My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 5

This is part 5 of this article series.

As an enterprise mobility vendor you need to recognize where your intellectual property is and where it will be developed in the future.  This can significantly impact your potential value.  Let me provide a scenario for your consideration.

An enterprise mobility vendor develops a MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) that includes an SDK (software development kit).  They want every software developer in the world to use their platform and SDK.  They believe this will drive revenue from many different channels and allow them to enter new markets through these developers which will keep their cost of sales and marketing low.  They can see the money train coming down the tracks.

The first part of their strategy works.  They get their generic MEAP and SDK into the hands of many developers.  The developers use the SDK to develop very interesting and complex mobile applications for many different markets.  The mobile applications are branded by the developer.  The developers start creating a customer base and developing their brand. 

However, once the developers' businesses grow large enough, they decide they can replace your MEAP and any licensing commitments with their own technology so they can keep more of the revenue.  You lose the market, the revenue, and the sales channel.  Their customers don't know the difference since the finished mobile application looks the same.

The MEAP vendor is in trouble.  Their business plan predicted they would grow at the same rate as their customers.  They failed to anticipate they would only be an interim solution.

The MEAP vendor also thought they would own the code generated by their SDK and MEAP, and it would increase the value of their company.  However, the software developers quickly begin to resist this notion as they also wanted to build their own IP library and company's value.

Who owns the IP (intellectual property) for the mobile applications developed on the MEAP and the SDK?  If your contract says the MEAP/SDK author owns all code developed on it, you will get few developers to use it.  The MEAP author wants the MEAP to lock in or tie developers to them.  However, developers only brand and promote the finished mobile application.  They don't want to promote your SDK or MEAP, only their branded apps.

The MEAP vendor wants to increase their IP and the value of their company.  However, the more IP the MEAP vendor provides, the less opportunity there is for developers to build their own IP library and company value by utilizing it.

While the MEAP and SDK vendor's business plan calls for them to become increasingly valuable to their users, they are in fact increasingly competing with their customer base.  How do you see reconciling this challenge?

I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

If you would like to discuss this subject or my consulting services in more detail please contact me.

Stay tuned for part 6 in this article series.

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 1
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 2
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 3
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 4

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

http://www.clicksoftware.com/e86e075b-4fca-44c9-bfeb-4efcc978f416/knowledge-center-white-papers-delivery.htm

Subscribe to an Email Version of Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others

Finally!!!  I have added a feature to this blog site that supports email subscriptions.  You can now receive all blog articles on this site directly via email.  If you are interested click here.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin’s M2M News Weekly – September 15, 2010

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Weekly. This is an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile and wireless devices that I read each week. I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article. I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

Archived editions of Kevin's M2M News Weekly are available  at http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/m2m.html

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others.

Also available are Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly and Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly.

********

M2M connectivity specialist Wireless Logic will invest more than GBP 1 million upgrading its European Sim card management and monitoring system SIMPro over the next 18 months, Mobile News reported.

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=754984

********

Whether you’re going for an urban hike or wandering from your hotel to find that restaurant you passed earlier, you won’t have to flag down a local if you’ve got Google Maps for mobile 4.5 on Android.

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/09/walk-this-way.html

********

Juniper predicts that the number of mobile connected M2M and embedded devices will reach almost 412 million globally by 2014. The growth of these embedded devices will mainly come from an ever increasing number of utility meters, mobile connected buildings, consumer and commercial telematics and retail and banking connections.

http://telecomyatra.afaqs.com/news/?sid=1795_M2M:+The+future+of+technology

********

A new generation of computing microprocessors, connected wirelessly to the Internet, soon will revolutionize everyday life, creating smarter, more efficient products. Homeowners will be able to cut their energy bills because an electronic device on their kitchen countertop will suggest the cheapest times to do the laundry.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/09/12/20100912intel-atom-processor.html

********

Demand for wireless sensor networks is showing significant growth following a period in which adoption was impacted by the economic downturn. In 2009, 802.15.4 chipset shipments were down almost 30 percent compared with the previous year. However, according to the latest ABI research report on the WSN market, a strong uplift in shipments in 2010 will help drive growth from a little more than 10 million chipsets in 2009 to 645 million in 2015, a CAGR of 99.6 percent.

http://www.gsm-modem.de/M2M/m2m-news/wireless-sensor-network-ic-shipments-bounce-back-in-2010-645-million-forecast-for-2015/

********

Remote and mobile technology is making it possible to move healthcare delivery outside the traditional settings of physician offices and hospitals to wherever patients are. It's bringing back the concept of doctors making house calls.

http://topnews.net.nz/content/28166-almost-30-percent-americans-would-be-using-mobile-device-monitor-their-health

********

Archinoetics, which develops products primarily for the military, is releasing to the commercial market a software program called Physio-Lab, which collects and analyzes physiological data. The software, which costs between $2,200 and $4,500, can be used in research and pharmaceutical trials.

