Mobile Money News Weekly - Week of February 28, 2011

Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

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The Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio are using GoPayment, a mobile payment app, to process credit card transactions for this year's cookie season.

http://www.marketingvox.com/girl-scouts-turn-to-mobile-payments-for-cookie-season-apple-wins-patent-for-e-wallet-048781/

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Mobile banking growth in the United States continues to be fueled by aggressive adoption of smartphones and regular mobile Web use, according to Forrester Research.

http://www.mobile-financial.com/node/13674/Steady-mobile-banking-growth-to-drive-demand-for-better-functionality:-Forrester

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Bank of America, the leading U.S. retail bank, has reportedly started inviting select customers to trial its new NFC-based Mobile Wallet using BlackBerry smartphones.

http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/article/rim-teams-with-us-bank-on-nfc-payments

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An app surge and smartphone growth has set the stage for a mobile banking uptick. Mobile banking today is where online banking was 10 years ago.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: IDC's Nick McQuire, Part 2

IDC's Nick McQuire

This is Part 2 in this Mobile Expert Interview Series with IDC's Nick McQuire.  Read Part 1 here.

Kevin: What do companies often forget or fail to plan for when implementing enterprise mobility solutions?
Nick: There are a few areas but one area in particular is failing to plan for the future.  Often, the mobile solution does not fit the long term business or IT goals and the focus of the solution is often too narrow.  This is because in the past mobility has been tactically geared around a specific task, problem or process and essentially deployed in a silo within the company.  Over time we are now seeing other, perhaps more strategic areas, open up around mobile, but what is in place is not scalable.  This can become an unmanageable and costly pain point for many companies.  The good news here is that in Europe at least, service providers, telco and IT, are starting to help businesses handle this complexity from devices and contracts through to more complex mobilization projects in terms of managed services which require lower upfront investments.

Kevin: What are the biggest challenges in enterprise mobility today?
Nick: There are, of course, a few but we see that many European organizations are struggling with best practice in terms of mobile policy in the new world brought on by consumerization.  CIOs are aware that devices are entering their organization at a rapid rate.  They are increasingly considering "bring your own" liability schemes but are asking each other for help and guidance in terms of management and developing policies and governance frameworks for these.  They are asking questions like, "What do I need to be thinking about?  What are the risks?"  We will see vendors and service providers step up their guidance to CIOs on consumerization this year I believe, born out of their own internal practitioning at the moment on these issues.

Kevin: What were some of most surprising trends for you last year, 2010?
Nick: The biggest one of course was the success of the iPad in the enterprise.  We have all heard about this I know, but I think many didn’t predict how fast this would occur.  For example, we at IDC in Europe did a large CIO survey last year on mobility which was fielded in July with the results coming back in August.  Interest in tablets was quite small from CIOs in July-August because it was "pre-iPad era".  It's like BC-AD switch over in many respects.  The pace of change is so phenomenal now.  I think the iPhone kick-started a slight change in conventional IT philosophy around standardization and control in 2009-10, but the iPad's arrival virtually cemented this change almost overnight in 2010, and few I believe could have predicted that pace of change.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: IDC's Nick McQuire, Part 1

IDC's Nick McQuire

Nick and I will both be attending the upcoming conference in Brussels entitled, The Enterprise Mobility Exchange.  I saw him on the agenda and arranged an interview with him.

Note: These are not Nick McQuire's exact words, but rather my notes from the interview.  However, Nick did review this article and provided edits in advance of publication.

Kevin: Tell us about your roles and responsibilities and what areas you cover?
Nick: I have been at IDC for just over a year, and I was at BT Global Services in the strategy arm working across the mobility and UCC portfolios before that.  Before BT, I headed up Enterprise Mobility research in Europe for Yankee Group so have been directly and indirectly in the enterprise mobility segment in Europe for close to ten years now.

Kevin: What are your focus areas today?
Nick: Enterprise mobility and M2M (machine-to-machine communications) in EMEA.  I focus my research on the mobile and M2M value chains in terms of vendors and service providers.  In terms of end users, at IDC we do a fair bit with CIOs, especially in terms of our events platform, but also we run numerous CIO dinners across Europe throughout the year working with them on their challenges in terms of mobility.

Kevin: What do you think is the value of attending an event like the Enterprise Mobility Exchange in Brussels on May 9 - 11?
Nick: I was particularly interested in attending this event based on its success in previous years, especially in terms of field services.  I am especially keen to hear how recent enterprise-wise mobile trends are impacting the field services community, especially in terms of consumerization of the enterprise.  Are enterprises still looking in silos in terms of their approach to mobility?  I am interested in hearing best practices around mobile strategies and deployment in general and given the breadth of attendees and the scope of industry topics covered, I am sure there will be lots to learn in Brussels!

