Q: What are your biggest challenges to implementing enterprise mobility today?
A: #1 answer - Developing an enterprise-wide mobile strategy, #2 - Determining anticipated ROIs, and #3 - Finding qualified mobility experts to assist with implementations.
The first two rankings were the same between mobile technology vendors and mobile consultants, but finding qualified mobility experts was a bigger problem for mobility consultants.
Q: Where do you expect to find the biggest ROIs as a result of implementing mobile solutions?
A: #1 answer - Increased productivity of mobile workers, #2 - Real-time data collection and reporting from mobile workers, #3 - Improve decision making by receiving real-time data.
Mobility consultants share the same answer #1 as mobile technology vendors, but consultants placed "Real-time data collection and reporting from mobile workers" as their 2nd highest ROI and it was #4 for mobile technology vendors. Improved customer service was #3 with mobile technology vendors, but ranked #5 for mobility consultants.
Q: How important is it to select a standard MADP (mobile application development platform) before developing mobile solutions for your company?
A: Mobility consultants ranked it #3 - Very Important
Mobility consultants ranked it 3 - very important, and mobile technology vendors ranked it similar at 2.9.
Q: How important is mobile security to your company's mobile strategy?
A: Mobility consultants gave it a 2.7 score which is between "Somewhat Important" and "Very Important"
Mobility consultants and mobile technology vendors rated it nearly the same. Mobile technology vendors gave it a 2.8.
Q: How important is HTML5 or HTML5 hybrid apps to your company's enterprise mobility plans?
A: The answer was 2.6 out of a 4 - with 1 being "Not Important" and 4 being "Critical." The 2.6 weighted average is between "Somewhat Important" and "Very Important" on the scale.
Mobile technology vendors gave it a 2.8 rating, slightly higher in importance than mobility consultants.
Q: How difficult is it to find third-party consulting talent with the right expertise in enterprise mobility?
A: The answer was a weighted average of 2.3 out of 3 - with 1 being "Not difficult" and 3 being "Very difficult."
Mobility consultants rated it slightly higher (2.3) in difficulty that did mobile technology vendors (2.2).
Q: How important do you believe tablets will be to your enterprise mobility plans?
A: The weighted answer was 2.8 out of 3 - with 1 being "Not important" and 3 being "Very important."
Mobility consultants rated it slightly lower than mobile technology vendors (2.9).
Q: How important is enterprise mobility to your company's future success?
A: The answer was a weighted average of 3.2 out of 4 - with 1 being "Not Important" and 4 being "Critical."
Mobile technology vendors rated it higher in importance at 3.5, than did the mobility consultants.
In summary, the answers were very close between mobility consultants and mobile technology vendors with the exception of where they anticipated finding the biggest ROIs.
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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups
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.
