can be quickly developed and configured for proof of concepts.

It is also important to recognize when the content of a mobile app is more important than the mobile app itself.  Sometimes you are just looking for a name or number.  Sometimes you just want to say "yes" or "no" to a question.  It does not require rocket science for these kind of solutions.

Aberdeen Group, in their Mobility in ERP 2011 report, said best in class companies should be looking to deliver "role" based mobile websites (or mobile apps).  What does this mean?  It means having the ability to quickly develop custom mobile apps/websites for each person or role in your company.  In order to accomplish that goal, you need a different business model than most mobility vendors are set-up to provide.

More from Aberdeen Group,  "Best-in-Class companies spend 25% of the work week trying to access information, all the others spend almost 40% of their time trying to access information."  Sometimes just providing quicker access to information via a mobile app is enough of an ROI.





*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Thoughts on Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Banking and Global Economies

I have recently been reading a number of articles about mobile banking innovations in Kenya and what vendors like SAP's Sybase 365 and other companies are doing to support it.  Most people in Kenya, and many other less developed countries, don't own smartphones.  However, most do own basic mobile phones with text messaging capabilities.  As a result, many vendors and banks have built sophisticated text message-based banking services.  The following is a list of some of the available text message-based capabilities and services available in Kenya.
  • Person-to-person money transfers
  • Fund remittance from the UK to Kenya
  • Local and international money transfer
  • Loan payments
  • Product purchasing
  • Airtime purchasing
  • Funds transfers from interest-bearing accounts
  • Balance inquiries
  • Money requests
  • Attaching short messages to text-based payments
  • Inviting friends to join mobile banking services 
  • Five different mobile front-ends available: WAP, SMS, Voice, USSD, and STK

SAP's Sybase 365 powers many of these text-based banking systems.  I read about Sybase 365 from time to time, but it deserves to be in the spotlight even more for it has the capacity to help revolutionize many economies.

In the book The Birth of Plenty, the noted financial expert and neurologist William J. Bernstein identifies four conditions that when occurring simultaneously are the formula for human (economic) progress.  They are as follows:
  1. Respect for property rights (inventors must have proper incentives to protect their inventions).
  2. Belief in scientific rationalism (society must possess the proper intellectual tools to support innovation and progress without penalty).
  3. Existing and functioning capital markets (businesses must have sufficient capital to pursue their visions and business plans).
  4. Effective transportation and communication systems (society must rapidly and effectively move information and finished products).
I believe that mobile technologies can help with at least two out of the four of these conditions.  Mobile text-based banking systems can provide trusted and formal banking services where they didn't formerly exist.  They can also provide rapid and effective transportation (of funds) and communication systems (that open up and support free markets).

A few years ago I read an article from The Wall Street Journal written by Ronald Bailey entitled, The Secrets of Intangible Wealth.  In this article Mr. Bailey writes about a report from the World Bank entitled, "Where is the Wealth of Nations?: Measuring Capital for the 21st Century."  The bottom line is that a nation's wealth is greatly determined by intangibles such as:
  1. Trust among people in a society
  2. An efficient judicial system
  3. Clear property rights
  4. Effective government
Bailey says that these four items, identified as "intangible capital", boost productivity of labor and result in higher total wealth.  The World Bank concludes the report by summarizing its findings as, "Human capital and the value of institutions (as measured by the rule of law) constitute the largest share of wealth in virtually all countries."

Mobile banking and mobile technologies can introduce formal banking systems, run by internationally trusted institutions, into economies and regions that previously were under-served, or lacked trusted institutions that would support economic development.

If you review the list of services (above) now available using simple and inexpensive mobile phones, you can begin to understand that mobile technologies can not only help to improve governments, but also economies.

*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to Use MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Kevin Benedict's
Enterprise Mobility
Workshops - see how I
match the wallpaper!
The site www.MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com has grown considerably since it was first started in 2006, and now contains over 1,400 articles.  Many if not most people don't have the time to browse this site in detail, so I wanted to quickly share some of the resources available for your quick reference.

  • Read interviews or listen to podcast interviews with 90+ mobile experts here.
  • Watch over 100+ video interviews with enterprise mobility experts here.
  • Read and browse market numbers, trends, charts and analyst projections here in the archives of Mobility News Weekly.
  • Read Field Mobility News archives here.
  • Read Mobility Marketing News Weekly archives here.
  • Read Mobile Commerce News Weekly archives here.
  • Read our newest weekly newsletter, Mobile Medical News Weekly archive here.
On the right sidebar of www.MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com is a table of contents.  The table of contents is organized by year, month and day.  So you can even go back as far as 2006 and learn what was happening then in enterprise mobility.

You can subscribe to this blog site and receive all newsletters and articles directly through email or an RSS Reader by "Subscribing" which is available on the left sidebar.

You can search for particular subjects in all 1,400+ articles by using the search function on the right sidebar.

I first developed this site to share experiences implementing enterprise mobility solutions and delivering projects.  Later, I added my research findings, analysis and opinions.  Over time, I became a full time mobility analyst and now publish daily newsletters, interviews, videos, podcasts, surveys and analyst reports all on the subject of enterprise mobility.

I now travel regularly around the globe to speak at conferences and to present workshops on enterprise mobility, my research and mobile strategies.  If you are interested in the details of any of my enterprise mobility workshops or consulting services please contact me here.

