Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

Advice to Mobile Start-ups: Focus on Mobile Content, Mobile Business Processes, Integration and Workflow

The mobile and wireless industries have changed dramatically in the past year and this has significantly changed the market for mobile application start-ups. Many of the missing application development tools and features that forced programmers to develop their own proprietary mobile middleware, have been filled by the mobile OS (operating system) developers over the past 12 months. This is both good and bad news for mobile start-ups.

The good news is that mobile application developers can focus more on providing business value, rather than coding clever mobile client and mobile middleware features. This is good for the entrepreneurs that have started with an existing back-office business application in mind and simply wants to support it with a mobile client.

The bad news is that many mobile application companies have already invested heavily into their own mobile client technology, mobile application development tools and mobile middleware platforms. Why is this bad? Because most enterprise buyers won't appreciate the investment.

Enterprise buyers own smartphones. They download mobile applications over the weekend for $1.99. Their expectations have changed. In the past, mobile applications were a novelty surrounded by mystery and complexity. Mystery and complexity made it easy to charge $500 or more per mobile user. Now mobile applications are only a finger stroke and a password a way on their favorite mobile app store.

The mobile application itself is not where the biggest value can be found. The biggest value is in the following:

Mobile client integration with enterprise business applications and data
Support for enterprise business processes
Support for ERP (enterprise resource planning) workflows
Support for ERP data requirements
Integration with high value data sources (web services)
Support for complex and niche business processes
Support for high value data collection hardware (survey equipment, RFID, Barcode, GPS etc.)

The value of mobile business applications, no matter what the original investment was, will be attributed to the above capabilities not the mobile client itself. ROIs need to be achieved by supporting core business functions in mobile environments. It is the efficient support for a business process, not the mobile client where the real value can be found.

As a mobile software vendor, having the best of breed enterprise mobile applications will not be good enough. Companies will continually seek to simplify their IT environments and reduce the number of applications they are required to support. They will look to find mobile solutions that are hosted in a SaaS (software as a service) business model in a cloud computing environment, and that are most closely aligned with their primary ERP or key business software solution either through ownership, endorsement or partnership.

Early adopters will experiment with best of breed and leading edge technologies, but the masses want simplicity and security.

Do you agree? I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

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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, Location Based Services and Lifestyle Preferences

I love hiking. I enjoy gardening. I love mobile gadgets. I crave Thai food. I love drinking coffee in a comfortable chair and reading the New York Times. I would appreciate and use a mobile application that would connect my lifestyle preferences to a map and suggest locations conducive to my lifestyle.

I would like to arrive in a new city and open my mobile application and have it suggest great walking tours and hiking trails that were close to highly rated coffee shops, Thai restaurants, bookstores and public gardens. I would want to see these locations on a map with a suggested route. I would love to be shown several options all based on my preferences.

The application could also show me user comments and ratings of these locations, and overlay crime statistics of these geographic areas so I can weigh the risk of going there. Is the Thai food worth getting mugged?

I can see it now - you should be able to set different safety ratings. You can configure the mobile application to show just the safest locations based upon accident, crime and health inspection data, or you can live on the wild side.

I am looking for suggestions and recommendations if this mobile application already exists. If not, all you entrepreneurs should start working.

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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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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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The Downside of Mobile Applications

I had the fortunate opportunity to meet a classmate for coffee this week. I had not seen him for over a decade. He serves as a traffic cop and uses a TDS Recon mobile handheld computer in the course of his work writing tickets.

During our conversation we discussed the rugged laptop he had mounted in his unmarked police cruiser. He said it had many of their police forms and documents on it, but that the mobile software was not able to keep up with the required edits and changes needed on the forms. As a result, they had stopped using it for much of their documentation.

This discussion highlighted the need for a mobile workflow application that is a separate layer from the data layer. The field data collection requirements should be very simple to edit and not impact the field user. If the mobile application requires a complete update to edit data fields, then it risks early obsolescence or as in my earlier example it will simply not be used.

- Kevin Benedict,
Mobile Strategies Consultant, SAP EDI Expert and Technology Writer

Mobility Visions of Christmas Present

I visited the same bookstore twice this Christmas season, and both times I was confronted by mobility and the transformation that mobility is bringing to the world.

On the first visit a sales person greeted me at the front door and handed me an electronic book reader. The sales person said this mobile device, with free Internet connectivity through AT&T, would enable me to receive all of my books and many newspapers remotely, so there was no need to come into the store. Interesting sales presentation that does not bode well for the future job of the sales person that was standing before me. I wondered if the sales person had thought that far ahead?

