What I Hope to See and Do at Sapphire 2011

First I want to say that I will be at SAPPHIRE NOW 2011 and hope to see all of you there.  I will be running around like a crazy man interviewing mobility experts, recording videos, leading sessions, moderating panel discussions and meeting with SAP executives.  I would love to learn more about the mobility projects each of you are working on, so let’s grab a table and talk.  You can contact me on Twitter @krbenedict.

Second, I really hope that SAP and Sybase will unveil ambitious, innovative, powerful and leading edge kinds of mobile solutions at Sapphire 2011, not just mobile apps from SAP partners.  For $5.8 billion I think it would be nice to show a few compelling and interesting SAP developed mobile apps.  I hope that the list of new mobile applications will include much more than just the light weight mobile apps I have seen to date.  Come on!  This is 2011!  I was building more interesting mobile applications in 2004.

To me, interesting mobile solutions are ones like SAP customer Skanska mentioned in a February press release - dynamic scheduling, site schematic diagrams, safety procedures, project plans and customer and asset historical information.  Some of the mobility solutions that my teams developed between 2004 and 2008 were:

• Mobile oil rig safety solutions
• Mobile coffee sales and service solutions that included field services, product sales, asset management and inventory management
• Mobile supply chain management solutions for distributing medical supplies in Africa
• Water conservation solutions for reducing water use in UK's council house
• Mobile HVAC field services applications that included asset management and geo-tagging
• Mobile hurricane disaster assessment solutions
• Mobile cattle management and life cycle (hoof to shelf) management
• Mobile furniture delivery, inspection and repair solutions
• Mobile new car inspection, assessment and repair solutions
• Mobile water delivery solutions for an African company

Third, I want to hear how SAP and Sybase will be restructuring their organizations to deliver world class mobile solutions.  SAP has had enough time to recognize the good, bad and the ugly concerning the Sybase acquisition and should be making the organizational changes necessary to execute on a good plan.  I have heard bits and pieces but look forward to a solid plan.

Fourth, I want to know how SAP is going to address mobility in the cloud.  At some point soon, supporting a mobility platform (SUP) in-house is going to have a diminishing return.  Much like SAP's recent move to get involved in EDI and B2B e-commerce with the SAP Information Interchange by Crossgate, an EDI service in the cloud, companies are going to want a simple API to access their back office data, not SUP that needs a C programmer to implement.  The trend also seems to be for mobile devices to be secured and managed via a cloud service. 

Fifth, I want to learn how SAP is going to integrate M2M (machine to machine) wireless communications into enterprise asset management (EAM) and field services.  Most new automobiles, trucks, tractors, equipment, appliances and other high value assets now have sensors with embedded wireless chips that can report their status, location and thousands of other pieces of important data.  This data is an important component to an activity based business intelligence solution.

Sixth, I want to see if SAP/Sybase have figured out how to simplify their enterprise mobility message and guidance for companies.  The message and guidance needs to be a step by step set of instructions that lead customers to be able to make confident decisions around:

• Mobile architectural frameworks
• Mobile technology infrastructures
• Mobile user experience frameworks
• Mobile device management
• Mobile application management
• Mobile user management
• Mobile security management
• Mobility policies and governance

If a customer leaves a meeting with SAP/Sybase more confused after the meeting than before, that is not useful.

What other items do you want to learn about at SAPPHIRE Now 2011?  Please share by adding comments below.

Recent Articles, Podcasts and Videos by Kevin Benedict

Mobile Expert Podcast: Kore Telematic's Alex Brisbourne
Tour of the Mobile Enterprise Strategies Site
Mobile Expert Podcast Series: Philippe Winthrop
The Mobile Perspective
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The Table of Contents in Your Enterprise Mobility Book
Mobile End Points Not Just Mobile Device or Mobile App Management

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

Redstone Arsenal’s (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin
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Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.