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

The Impact of Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is a revenue growth engine according to fifty futurists we surveyed.  Many companies are already experiencing significant benefits and gaining competitive advantages. The futurists predicted the top five impacts of digital transformation on businesses by the year 2020 will be:
  1. Speed to market
  2. Competitive positioning
  3. Revenue growth
  4. Productivity
  5. New distribution channels 
Given the importance of these top-five on revenue growth and the future success of a business, who would not want to digitally transform their enterprise?  Non-believers that's who.  Non-believers, aka laggards, in our study of 2,000 executives don't believe in significant digital transformation now, or in the future.  They don't demonstrate a sense of urgency or a recognition of the massive changes happening around them today.  They seem blind to the fact companies are witnessing an increase in revenue already from their digital transformation investments.
Digital transformation-believers aka digital leaders, however, are investing significantly more now, and receiving positive ROIs on their investments already.  As a result, they plan to invest greater amounts in the future, and predict higher ROIs in the future relative to non-believers.
Based on our survey data, believers and non-believers are seeing alternative realities.  Non-believers, if they don't quickly become converts, are going to face increasing challenges staying competitive and relevant against digitally transformed competitors.
When we asked mid-level managers to list the top 10 mistakes companies are making regarding digital transformation today, they listed the following in order of rank:
  1. Moving too slowly
  2. Lack of clear digital strategy
  3. Company has the wrong leadership for digital transformation
  4. Investing too little in new technology
  5. Not focusing enough on cyber-security
  6. Culture that discourages innovation
  7. Lack organizational structures to drive digital transformation
  8. Ignoring fresh thinking from external sources
  9. Not educating the entire organization on digital transformation
  10. Neglecting to hire the right digital talent
This list describes the actions or non-actions we are seeing from non-believing companies.
Let's pull all our findings together and review once again:
  • Futurists see digital transformation as a revenue growth engine
  • Believers are already reporting positive ROIs, and as a result, plan even higher levels of investment and revenues in the future.
  • Non-believers are investing little today, seeing little ROI, and are planning relatively little investment in digital transformation in the future.
  • Mid-level managers report the biggest challenges are moving too slowly, a lack of a clear strategy, wrong leadership and too little investment in new technologies.
  • The revenue gap between what believers and non-believers predict in the future as a result of digital transformation is significant across all industries.  Survey participants believe the bulk of the revenue gains will be achieved by the year 2020, with incremental gains continuing thereafter.  That is only 3.5 years from now. Yikes! That reflects a view that more revenue is available now for fast movers.  It also suggests a realization that a lot of work needs done quickly.  Non-believers, because of inaction and/or a lack of investment, seem likely to miss out on these early revenue gains and will suffer competitively.
Businesses must invest the time and effort now to understand the impact of digital transformation on their industry, market and company.  Once there is situational awareness achieved and a clear vision articulated, a digital transformation doctrine needs to be developed and socialized so strategies can be developed to achieve the vision set forth in the doctrine.  What technologies should believers invest in over the next 3.5 years to achieve digital transformation?  In the opinions of over 2,000 survey participants the largest business impacts will come from the following technologies:
  1. Big data/business analytics
  2. Cyber-security
  3. Cloud
  4. Collaboration technologies
  5. Mobile technologies
  6. IoT/sensors
  7. Artificial intelligence
  8. Digital currency
  9. Sharing economy
  10. Social Media 
When asked for year 2025 predictions, survey participates anticipate a similar list, but with even higher business impacts from each.
It is interesting that core systems like ERPs, CRMs, HCMs and SCMs were not identified as driving high business impact.  I am wondering if companies still view digital transformation as "add-on" technology?  In my view, a business' ability to convert from "human-time" to "digital-time" and operate at a real-time operational tempo requires digital transformation across the entire ILS (information logistics system).  The ILS is the master or umbrella system that manages and processes data across the entire organization to optimize business performance and customer interactions.  This ILS system includes all the core systems that today, often involve legacy systems incapable of supporting the new world of digital-time.  It is my analysis that many companies will ultimately be required to replace legacy core systems in order to accomplish true digital transformation.
If you find yourself sitting in IT and business meetings every week listening to how existing legacy IT systems will not permit new business processes, new business services, new business models and new innovations required to compete and win, then you should recognize those are red flags and things can get ugly, quickly.
When the New Year's ball drops at midnight and year 2020 comes around, will you be found among the believers?  Stay tuned for my new report on digital transformation technologies and strategies.
Read more on digital transformation strategies here:
  1. Forces Driving the Digital Transformation Era
  2. Digital Transformation Requires Agility and Energy Measurement
  3. A Doctrine for Digital Transformation is Required
  4. The Advantages of Advantage in Digital Transformation
  5. Digital Transformation and Its Role in Mobility and Competition
  6. Digital Transformation - A Revolution in Precision Through IoT, Analytics and Mobility
  7. Competing in Digital Transformation and Mobility
  8. Ambiguity and Digital Transformation
  9. Digital Transformation and Mobility - Macro-Forces and Timing
  10. Mobile and IoT Technologies are Inside the Curve of Human Time