Kevin: What do companies need to think about before starting an enterprise mobility project?
Nick:  Of course many companies will have different approaches but we tend to advise CIOs that the starting point should be to conduct a general audit and rationalization of the estate to determine what enterprises have and what the priorities should be.  This should range across mobile infrastructure, devices and contracts and liability schemes to determine the costs, inventory, policy and any projects that are in place already flying under the radar.  This process in itself is often a revelation for many companies and going through this rationalization exercise up front is a critical step because it often lays bare a few key, previously hidden, priorities early on.

The next step, once organizations have determined what they have, should be to engage the business units to understand their requirements and what mobility means to them to do their job effectively. Having cross functional user buy in early on helps with sponsorship internally but also with prioritization as well.  We also argue that IT should functionally profile their users during this process to best determine user requirements and solutions for specific user groups, work styles and work spaces within the organization.  Not all workers are mobile workers and equally some worker roles have higher risk profiles than others. Gone are the days when blanket policies and standardized technology apply to all workers in organizations, so functional profiling is an important exercise.

Next, after the fact finding, it is then critical to put in place a mobile strategy that aligns with wider business goals of the organization and takes this input from the business teams.  What are the priorities for the company over the next two to three years, and what is needed to achieve them?  Is it to cut costs or to drive growth and greater customer interaction?  Is it to foster better collaboration and innovation or more effective business continuity?  Is it about talent recruitment and retention?  A mobility strategy should directly align to and enable these strategic priorities.

Finally, we argue that success for wide mobility implementations within enterprises needs central governance especially in its infancy.  Perhaps it’s a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Mobility within the company or a VP of Mobility internally.  But some form of central governance, which considers cross functional interests across the mobile workforce for sure, but also senior management and functions from HR, Legal and Operations.  This 360 degree view will ensure considerations across the business are met from employees, partners, legal, including unions, etc., and of course customers.  It will also ensure governance across the business in terms of avoiding duplication and unnecessary costs as well as to ensure priorities and standards are in place.

Read Part 2 of this interview.

Click Image to Learn More - Smartsoft Mobile Solutions

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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
Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
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.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's Mike Oliver, Part 2

Mike Oliver

This is Part 2 in this Mobile Expert Interview Series with Sybase's Mike Oliver.  Read Part 1.

Kevin: What are some of the most surprising trends you saw in mobility in 2010?
Mike: It has to be the iPad. Tablets have been around forever! All of a sudden Apple makes one with the great interface and everyone wants it? I have one but am personally frustrated with some of the limitations of the current iPad, but you can’t deny that it has been a big success and I’ll definitely buy the next version. I also love the new Samsung Galaxy, it fits into my jacket pocket. Overall though, I would rather use my NetBook. It has a keyboard, long battery life, prints and boots up fast without the tablet limitations.

Kevin: What are some of the biggest challenges you see in mobility today?
Mike: Simple connectivity is still a big challenge in the UK. We couldn’t get connectivity in our own office today. Every day when I drive home from the office I lose connectivity in three different locations. This is the middle of the UK! There are so many places where signals are just not good enough to support a mobile worker using an always connected mobile application. We have developed all kinds of features into Afaria just to help mobile workers in areas where there is intermittent connectivity.

Kevin: How are enterprise mobility implementations different from other typical IT projects?
Mike: IT folks have a difficult time truly understanding mobility. Many don’t even understand the differences between the mobile operating systems and mobile devices. It is a whole new world for them.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's Mike Oliver, Part 1

Mike Oliver

I first learned about Mike Oliver, European Mobility Marketing Manager for Sybase, because we are both on the agenda for the upcoming conference in Brussels entitled The Enterprise Mobility Exchange.  Mike was kind enough to schedule some time to share with us.

Note: These are not Mike Oliver's exact words, rather my notes from our interview.  However, Mike did review these notes for accuracy prior to publishing.

Kevin: Why are you going to the Enterprise Mobility Exchange in May? What is the value?

Mike: I spoke at this event last year and found that the quality of the delegates is unmatched. People must pay to attend. The focus has been on utilities and field services and this is a great market for Sybase and our partners. We have found great opportunities from this event every time we have attended. We always get more meetings than we have on our schedule.

Kevin: What are your current roles and responsibilities?

Mike: I am the European Mobility Marketing Manager for Sybase. Before SAP acquired us, I was responsible for marketing our mobility solutions across all of Europe. Now I cover a subset of our products including Afaria and SQL Anywhere.