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2010/09/13/story6.html

********

L-3 Communication's Nova Engineering subsidiary has been awarded a $52.8 million contract for Tactical Remote M2M Sensor Systems. The award from the U.S. Department of Defense is for five years and is to support the U.S. Marine Corps' Tactical Remote Sensor Systems program.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2010/09/01/Defense-orders-Nova-Engineering-sensors/UPI-22241283351306/

********

By the middle of last year eBay users could buy items directly from a mobile eBay site or applications like the one for the iPhone. By the end of 2009, customers had bought $600 million worth of products from their mobile phones.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/204970/ebay_bringing_mobile_apps_into_the_future.html

********

Intel, the world's biggest maker of semiconductors, expects demand for embedded microchips to accelerate as the company expands beyond its core business of computer chips, an executive told Reuters. Intel, which last week issued a sales warning on weaker than expected demand for PCs, has made two major acquisitions in the past two weeks as it eyes a future in which chips are increasingly needed to connect other devices.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/hardware/Intel-sees-faster-growth-in-embedded-chips/articleshow/6480292.cms

********

Sprint’s announcement with Grid Net gives it one of the first such cases in which a 4G network would be used to deliver an M2M application, which usually rely on narrowband 2G networks. Though automated meter reading requires little bandwidth, Grid Net’s software is designed to handle any number of more advanced tasks, from substation management to demand response applications, which make greater use of capacity.

http://blog.connectedplanetonline.com/unfiltered/2010/09/13/sprint-looks-for-new-business-in-smart-grid-wholesale-fmc/

********

Modernizing the U.S. electrical grid is a task that will most likely take decades to complete. At least we're getting started now, with more than two million smart meters installed nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/09/08/doe-two-million-smart-meters-now-installed-in-national-grid/

********

Reports indicate that venture capital investment in the mobile sector continues to rise, with an estimated $312 million being funneled into 37 companies and startups during the second quarter of this year alone.

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/vcs-funnel-312m-into-37-mobile-companies-during-q2-2010-9388/

***************************************************

Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

***************************************************

SAP Mentor Monday - Pre-Recorded SAP Enterprise Mobility Webinar

On Monday of this week John Appleby of Bluefin Solutions, Prashant Chatterjee of SAP and I recorded a webinar on the latest in SAP Enterprise Mobility.  It is available now for your viewing pleasure. 

In this webinar https://sap.na.pgiconnect.com/p49687013, I start out by discussing some of the most interesting new mobile technologies, and then Prashant and John actually bring substance to the webinar.

Just a reminder that there are many video interviews I have done with industry experts like Syclo's CEO Rich Padula available for you to watch here, http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/mobile-expert-video-series.html.  Syclo is a Co-Innovation Partner of SAP, which means they develop joint mobile solutions with SAP.  Theses videos are shaky and look like I am holding a small HD Flip video camera in one hand while conducting the interviews (in fact I am), but they do have some interesting content.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin’s Mobile Retailing Weekly – September 14, 2010

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retailing applications, mobile payments and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Additional weekly newsletters on the subjects of enterprise mobility and M2M from Kevin Benedict can be found here http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/.