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Kevin Benedict
Senior Analyst, Center for the Future of Work, Cognizant Writer, Speaker and World Traveler
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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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.
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Africa, Mobile Phones and Refugees

Boise's Congolese/Rwandan
Refugee Community
This week a friend texted to ask advice on an appropriate welcome gift to present newly arriving Syrian refugees in Boise, Idaho. Without hesitation I said a cheap mobile phone with prepaid minutes. Why?  We are active in the refugee community and over the past three years have lost new refugees in the city. We have had kids waiting for moms that we can't find.  We have missed numerous doctor appointments because of language barriers and a lack of communications.  We have learned the value of even the simplest and cheapest of mobile phones.

We have learned, working with the mostly Congolese/Rwandan refugee community, that when people have phones, coordination is far easier and more efficient.  When refugees first arrive, they are scheduled with non-stop appointments with different agencies, healthcare services and schools.  They are in a new culture, with a new language, in a new city/state/country, with many new systems all involving reams of paperwork.  Phones and conference calls with translators help them navigate through each challenge and obstacle.

My wife just returned from Rwanda, Africa.  While there, I was able to be in real-time communications with her in the remotest corners of the country.  She had purchased an international data and phone plan from AT&T, and she could text and send photos and videos all along the way.  She blogged daily (read it here http://words-on-the-way.blogspot.com/), and yes, there is an app for that.  In addition to communicating, she used her iPhone to take hundreds of photos and many videos.  She had an entire global audience of friends, family and social media followers digitally experiencing her travels and experiences.

In days past, reporters would struggle to document news, read what they had written over the phone, mail their unprocessed film to distant offices, or use satellite phones to send them.  Today with ubiquitous wireless connectivity and smartphones, we can experience the world LIVE!

Tate (grandma)
Our friends in the refugee community here in Boise have many friends and family members remaining in Rwanda.  Mobile phones, the internet and mobile applications enable them to stay connected.  In fact, while my wife, Shawna, was traveling to visit Tate (Kinyarwandan for grandma) in a remote part of the country without a street address, they were able to use mobile phones in the USA to inform family members of the visit, and then coordinate with them to have a person meet the car along a road to guide them to the right village, house and grandma.

When refugees arrive in Europe or North America, they connect with and share their experiences with those back home.  They can be the support system for those that arrive later.  Today, refugees meet refugees at the airport.  Friends and family connected by mobile devices have a ready made support system to quickly educate and teach new arrivals on how things work.

Also, in Africa, where large segments of the population are unbanked (without bank accounts), digital banks and payment services like M-Pesa have stepped in.  From Wikipedia, M-Pesa (M for mobile, pesa is Swahili for money) is a mobile-phone based money transfer and microfinancing service, launched in 2007 by Vodafone for Safaricom and Vodacom, the largest mobile network operators in Kenya and Tanzania.  M-Pesa allows users to deposit, withdraw, transfer money and pay for goods and services easily with a mobile device.  M-Pesa brings payment services and infrastructure to the remotest corners of Africa.  These mobile phone services provide security and safety for money transfers and make it harder for theft and bribes to intercept them.

In my professional life I research, write and teach about mobile technologies and their utility and value.  In my personal and professional life, I experience it.  In the refugee community, it is an essential tool for adapting to a new world.  It is a connection with family and friends still in refugee camps and in remote mountain villages.  It is their communication with the past, essential tool, digital wallet and social network of today, and link to a better tomorrow.

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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
The Center for the Future of Work, Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Read more at Future of Work
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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.
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Mobile Expert Interviews: Mocana's John Aisien

Mobile security is a big deal.  The internet of things security is a big deal.  Internet security in general is a big deal.  In this interview we have the privilege of learning from mobility and security expert John Aisien, VP of Marketing and Corporate Development with Mocana.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/fJmzK5_bCRo?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw




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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
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
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***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.
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What Do All these SMAC Developments Mean?