Enjoy!  Thank you for being a reader!  Happy Holidays!!!

*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Expert Video Series: K2 Partnering's Fabio Paradiso

A couple of weeks ago while I was in Singapore teaching enterprise mobility and mobile strategy workshops, I was able to spend a humid equatorial afternoon with an Italian, Fabio Paradiso from K2 Partnering discussing enterprise mobility and mobile commerce with local businesses.  In this video Fabio shares some of his insights on mobility in Asia.




*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Expert Video Series: Jemena's Tinashe Mutimbe

I met Tinashe Mutimbe over dinner at ClickSoftware's ClickConnect APAC 2011 conference in Manly, Australia this week.  We had a very interesting discussion about enterprise mobility in the utilities industry and he was kind enough to agree to a video interview.  Thanks Tinashe!






*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Audio Podcast- Mobility News Weekly, May 5, 2011

Download this audio podcast of all the mobility news for the week.  Listen to Kevin Benedict's obnoxious voice as he covers the subjects of mobility market trends, field mobility, mobile retailing, mobile marketing and mobile money.

Listen to the audio podcast here!



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
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Redstone Arsenal’s (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile

*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Advice for Mobile Start-ups: Working with SAP, Part 5

Part 4 of this series may have demoralized some mobile start-ups hoping to work closely with SAP, but Part 5 in this series provides solutions to many of the challenges identified in Part 4. Let's now take a closer look at some of the comments I made in Part 4.

The SAP customer is simplifying their IT infrastructure to reduce complexity and no non-SAP technology will be added unless it is approved by 17 business and IT committees. Who has the time to fight this battle?

  • Embed your solution in SAP so it becomes a part of SAP and avoids these issues (Sky Technologies, a Certified SAP Partner embeds their mobile solutions in SAP)
  • Simply provide a mobile application or iPhone view of SAP's current applications (Mobile micro-apps)

The IT Managers only want to learn mobile technology that will add to their resume and help them get their next assignment. The cool mobile technology that they just witnessed does not have its own category on the IT recruiters' websites. They want NAME power on their resume.

  • Show IT managers how to extend their current SAP infrastructure and code to mobile applications. This will accomplish their purposes.
  • Show IT managers that your solution is from a Certified SAP Partner

The SAP system integrator does not support the mobile technology, so recommends some other mobile solution that they support and have trained experts on.

  • Go directly to the end user with your message and evangelize and educate them. Build support internally for the "best" mobile technology. Close the deal first, then motivate the system integrator to be trained on your mobile technology and play a role in the implementation.

The SAP sales team does not get quota credit on it, but they do on another mobile solution. If the sales person does not make their numbers they are fired, so they do not care which mobile technology is better if it does not help keep their job.

  • Find a way for your mobile technology to sell more SAP licenses and products. Perhaps the mobile workforce that is not currently using SAP licenses will need them if they are connected via mobile devices. This would encourage the SAP sales force to work with you to sell more SAP licenses. Think in terms of the SAP AE's interests as well as the customers.

SAP's Industry Principals and Solutions Managers also must be very selective as to the mobile technology they recommend. They would not want to recommend a product that was not on the SAP price list or Certified Partner list, unless there was no other viable choice or this product helped sell other SAP licenses that benefited the SAP sales team.

  • SAP has only identified a few mobile categories for partnerships; field service automation, route/delivery and mobile CRM. I can tell you from personal experience that hundreds of mobile applications are needed in most large enterprises. Mobile applications that deal with security, asset management, inspections, compliance, job estimating, fleet management, engineering, construction, logistics, etc. There are massive opportunities to mobilize these business processes.
  • Show the SAP user and the SAP sales team how you can help them.

SAP customers are often on 5 year plans. These plans include upgrades, roll-outs, add-ons, customization, old product sun setting, mergers and acquisitions, etc. What does this mean to the mobile entrepreneur? It means your product needs a 5 year road map that aligns with SAP and the SAP customer's. If it does not, you are unlikely to survive the first round.

  • Be the thought leader and explain where mobility is going to be in 5 years. Tell them why your solution is better aligned with the direction of mobility than any.

The biggest project and highest priority in the company is around route delivery improvement, and your project is mobile SAP CRM. The route delivery mobility vendor agrees to extend their mobile solution into mobile CRM and since it is a higher priority, you lose.

  • Understand the decision making process, organizational chart and budget limits within IT and the department you are targeting. Can you keep the project cost below the threshold that requires additional management approvals? Can you break down your project so that yearly costs keep it below the approval thresholds so you can simply focus on this one department until it is firmly established?

The CIO will never get invited to speak in front of thousands at Sapphire if they choose your solution. Your user conferences could be held at Denny's.

  • Become a Certified SAP partner and attend Sapphire yourself. Be a mobile solution provider in a different category than other larger mobility vendors. Be the mobile application provider for; food processors, engineers, bridge inspections, healthcare, quality assurance, sustainability, etc., and then expand your mobile offerings. That is exactly what all the other mobile partners of SAP are doing.

If you would like to discuss these strategies and/or my consulting practice please contact me.

Related Articles:

____________________________

Author Kevin Benedict
Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert

http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert and as such I work with, and have worked with, many of the companies mentioned in my articles.


- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Interviews with Kevin Benedict