********

ABN AMRO, ING, KPN, Rabobank, T-Mobile and Vodafone have signed a letter of intent to jointly introduce point of sale mobile payments in the Netherlands.

http://www.nfcnews.com/2010/09/10/banks-telecoms-unite-to-bring-contactless-m-payment-to-the-netherlands

********

Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and the iPhone’s iOS may be the lead operating systems battling it out for smartphone supremacy, but when it comes to getting users around the world to click on ads, good old flip phones and Nokia’s Symbian OS powered phones beat them hands down.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/09/mobile-ads/

********

PayPal has been partnering up with companies like Google for mobile payments, and it is expecting to see some huge business before the year’s end. More specifically, PayPal expects to see approximately $500 million in mobile payments before 2011.

http://www.intomobile.com/2010/09/09/paypal-expects-to-close-2010-with-500-million-in-mobile-payments/

********

Smartsoft Mobile empowers some of the world’s largest multi-national organizations to extend and improve business processes by providing mobile solutions to their employees and customers. Smartsoft has more than 700 experienced ERP/mobile consultants with over 5,000 man years of experience helping 400,000 plus mobile users achieve their business goals with powerful mobile B2B and B2C applications, designed and developed specifically for today’s popular consumer and industrial grade mobile devices. For more information please visit, http://www.smartsoftmobile.com/. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Smartsoft Mobile Solutions.

********

Consumers in the Netherlands will be using smartphones as mobile wallets within two years as result of a joint venture between top banks and mobile operators.

http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=458487

********

MasterCard Worldwide today announced an agreement with Borderlinx, the international industry leader in global cross border e-commerce shopping, in order to offer MasterCard customer financial institutions and their cardholders around the world improved access to the global e-commerce marketplace and facilitate the flow of electronic commerce.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mastercard-and-borderlinx-collaborate-to-enhance-e-commerce-experience-around-the-world-2010-08-30?reflink=MW_news_stmp

********

About 29 percent of consumers said they planned to use their phones to power through their back to school shopping lists, according to a survey this summer by consulting firm Deloitte.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/28/AR2010082800191.html

********

Google and Apple are both making moves to ensure smooth financial transactions on their mobile platforms.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Google-Apple-Joust-for-Mobile-Payments-Via-Android-iPhone-507837/

********

Mobile Commerce is just beginning to demonstrate how tricky it can get. Barnes & Noble announced new versions of its free e-reader app for the iPhone and iPad.  The app has most of the features of Barnes & Noble’s Nook tablet e-reader. One feature is notably absent: the Nook’s ability to let users read anything in Barnes & Noble’s electronic inventory when the device is inside one of the book chain’s 723 stores.

http://www.storefrontbacktalk.com/e-commerce/is-barnes-nobles-fear-of-ipad-competition-stunting-its-m-commerce-effort/

********

Mobile commerce can mean many things to many different people, thus creating confusion within an organization. In the first installment of a series on m-commerce, we provide a definition, and discuss must have functionality within m-commerce.

http://smartsoftmobile.com/wordpress/2010/09/10/m-commerce-a-definition/

********

Intuit and mophie have teamed on a credit card swiping iPhone accessory called Complete Credit Card Solution that will allow any approved iPhone owner to walk out of an Apple store in as little as 15 minutes with the ability to accept credit card payments.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/intuit-squares-off-in-mobile-credit-with-a-little-help-from-apple/

********

Online grocer Peapod LLC has introduced PeapodMobile, a mobile app that enables shoppers to shop for groceries and complete purchases wherever they may be.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/09/13/mobile-grocery-cart

********

Starting in September, Bank of America customers will be eligible for a test program allowing them to pay for store purchases using their smartphones. The country's largest consumer bank is partnering with Visa to run the pilot in the New York area, marking the biggest step the two companies have taken so far to create a "digital wallet" with a range of financial capabilities.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226900097

********

VeriFone Systems Inc. said Wednesday it has acquired Way Systems Inc., expanding the company's presence on cell phones and other mobile gadgets.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HV5JPG0.htm

********

According to Juniper Research, the value of digital and physical goods that people buy through their mobile phones will more than double to $200 billion globally by 2012. Separately, Gartner has projected the number of mobile payment users worldwide will reach 108.6 million this year -- a 54.5 percent increase from the 70 million in 2009.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=134484

********

Starbucks was an early player in mobile payments, and has repeatedly made counterintuitive moves. By developing an app for Research In Motion Ltd.'s devices at a time when most banks are focused on Apple Inc.'s iPhone or phones that use Google Inc.'s Android operating system, Starbucks appears to be acknowledging that people who might want to use their phones for purchases often carry company issued BlackBerrys.

http://www.americanbanker.com/bulletins/-1025192-1.html

********

Everyone needs an iPhone app it seems, even e-commerce sites, but most shopping sites don’t want to bother with creating their own custom mobile app. Now we are starting to see white-label mobile e-commerce apps. Magento Commerce , which raised $22 million in March for its open-source e-commerce platform, is getting into the mobile game with white-label apps for existing customers who use its e-commerce backend.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/08/magento-mobile/