The research team at Cognizant has come up with some interesting numbers related to SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) for us all to ponder:
  • 37% of all media consumption in the U.S. in 2012 was via a mobile device
  • 3 out of 5 searches are done through mobile devices
  • Data production will be 44 times greater in 2020 than it was in 2009
What do you think these numbers mean for enterprises today and tomorrow?

Opinion:

I see digital transformation spinning off many different business trends and technology waves.  Consumers want to consume media on mobile devices. This in turn drives tablet sales, as most media is easier to view on tablets.  Tablets and other mobile devices encourage and promote the digitization of customer engagements and produce more data (code halos) that enables new business models to emerge based on a strategic use of big data analytics tied to marketing and commerce platforms.

The more data and commerce that flows through mobile devices, the more companies focus on mobile marketing and sales channels.  I see no end to the popularity of mobile devices, so this trend is guaranteed to continue.  The question for us now is how this will impact traditional sales and marketing channels and strategies.

Real-time communications and data exchanges on mobile devices, drives the desire for all kinds of additional real-time interactions including collaboration, and commerce.  This in turn requires businesses to transform themselves and re-engineer their businesses to support real-time interactions and engagements.

The competition will quickly move beyond just supporting mobile devices, and re-engineering for real-time commerce and services, to personalizing engagements and enabling context-aware applications and devices (think health and fitness) and Pandora's, Netflix's and Amazon.com's ability to recommend items based on the data they have collected on you.  This same context aware capability will quickly spread into the enterprise where mobile applications will understand you, your role, your task, your location and support your needs without being asked.  There is a lot of work to be done here.  ClickSoftware, as an example, has created context aware mobile applications for field services.  You can read and watch a short video on their ClickButler here.

Another emerging trend is the convergence of mobile and wireless data whether it is from a mobile device or an embedded wireless sensor in your car, home appliance, home security system, oil pipeline, city bus or manufacturing assembly line.  These sensors will quickly be in everything, producing massive quantities of data begging to be used in clever applications for both personal and enterprise purposes.

Recommendation:

I am not reporting anything new here.  This is all happening now. We all see it. Enterprises need to be evaluating their entire "information logistics" systems today to understand where they have problems supporting mobile and real-time environments.  They need to replace any systems that cannot support this quickly emerging world.  They also need to secure this new wireless world and their data from bad guys.

Real-time environments require different management practices.  Companies will need to re-train managers and executives on how to work with real-time data and business intelligence so as not to suffer from decision-making paralysis.  New decision-making tools and methods will need to be employed.  In addition, new business strategies, business models, management techniques, customer service and engagement paradigms all need to be re-thought in this fast moving, mobile and real-time age.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant
View Linkedin Profile
Learn about mobile strategies at 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.
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Mobile Expert Video Series: Johann Poppenbeck

In this segment of the Mobile Expert Video Series I have the honor of interviewing Melbourne, Australia's Johann Poppenbeck, VP of Product Management for DSI.  We discuss Star Trek like sound-proof doors, and the value of mobilizing the right data and workflows to maximize value to the enterprise.

In these segments we have always been heavy on the SAP coverage, but DSI is a big player in the Oracle mobility space and brings some unique perspectives.


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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant
Read The Future of Work
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group
Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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The Tempo of Enterprise Mobility

I taught mobile strategy workshops in 11 countries last year.  In these workshops, one of the first questions I ask is, "What tempo is your business wanting and/or needing to support?"  The definition of tempo that I use is "rate of motion or activity."  In other words, "Does your business environment require a real-time data and communication environment, near-real-time, or is an hourly or daily tempo sufficient?"  These are important questions and they dictate what kind of mobile solution architecture you should be considering.

I helped a large mining company a few years ago to think through their mobile strategy.  They operated large underground mines in remote locations.  They needed production numbers from the mine to prepare downstream resources to process and transport the mined materials.  They needed to know who came to work in remote locations, who was sick, who was on vacation, etc.  They needed to know what equipment required repair and maintenance and when that work would impact production.  They needed to know the production of each shift.

At the time the mining company contacted me, they were using color coded sheets of dirty paper to collect this data in the mine, and at the end of each shift, the supervisor delivered it to a job shack at the top of the mine and an administrative person would enter the data into a networked software system on a desktop computer.