On my second visit I was in the bookstore with my wife and daughter. As was our habit we selected some of the most interesting books from the shelf and ordered hot drinks. When our drinks were emptied and we had selected our favorite books, I directed us to the checkout line to purchase them. My wife looked up from her iPhone and said they were already ordered for half the price and free shipping. I sheepishly looked around and placed our books back on the shelves and exited the brick and mortar.

So the bookstore has been transformed into a comfortable coffee shop and showroom for books that we will buy elsewhere. I am not suggesting that it is good, just reality. It is part of the churn and transformation that mobility is bringing to all industries.

2010 will be the year of the connected, geospatially aware, super smartphone. There will be much change and some victims, but also many new and exciting opportunities.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

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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

1	Overview	1
2	Introduction	2
2.1	Background to the Report	2
2.2	Report Content	3
2.3	Currency and Conversions	3
3	The Mobile Enterprise Market	5
3.1	Historical Perspective of Market Development	5
3.2	Current Market Status, Size and Growth	7
3.3	The Future - Convergence of Mobile Technologies	9
3.3.1	Introduction	9
3.3.2	GPS Integration	10
3.3.3	Location Based Services	10
3.3.4	Mobile Workflow Extensions from the Enterprise	10
3.3.5	Turn by Turn Navigation and Route Optimisation	11
3.3.6	Geotagging - Static and Dynamic	11
3.3.7	Mobile Business Analytics	12
3.3.8	Network-Centric Businesses	12
3.3.9	Enterprise 2.0 and Mobile Data Solutions	12
3.3.10	Mobile Training Videos and Live Video Streaming	12
3.3.11	Smartphones - Personal and Professional	13
3.3.12	Mobile Device Management	13
4	Sales & Distribution Models	14
4.1	Introduction	14
4.2	Orange's Partner Progamme and The Application Shop	14
4.3	AT&T MEAP	16
4.4	BlackBerry App World	18
4.5	Alltel Wireless Business Solutions	19
4.6	AT&T and Psion Teklogix	19
4.7	Sales and Distribution Channels Analysis	20
5	Mobile Enterprise Application Segments	22
5.1	Introduction	22
5.2	Size-Based Segments	22
5.2.1	Large Enterprise Markets	22
5.2.2	SME Markets	23
5.3	Mobile Field Service Automation	23
5.3.1	Industries Served	25
5.3.2	Value Propositions	25
5.3.3	Recommendations	27
5.4	Mobile Sales Force Automation	28
5.4.1	Industries Served	28
5.4.2	Value Propositions	29
5.4.3	Recommendations	29
5.5	Mobile Asset Management	30
5.5.1	Mobile Proof-of-Delivery	30
5.5.2	GPS Fleet Tracking and Fleet Management	30
5.5.3	Industries Served	31
5.5.4	Value Propositions	31
5.5.5	Recommendations	31
5.6	Facility and Asset Management	31
5.6.1	Industries Served	32
5.6.2	Value Propositions	32
5.6.3	Recommendation	32
5.7	Mobile Resource Management (MRM)	32
5.7.1	Industries Served	33
5.7.2	Value Propositions	33
5.7.3	Recommendation	33
5.8	Mobile Data Collection	33
5.8.1	Common Use Areas for Mobile Data Collection	34
5.8.1.1	Mobile Inspection Services	34
5.8.1.2	Mobile Job Estimates	35
5.8.1.3	Mobile Insurance Applications	35
5.8.2	Recommendation	35
5.9	Machine to Machine (M2M)	36
5.9.1	NV Energy and Telemetric M2M Case Study	36
5.9.2	Recommendations	37
5.10	Mobile Public Safety Applications	37
5.10.1	Recommendations	37
5.11	Mobile Health Monitoring and Telemedicine	37
5.11.1	Mobile Health Monitoring and Hemophilia	38
5.11.2	Recommendation	39
6	Mobile Device Considerations	40
6.1	Introduction	40
6.2	How Enterprises Select Mobile Devices	40
6.2.1	Environmental Factors	40
6.2.2	Using the Device in the Real World	40
6.2.3	Device Technology & Functionality Issues	41
6.2.4	Budget Issues	42
6.2.5	Deals Available	42
6.2.6	Reliability and Support	42
6.3	How Enterprises Support Mobile Devices	43
6.3.1	Supporting and Managing the Mobile User	43
6.3.2	Technical Fixes	45
6.3.3	Security, Control & Central Support	45
6.3.4	Operational, Commercial & Management Issues	46
6.4	Recommendation	47
7	Recommendations	48
7.1	Introduction	48
7.2	Market Opportunity	48
7.3	Segment Recommendations	48
7.4	Overall Recommendations	50