********

MasterCard plans to buy European payment provider DataCash for $520 million. The move is just the latest indication of how hot the e-commerce space has become.

http://web-self-service.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-answers/articles/95903-mastercard-opens-its-digital-wallet-with-520m-datacash.htm

********

For most retailers, the fourth quarter is relied upon to generate a substantial portion of the company’s yearly revenue. The mobile commerce market is currently $2.5B with a projected four times annual growth rate for 2013. Businesses have made mobility a top priority for growth and view m-commerce as a new retail channel.

http://smartsoftmobile.com/wordpress/2010/09/10/fourth-quarter-2010-trends-in-mobile-retailing/

********

MarketsandMarkets has released a new report predicting that the value of mobile payment transactions in the US will reach $56 billion in 2015.

http://www.nfcnews.com/2010/08/30/report-us-mobile-payments-market-to-reach-56-billion-in-2015

********

In a survey of 1,000 professionals around the world released by Netsize (a subsidiary of smart card maker Gemalto), 94 percent said they were "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to purchase goods totaling up to $31.50 using their mobile phones.

http://www.banktech.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200033&cid=RSSfeed_BankTech_News

********

New technologies will pit payment giants Visa and MasterCard against wireless carriers and start-ups in a race to create a platform that allows consumers to purchase goods, distribute money and manage accounts using only their smartphones. The stakes transcend the technology and strike at the heart of who will retain market dominance over $6.70 trillion in payment transactions.

http://www.poder360.com/article_detail.php?id_article=4704


********

WorldMate released its mobile personal travel service app on the Android platform. The free WorldMate for Android app offers itinerary management, hotel bookings, alerts for flights and meetings, Google Maps, currency conversion and 5-day weather forecasts.

http://www.tnooz.com/2010/09/14/mobile/worldmate-puts-its-mobile-travel-assistant-app-on-android/

********

Leading online travel company Yatra.com and Sony Ericsson came together to launch a new mobile phone application - 'Travel Buddy' - which will allow Sony Ericsson Xperia users to book tickets anytime, anywhere.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Yatra-com--Sony-Ericsson-launch---Travel-Buddy--/679044

********

You can read more about enterprise mobility at the blog site,
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/.

Mobile Expert Interview – Dan Homrich, Part 1
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2010/09/mobile-expert-interview-series.html

Mobile Expert Interview – Dan Homrich, Part 2
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2010/09/mobile-expert-interview-series_10.html

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro
Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

***************************************************

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 3

In part 1 of this article series we focused on sales channel development and marketing strategies for mobile enterprise application vendors.  In part 2 we focused on sales strategies.  In part 3 we will discuss thought leadership.

In my experience companies looking to implement new mobile technologies and strategies appreciate help.  They appreciate learning from your mistakes and others.  Often they don't even know the questions they should be asking.  They may not even understand the key considerations and choices they need to make.  They need help even getting to the decision making stage.  They need answers.

I am a big fan of experts teaching workshops.  I have developed them myself.  One or two day workshops that identify all of the key issues, considerations and critical decisions enterprises need to understand before they decide on a mobile application strategy.  Thought leaders have this knowledge and provide it.  Inexperienced vendors are still learning themselves and are in no position to teach others. 

I know of many situations where the sales inhibitor was lack of knowledge.  Some companies even have budgets and a desire but delay the sales cycle purely because they are not confident in their knowledge.  They don't have the expertise to ask the questions necessary to make a buying decision.

There is value in experience.  There are SAP mobility and Co-Innovation partners like Syclo that have been around for more than 15 years.  They have been through just about every significant mobile innovation cycle and trend.  They have been there and done that.  You can ask them about the key issues that can make the difference between a successful project that is completed on time and on budget and the ones that weren't.  They have enough experience to share.

Thought leaders tell you how it is.  They don't hide behind marketing brochures.  You want to get to the people that have real world experience and learn.  I know some mobility vendors that hide all of their experts and let only the sales and marketing departments communicate to the world.  This always makes me think they are hiding something.

I respect mobility thought leaders that share their expertise and participate in educating the community.  A real voice, a real face and real world knowledge.  People like Philippe Winthrop of The Enterprise Mobility Foundation,  Ben Lee at Smartsoft Mobile, Gil Bouhnick at Clicksoftware and Lionel Carrasco of Leapfactor, and others voice opinions and educate the market weekly through blogs, tweets and other methods.