The mining company wanted to upgrade their processes and communication from once every shift, to a real-time tempo.  They wanted instant notification if equipment broke down, and if parts or expert technicians were needed to keep production going.  They wanted to know instantly about any safety issues.  They wanted to know the production numbers throughout the shift, not just at the end of the shift.

Every business process and industry has an optimal operational and communication "tempo."  Knowing what tempo is possible, and how an increased tempo could help improve your operations is critical.  Enterprise mobility solutions have the capability of revolutionizing complete industries by increasing their tempo to provide better customer service, respond to issues faster, fix problems before they become bigger, take advantage of opportunities before competitors can respond, and to greatly improve productivity and efficiencies.
 Some companies understand the competitive advantages that an increased tempo offers, but others don't.  Even today, I have seen companies implementing enterprise mobility solutions and mobile strategies that effectively limit them to a relatively slow tempo for the next three or four years, while their competitors are creating infrastructure and mobile architectures that will enable real-time communications and updates.  These companies see value in real-time business analytics, real-time updates, real-time alerts and notifications, real-time GPS tracking, real-time scheduling, real-time CRM data, real-time inventory updates, real-time production information, etc. 

What tempo would optimize your business or business process?  What will it take to support a faster tempo?  Do you have the capability of processing and utilizing real-time mobile data, or would the data be wasted on antiquated back-end systems and and out-data processes?

My recommendation is to understand your current tempo of communication and operations and how an increased tempo could positively impact your business.  Identify the bottlenecks in your system that limit your tempo and start removing them.  Mobile data sent from smartphones, tablets, mobile handheld computers, M2M, RFID, bar code scanners, GPS, etc, can provide you with real-time data.  Your challenge is knowing what to do with it, and how to integrate and process it to improve your competitive position.

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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.
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Kevin Benedict's Video Comments: Managing Real Time Mobile Data

In this segment of Kevin Benedict's Video Comments, I discuss the challenges of managing vast quantities of real time mobile data.  How do you make sense of it, and use real time mobile data to make better decisions?


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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.
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Network-Centric Warfare and Network-Centric Field Services

Last year I published an article on Ulitzer called Network-Centric Field Services. This article discussed the way the US military uses mobile data collection, satellites, drones, M2M and many other data collection tools and techniques to create an accurate and real-time picture of their work environment. This approach enables the users of this system to see where their assets are located, where they are needed and how best to manage them at all times.

I believe this approach has great value for field service operations and many other areas and is worth studying in detail. The ability for a company to know in real time where their fleet of vehicles is located, where their human resources is located, where their jobsites are located, the status of their jobs and where their equipment and mobile inventories are located is critical to effectively managing field services. Equipment and mobile inventories can be better shared across projects, and the right people can be used on the right projects at the right time.

In a plant maintenance environment, equipment can be constantly reporting its status and maintenance needs either in a connected or disconnected mode to a plant maintenance team. This data can alert when there is a problem, or automatically schedule itself for maintenance. This is especially useful when maintenance experts are responsible for multiple plants and remote and/or mobile equipment. It enables experts to see a far bigger picture and be at the right place at the right time.

In a field service operations environment - all of the high value mobile resources can be connected wirelessly to a centralized management application. Wireless data collection is now easily available. The bigger challenge is integrating all of this data into a management application that has the business intelligence capacity to recommend how best to use all of the incoming data for optimal efficiencies.

I gave several examples of organizations using this network-centric approach in the article Street Parking and Mobile Data Solutions. One example was of a city using sensors in street parking sites that wirelessly report when they are available. The reports could be viewed on iPhone applications. Another example was of the giant cement company in Kenya called LaFarge that was implementing a SAP solution and mobile appliction to provide better tracking and visibility into materials coming in and inventory going out to the customer.

If you would like to discuss the concept of network-centric field services in more detail please contact me.

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Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***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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Street Parking and Mobile Data Solutions

I had several very interesting calls yesterday with various mobile industry dignitaries. We shared ideas, concepts and experiences around mobility. One of the mobile use cases that really stands out to me is the use of wireless parking sensors used in 25,000 on-street parking spots in San Francisco.

It seems the parking sensors can detect the presence of a vehicle. When no vehicle is in the parking spot, it can transmit an "availability" message to a central server that broadcasts the location to mobile devices of drivers. Drivers can simply open the application and view the location of all available on-street parking locations.