Postage Stamps, Units of Time and the Mobile Internet

Yesterday my wife sent me to the post office to purchase stamps. I grumbled that the line would be long due to people shipping gifts. Haven't they heard of Amazon.com's direct shipping? After completing my assignment my wife asked me how long I waited in line. My answer, "About 5 online articles." That is the power of Internet enabled smartphones. They can change the very units of measure we use for time!

According to investment firm Morgan Stanley, the mobile web is experiencing faster growth than its desktop predecessor ever did. They go on to forecasts that more consumers will access the Internet by mobile devices than PCs within five years.

For any person blessed or cursed with time on their hands, waiting in lines or on mass transportation, time will increasingly be measured by what they accomplished on the mobile web.

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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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Google and Mobile Phones - Analysis

"It is understandable that Google wants to be a serious player in mobile communications," writes Martin Peers in an article on December 15th, 2009 in the Wall Street Journal. However, he follows by saying, "It is unclear why it (Google) needs to sell mobile phones to dominate mobile search."

Lets discuss: Google Goggle allows you to take a picture of a landmark or building and then automatically combine the photo with the integrated GPS coordinates to conduct an automatic query that displays information about it. This convergence of technology, GPS radio, digital camera and wireless radio to connect to the Internet are all hardware components in the phone.

The GPS and digital camera components are mobile data collectors. The information collected is used to perform automated searches. These searches can bring up the details of the objects in the photos as well as other choices for food, hotels, shopping etc, near that location. The LBS (location based services) where local companies pay money to have their presence and products marketed is the profit center.

Google would also recognize value in knowing who owns the phone. As the manufacturer and vendor, they would have a good reason to know who owns the phone. They could then connect this information with what they know about you from your existing Google Accounts. They could combine what they already know about your browsing habits and interests in the virtual world with your travels, habits and interests in the physical.

I can fully understand Google wanting to control and own the mobile data collection hardware. It will drive mobile marketing that they want going through their search engine and LBS business now and in the future.

Is it a bit creepy? Yes.

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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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Geospatially Aware Mobile Inspection Applications for Military and Commercial Use

I have spent many years working with mobile application development tools. Each of the vendors I have known speak about the simplicity and speed of using their tools to develop and implement mobile applications. It is, for the most part, marketing speak.

Developing a mobile application is as simple as the database schema of the business application in which it will be integrated. If it is a simple data collection form that can be integrated with a simple spreadsheet or database, then it is fairly easy and will usually take days or a few weeks to develop. However, if the user wants a mobile version of their ERP, then I hope they have a few months and a significant budget. The point is, most mobile applications that synchronize with back-office enterprise database applications are not easy and simple and this is a problem for companies that need to inspect a wide variety of things.

I have witnessed over and over the challenges an inspection company has with mobile applications that run on handheld computers. The applications take longer to develop and cost more than the inspection task or project justifies. As a result, the inspection company continues to do it by hand. In another scenario, one inspection project may justify the time and expense of developing a mobile inspection application, but the next project does not. As a result, the inspection services company continues to use paper inspection forms on the majority of their projects. That is the economic reality, at least until now.

Recently I read an article called "Kenaz and Touch Inspect: Must-Have Products for the Warfighter" written by Don Jewell. Jewel writes articles for GPS World focused on Defense and the military. He has spent more than thirty years in the Unites States Air Force, where he was involved with GPS systems from their inception, either as a test system evaluator or user. He served as a Commander at Schriever AFB, the home of GPS, and retired as the deputy chief scientist at Air Force Space Command.

In Jewell's article he speaks of a mobile solution called Touch Inspect by Mobile Epiphany. It is essentially a computerized, geospatially aware, data-collection application with an amazing user interface. "The user interface matters to our warfighters!" Jewells writes, "because one of the biggest complaints from our warfighters concerning military user equipment (MUE) such as the Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR) and the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) is the user interface."

Mobile applications for the military need to be geospatially aware. I wrote an article called Network-Centric Mobile Field Force Automation that explores this requirement in detail from both a military and commercial perspective.