I commend enterprise mobility experts that share and educate.  They demonstrate their experience and confidence daily in their communications.

Stay tuned for part 4 in this article series.

Let me know if you would like to be introduced to some of these opinionated and experienced mobile industry experts, and I will do my best to point you in the right direction.  You can contact me here.

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 1
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 2

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 4

This is part 4 of this article series. 

I have consulted with many enterprise mobility vendors.  The new start-ups are often the most concerned with hiding all of their secrets.  They want every prospect to sign NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) and they only want to share the information that is on their marketing brochures.  They soon learn or they go away.

There are already so many new things to learn, that prospects and potential resellers have no idea what secrets you have that are worth stealing.  I have seen mobile start-ups delay or jeopardize entire sales cycles over confidentiality concerns.  The bottom line is that it is important to protect your retirement but recognize what is worth protecting.

I have had companies go through long NDA discussions with me.  They tell me they have the most important new mobile technology on the planet, only to discover weeks later that the technology they have I saw five years ago or my own team developed years ago.

There may be times when your technology is worth billions.  However, if you prevent your business from taking off over confidentiality concerns, then you will never know.  The value of your technology is based primarily upon the number of customers and potential customers that use or will use it.  Your focus should be on building a customer base - sales trump secrets every time.

I have said it before, the high tech world is littered with "better technology" that nobody bought.  If you are a mobile enterprise application start-up, the most important thing you can be doing is closing sales, building a customer base, and creating a brand through thought leadership - not protecting secrets that nobody even knows you have or cares that you have.

Smartsoft Mobile Solutions has over 400,000 mobile clients in the field.  Many of these mobile applications are B2C (business to consumer) applications that were custom developed for their large multi-national retail customers.  With 400,000 users you can be sure they don't make it difficult for their customers to use these mobile applications.  They don't negotiate non-disclosures with hundreds of thousands of mobile customers.  They recognize that the value is in the numbers of users.

If you would like to discuss this subject in more detail or discuss my consulting services please contact me. 

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 1
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 2
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 3

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

10 Costly Mistakes to Avoid When Selecting and Implementing a Mobility Solution

A couple of weeks ago Gil Bouhnick and I recorded a webinar called 10 Costly Mistakes to Avoid When Selecting and Implementing a Mobility Solution.  I opened with a 15 minute overview of the latest mobile technology that I have been researching.  It was a lot of fun and we had the largest audience I think I have ever seen on a webinar.

If you missed it live, you can catch the recorded version here:



http://www.clicksoftware.com/96ec7ed7-023c-4260-a063-a7d5c320dd23/knowledge-center-on-demand-webinars-registration.htm

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 2

In part 1 of this series I focused on the topics of sales channel development and marketing for mobile application vendors.  In part 2 I will focus on sales and sales strategies.

1. Organize all of your custom mobile application development projects into categories and business processes so the finished mobile applications can be demonstrated and used to show prospects your expertise.  When I was CEO of a mobile application company, we took inventory of all of our code and mobile applications and found we had dozens and dozens of different mobile applications that we had delivered to customers but had never leveraged with other prospects.  There were a lot of very cool apps on our shelves.
2. Recognize that each custom mobile application may have many different features.  Individual features may be of interest to different prospects.  It would be good to catalog specific features so you can demonstrate them quickly.
3. Use sales teams to find opportunities and qualify them, but close them with senior managers or executives.  You will save weeks or months in the sales process.
4. Once a qualified mobile opportunity is found, and the requirements are known, get your writers to write whitepapers specifically on the issues your prospects have.  Detail the issues and solutions available in a formal publicly available whitepaper.  The written word is very powerful and provides good documentation of your expertise.  The same can be done with webinars, videos or podcasts. Be a thought leader. 
5. Become experts in your field.  Don't permit your sales people to learn only 5 percent of their product or the industry they are targeting.  They don't deserve your prospects' time if they are not solution experts.  If it is not possible for your sales people to be experts, then make sure you bring experts to your customer meetings.  Time is precious and you need to trade time for knowledge.
6. Use a mobile application development tool (SDK - software development kit) to quickly provide screen shots and working proof of concepts for your prospects.  A picture or image is very powerful in helping your prospects envision a solution.  I have been very successful with this strategy over the years.  I would go to prospective customer meetings, gather requirements, and then have my team brand (put the client's logo on it) a mobile application that showed all of the screens and fields they would need and included screen navigation.  The sales prospects were very impressed and jumped straight into a deep dive discussion on how we could complete the application for them.