This use case for a mobile application is AWESOME! I applaud the imagination and creativity of the entrepreneurial team that put that together. A common pain point, that bright minds have addressed. I am inspired.

Another person I spoke to yesterday was in Kenya, Africa working at a large cement manufacturing plant. They have been implementing many new SAP processes to better track inbound materials from suppliers, and are now preparing to implement various delivery and scheduling applications using SAP partner Sky Technologies' SkyMobile application to extend business processes out to the mobile workforce.

This cement company estimates they have already saved over $1 million in materials tracking improvements, and now expect to add to their ROI by mobilizing more SAP business processes.

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

http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.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.
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Location Based Services and Mobile Device Customization

Many SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises) that use smartphones such as iPhones would benefit from the ability to add business information, alerts, tags and advice to a specific location on a map. Large enterprises can achieve these features by investing in business analytics, GIS solutions, route optimization applications, mobile data collection solutions and integrate them all with CRMs, but these enterprise solutions are often cost prohibitive for SMEs. They need these features all on a simple mobile application that is either connected to a web service or independent on the device.

Let's consider a few scenarios:
  • A taxi driver has found a very good place to pick-up riders. He/she wants to mark this location on a map and include other relevant information such as day of week, time of day and the reason this is a good location.
  • A house painting contractor driving through a neighborhood notices that it has a large number of houses that may need painting in the near future. The contractor pulls over, marks a map on his iPhone and enters the details.
  • A landscape company owner notices a new housing development is going in. He pulls over and marks his map and enters the details.
  • A neighborhood watch member notices ongoing suspicious activities and marks the location on his/her iPhone map and relevant details.
  • Citizens report potholes in the road to the appropriate government agencies. They mark the location on their maps and then call in the details or enter the data in a government sponsored website.
  • A parent enters the location of their children's friends' homes, by marking them on a map so they can quickly find them and know where they are located.

Any information that is location based and would help a person plan their business or personal life better would be useful. It would be beneficial if these applications were easily customizable so that individual users could quickly and easily edit them for their specific needs.

Can you think of other features that would be useful?
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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: @krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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New Analyst Report by Mobile Market Development

Mobile Market Development and Wireless Profits has just published a report, that I authored, called Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions which is now available here.

The following is the synopsis.

Enterprise customers potentially offer MNOs (mobile network operators) high profitability, low churn rates and strong demand for mobile data services - but they bring challenging application requirements as well. Additionally, neither of the purchasing models of large enterprises or SMEs make it a given that MNOs will achieve the value-added primary relationship with regard to mobile data solutions that would assure future margins in this sector of the market.

  • Large enterprises will be likely to partner with vendors and systems integrators with specialist skills and knowledge of the business area, potentially making MNO selection a tactical issue based on coverage and price and allowing for multiple, competing MNOs to be selected.
  • Smaller enterprises (SMEs) are more likely to buy off-the-shelf solutions with some customisation performed by value-added-resellers.
As a consequence, a large and profitable market with strong growth may be difficult to address efficiently by MNOs unless they configure offerings and develop partnerships that will work well with the enterprise customers' own business and purchasing models. Mobile Market Development has researched and analysed this market to identify specific trends, strategies and models that can be used by MNOs to help them profitably address this market and its opportunities. The report concludes with a range of recommendations, some addressing the specifics of individual segments of the opportunity and others that deal with the overall approach that MNOs need to take to maximise their return from the very large spend that enterprises will make over the next few years in order to upgrade efficiency and effectiveness in their own mobile workforce. 