Touch Inspect is unique. It focuses on geospatially-aware inspections and provides a powerful pre-built platform in which custom mobile inspection applications can be developed in just hours. It is unique in that no coding or programming is required and the solution is designed by a company that has a deep history in the electronic games industry. This is quickly apparent when you see the intense graphics and sophisticated features that I have never seen before in a Windows Mobile application.

Jewell writes, "Touch Inspect allows you to build databases on the fly for inspecting things, and I do mean just about anything. But more than that, it is a flexible, user configurable database system that can be adapted for so many uses that are critical to our warfighters and first responders."

Jewell sees applications for this software in almost every aspect of a warfighter’s day, starting with running the various checklists they need to run for weapons, radios, vehicles, and GPS devices. With GPS devices and GIS mapping information right on the device (in other words, you don’t need an Internet connection to see your geospatial maps like you would using something like Google Maps), this new software really shines because it incorporates the warfighter’s current GPS position and time — or the asset’s GPS position — into every database entry, with photos if necessary. And this system uses the topographical maps or aerial images you want it to use, not just simple street maps. Plus, when the computer is once again in Internet, LAN, or WLAN range, it automatically updates the server at HQ and downloads new information automatically without any user interaction.

I recently wrote an article about the use of rugged handheld computers and mobile inspection applications following the devastating fires that killed 173 people last year in Australia. In this case the police and emergency responders had an immediate need for a mobile inspection application that was geospatically aware. This immediate need for a custom mobile inspection application could not be solved by taking weeks and months to develop a mobile application. They needed it now! Touch Inspect has all the appearances of solving requirements for near-real-time dynamic and custom mobile inspection applications.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
www.twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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Analysis - SAP's Emerging Mobility Strategy - Fasten Your Seat Belts!

SAP has announced this week that one of their strategic focuses for the next 5 years is mobile computing and mobile software applications according to SAP chief technology officer Vishal Sikka said. The pervasiveness of mobile computing and social networking also have SAP developing applications and extensions, which will allow wireless users to collaborate and utilize SAP and non-SAP related data for on the fly computing.

I write wireless industry analyst reports and provide consulting on mobile strategies so have been keeping a careful eye on this market. It is moving at warp speed now! After many years of mostly small software companies in the mobile enterprise software applications market, the big kahunas are jumping in with both feet and this will change the industry. Read a few of these article titles:

A quick glance at the above articles shows you that the biggest technology companies in the world are now taking mobility seriously and the M&A activities are heating up. Mobile Epiphany is not a large company, but its parent is well funded and sets a higher standard for other start-ups than was faced in the past.

SAP is planning to compete against Salesforce.com in 2010. Salesforce.com has a popular mobile application and SAP will be required to launch one as well to successfully compete. This is an example of what entrepreneurs should be looking for now. Opportunities to help the ERP vendors meet their 5 year plans with add-on mobile solutions that extend their business processes to the mobile workforce.

My analysis - mobile start-ups cannot simply have a good idea now days. They must do a thorough investigation into the plans of the wireless carriers, mobile device manufacturers, mobile operating system developers and ERP vendors to understand the solution gaps and market place ambitions before launching another mobile application. The enterprise mobile applications market has just been promoted to the big league.

The growth strategies for mobile start-ups these days in the enterprise mobile applications space should involve working closely with the wireless carriers, mobile device manufacturers, ERP vendors and mobile operating system developers. Mobile start-ups are going to need to get in the game quickly or be left behind.

"Sixty to seventy percent of the population have mobile devices" said Don Bulmer SAP VP industry relations, adding that mobile gear is the preferred communications and computing platform. "There are lots of opportunities for SAP," he said.

SAP users want to be able to use social networking sites such as Facebook to collaborate, said SAP executive board member Jim Hagemann Snabe. "Companies want to take advantage of these technologies without disrupting business," he said. Much of SAP's innovation focus will revolve around flexible extensions to core applications and processes, which can be developed and deployed quickly, via an on-demand or on-premise model, said Hegemann Snabe.

Mobile start-ups - Did you catch the model proposed by SAP? They want innovations (think mobile) that are flexible extensions to their core applications and processes that are available to customers in an on-demand model (SaaS).

Social networking is responsible for much of the huge growth in mobile data usage these days. Adding social networking to the enterprise market promises many opportunities for mobile applications companies as SAP has described. If the enterprise adopts mobile solutions with a social networking emphasis, you will quickly see the wireless carriers plunge into this market as well. Keep your eyes open!

I look forward to your thoughts and comments.