In interviews with companies like SAP Mobility partner Clicksoftware, I learned that many vendors use a template approach so they can quickly demonstrate mobile applications that are similar to the needs of their prospects and customers.  This is also a very effective approach.

Look for part 3 in this series later this week.

Contact me if you would like to discuss these in more detail. 

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 1

Over the weekend I had a mobile start-up contact me and share their challenges in getting a working sales channel set up and rolling in the enterprise mobility market.  Since this is a challenge that is shared by many small mobile start-ups, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on this matter.

1. One thing that I learned years ago is that resellers and systems integrators like to jump on a bandwagon. If there is no bandwagon, they aren’t motivated to jump. What does that mean? You need a bandwagon that plays music and attracts a crowd before the resellers or systems integrators come.
2. The bigger the market you are targeting, the bigger the amplification system your bandwagon needs.  You need bigger and louder noise in order to be heard. 
3. Another lesson I learned is that resellers want to focus on a repeatable model in a market they can leverage. What does that mean? It means if they sell to an SAP customer, they can reuse the SAP integration and experience with other potential SAP customers, have an SAP reference case and demonstrate knowledge in SAP environments. They can build a good reputation in a specific and defined market.
4. Understand resellers and their business models. They don’t care as much about what is the very best technology. They want the best selling technology. The high tech world is littered with better technology that went nowhere. The best selling technology is the one with a bandwagon. This is a very important concept to understand.  They are out to make money.  They want to offer solid, reliable technology that works and will make them the most money with the lowest cost of sales.
5. Some companies focus on extending SAP and other ERPs to mobile devices.  These are large and defined market places.  While other markets, like the mobile field data collection market, are made up of thousands of small niche markets with thousands of small resellers. It is hard to leverage a mobile bridge inspection application with an EPA application assessment or clinical trials project. The audiences, markets and resellers do not overlap so it is difficult to leverage success in one niche market into other small markets. It seems you are always starting from scratch in the next market. This means you cannot gain momentum and selling does not get easier over time. The cost of sales continues to be far higher than it should.
6. The marketing investment in one niche market is difficult to leverage in another dissimilar market.  The result is a higher marketing budget requirement per customer.  It is easier and more cost effective to attend one ASUG Sapphire or TechEd conference and meet thousands of potential customers, than to attend many small conferences and meet dozens of prospects in different markets. 
7. It often takes the same sales and market investment to close a $50,000 deal as it does to close a $500,000 or $5 million deal.  The difference is you may lose money on the $50,000 deal when the cost of marketing and the cost of sales is factored in.
8. A rule - The sales process must get easier over time.  You need your marketing system, your reputation, brand, reference cases, industry expertise and referrals to help you gain momentum and speed.  If your sales process does not get easier over time it is broken.
9. Once you have worked with the big boys in the ERP space you can understand why this is a good market. Good reputations can be developed through an accumulation of successes and SAP customers are often large enough to buy thousands of software licenses.
10. SAP customers within certain industries like oil and gas or chemical all belong to the same special interest groups and they talk. Not only do they talk, they attend meetings together and have regular webinars. SAP has dedicated sales and industry experts that support these markets. Success with one large customer is quickly known around the industry. With each success the work is easier and the cost of sales goes down.
11. You can replace the name “SAP” with Oracle or IBM Maximo or any number of companies and ERPs. The idea is that big markets, with large customer bases, that belong to the same industries are very good areas to invest in. It takes big markets to gain leverage and economies of scale.

You can see these strategies being implemented by SAP mobility partners like Clicksoftware, Leapfactor and Syclo.  They are focused on supporting the needs of SAP customers and developing a great reputation mobilizing the business processes of SAP users.  As their customer bases grow, so does their expertise, brand recognition and reference list.

If you are interested in discussing this topic in greater detail please contact me. 

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 2
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 3
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 4
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 5
My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 6

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

http://www.clicksoftware.com/e86e075b-4fca-44c9-bfeb-4efcc978f416/knowledge-center-white-papers-delivery.htm