Table of Contents
1Overview1
2Introduction2
2.1Background to the Report2
2.2Report Content3
2.3Currency and Conversions3
3The Mobile Enterprise Market5
3.1Historical Perspective of Market Development5
3.2Current Market Status, Size and Growth7
3.3The Future - Convergence of Mobile Technologies9
3.3.1Introduction9
3.3.2GPS Integration10
3.3.3Location Based Services10
3.3.4Mobile Workflow Extensions from the Enterprise10
3.3.5Turn by Turn Navigation and Route Optimisation11
3.3.6Geotagging - Static and Dynamic11
3.3.7Mobile Business Analytics12
3.3.8Network-Centric Businesses12
3.3.9Enterprise 2.0 and Mobile Data Solutions12
3.3.10Mobile Training Videos and Live Video Streaming12
3.3.11Smartphones - Personal and Professional13
3.3.12Mobile Device Management13
4Sales & Distribution Models14
4.1Introduction14
4.2Orange's Partner Progamme and The Application Shop14
4.3AT&T MEAP16
4.4BlackBerry App World18
4.5Alltel Wireless Business Solutions19
4.6AT&T and Psion Teklogix19
4.7Sales and Distribution Channels Analysis20
5Mobile Enterprise Application Segments22
5.1Introduction22
5.2Size-Based Segments22
5.2.1Large Enterprise Markets22
5.2.2SME Markets23
5.3Mobile Field Service Automation23
5.3.1Industries Served25
5.3.2Value Propositions25
5.3.3Recommendations27
5.4Mobile Sales Force Automation28
5.4.1Industries Served28
5.4.2Value Propositions29
5.4.3Recommendations29
5.5Mobile Asset Management30
5.5.1Mobile Proof-of-Delivery30
5.5.2GPS Fleet Tracking and Fleet Management30
5.5.3Industries Served31
5.5.4Value Propositions31
5.5.5Recommendations31
5.6Facility and Asset Management31
5.6.1Industries Served32
5.6.2Value Propositions32
5.6.3Recommendation32
5.7Mobile Resource Management (MRM)32
5.7.1Industries Served33
5.7.2Value Propositions33
5.7.3Recommendation33
5.8Mobile Data Collection33
5.8.1Common Use Areas for Mobile Data Collection34
5.8.1.1Mobile Inspection Services34
5.8.1.2Mobile Job Estimates35
5.8.1.3Mobile Insurance Applications35
5.8.2Recommendation35
5.9Machine to Machine (M2M)36
5.9.1NV Energy and Telemetric M2M Case Study36
5.9.2Recommendations37
5.10Mobile Public Safety Applications37
5.10.1Recommendations37
5.11Mobile Health Monitoring and Telemedicine37
5.11.1Mobile Health Monitoring and Hemophilia38
5.11.2Recommendation39
6Mobile Device Considerations40
6.1Introduction40
6.2How Enterprises Select Mobile Devices40
6.2.1Environmental Factors40
6.2.2Using the Device in the Real World40
6.2.3Device Technology & Functionality Issues41
6.2.4Budget Issues42
6.2.5Deals Available42
6.2.6Reliability and Support42
6.3How Enterprises Support Mobile Devices43
6.3.1Supporting and Managing the Mobile User43
6.3.2Technical Fixes45
6.3.3Security, Control & Central Support45
6.3.4Operational, Commercial & Management Issues46
6.4Recommendation47
7Recommendations48
7.1Introduction48
7.2Market Opportunity48
7.3Segment Recommendations48
7.4Overall Recommendations50


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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: @krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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Mobile Applications that Blend Data and Services from Multiple Sources

Research In Motion's co-CEOs Mike Lasaridis and Jim Balsillie recently stated that software depth, breadth and integration will drive future device sales, noting the potential that lies in applications blending data and services from multiple sources.

This is important. I have been writing for some time about convergent devices, however, it is most often in the context of mobile devices and hardware accessories like GPS, bar code readers, digital cameras, voice memos, WiFi and other Bluetooth devices. The blending of data and services from multiple sources combined with convergent hardware is even much bigger.

Let's think about a simple scenario -
  1. Field service technician (X) orders a part for a furnace online from his smartphone. He will complete the job when it arrives.
  2. The part is shipped and an alert email notifies field service technician X which day it will arrive.
  3. Field service technician X notifies the customer via email about the status and notes this information in the mobile CRM application.
  4. When the part arrives, the dispatcher gives it to a field service technician Y as Y is is going to work at a location close to where field service technician X is working.
  5. Field service technician X is wirelessly sent a service ticket to finish the job, and notified that the part is with field service technician Y at the following GPS coordinates.
  6. Field service technician X and Y meet up and the job is completed.

In this example, the field service technicians have smartphones with mobile Internet, wireless work order dispatch, GPS integration, mobile email, online parts tracking and mobile CRM. They have blended data from multiple sources and services.

The more business processes that are mobilized, the more mobile data services will be used by the mobile workforce. This will require faster and more powerful smartphones. Mobile enterprise application platforms will need to be able to manage and integrate data from multiple sources and integrate them into one mobile application. This requires some interesting software development.

I believe that the integration of multiple sources of data and services begs for mobile analytics. Business analytics will interpret the data and recommend action steps based upon this analysis. I invite software developers who have expertise in these areas to comment.


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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobile Strategist, Sales, Marketing and Business Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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