Mobile Retailing News Weekly - Week of February 28, 2011

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 and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

Forrester forecasts that marketing spending on mobile display ads and search will surpass $1 billion in 2011.  That means marketers are set to find quantifiable ROI (return on investment) on mobile for generating real leads, driving foot traffic, and selling products and services.

http://memeburn.com/2011/02/mobile-marketing-and-m-commerce-is-where-the-money-is-moving/

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More and more brands are directing resources to mobile advertising, according to a new survey from DM2 Media and Jumptap.  According to the study, nearly 85 percent of marketers are doing some form of mobile marketing or advertising.

http://www.mediapost.com/blogs/raw/?p=5770

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More and more companies are using mobile marketing to reach consumers, but the latest research suggests they may need to change their tactics.  According to a study by Frost and Sullivan, tablets are a threat to both smartphones and netbooks.

http://www.dma.org.uk/news/nws-dmitem.asp?id=6438&t=Mobile+marketing%3A+Tablets+are+threat+to+smartphones

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VeriFone Systems, Inc. the leading payment solutions provider in the U.S., has urged aspiring mobile payment service companies to engage with retailers in determining market requirements to enable mobile phone-initiated payments and services at the retail point of sale.

The Enterprise Mobility Trends of 2011 - Webinar

Looking into the Future

I would invite you to consider attending the following webinar on enterprise mobility Thursday, March 10, 2011.  It is a panel discussion on how apps and tablets are transforming businesses.

Here is the description of the webinar from Sybase:

Join us for a lively discussion on the latest trends in enterprise mobility with the expert authors of the just-released Enterprise Mobility Guide 2011 published by Sybase.

We'll cover the latest trends in mobile device management and app development - platforms such as iOS, RIM and Android and hardware such as smartphones and tablets - all from the business perspective that matters to you.

Guest experts include:

• Kevin Benedict, a leading independent mobility analyst and consultant in the SAP ecosystem
• Phillipe Winthrop, former Strategy Analytics analyst and creator of the Enterprise Mobility Forum
• Lynette Luna, Editor of FierceMobileIT and Contributing Executive Editor to FierceWireless
• Host: Eric Lai, UberMobile blogger at ZDNet and editor-in-chief of the Enterprise Mobility Guide 2011

BONUS! All webcast attendees will be among the first to get a free copy of the new Enterprise Mobility Guide 2011 mailed to them. Contributors to this 130 page book include: industry experts from Accenture, Google, Motorola, Orange, RIM, Samsung, Verizon, and others; analysts from the Yankee Group and Enterprise Mobility Forum; and leading executives from Sybase and SAP.

Date: Thursday, March 10, 2011
Time: 2-3 PM ET/11-12 noon PT

 Register Here! 

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

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.

Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of February 28, 2011

Kevin’s Field Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to field mobility that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

A hand-held scanner that can detect cancer at a patient’s bedside using just a speck of tissue has been created by scientists from Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-23/harvard-scientists-create-hand-held-device-to-detect-cancer-at-bedside.html

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The highly competitive handset-based mobile resource management market is expected to grow to $2.33 billion by 2016 inside North America.

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9a45fc/north_american_mobile_resource_management_mrm

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Thermo Fisher Scientific has launched a new version of its handheld TruScan analyser that not only increases the speed with which the device can identify chemicals, but also broadens the range of compounds it can handle.

Building Compliance Features into Your Enterprise Mobility Solution, Part 2

Monitoring activities

This is Part 2 in this series on building compliance features into enterprise mobility solutions.  You can read Part 1 here.  This article looks at ways to configure best practices and other compliance requirements into mobile applications.

Sales and Marketing

It has been demonstrated many times that the trusted service technician that is standing in a customer's kitchen is a far better sales person than an unknown telephone sales person calling at dinner time. So how can you build processes into mobile applications that help your field services engineers be as effective as possible selling products and services?  Wouldn't it be nice if there was an automatic prompt that told the field services engineer what to discuss with each customer?

I have personally purchased extended maintenance warranties from my own HVAC service man several times over the past few years. They show me how I can save money and get better maintenance by being on the plan. I trust the experience of my service technician.

Mobile Enterprise Applications

When companies first begin considering an enterprise strategy for mobility, they often do not consider the role and value “compliance” layers can play. Even mobility vendors have not yet realized the true value. For the most part, enterprises are still thinking of mobile applications as a way to provide quick and mobile visibility to reports, notifications, approval processes, email messages and to replace paper forms. These are all good features, but there is much more that can be accomplished with mobile enterprise applications than has often been considered.

Building Compliance Features into Your Enterprise Mobility Solution, Part 1

One of the many challenges that companies have is managing a mobile workforce that is often working on remote and distant jobsites.  Many important parts of the business can be impacted by how the mobile workforce does their job while in these environments.  This article will discuss how mobile enterprise applications, with integrated compliance monitoring and prompting, can help companies manage remote and mobile work forces.

Customer Service in Remote Locations

The experience the customer has with your company is directly determined by how they are treated by the company representative they meet.  Often the onsite worker is the only face to face interaction the customer ever has with a person from your company.  The way the customer is treated and the services that are preformed can make all the difference between a good and bad experience and referral business.  How do you ensure that best practices are being followed in remote worksites?

Jobsite Safety

Jobsites can often be dangerous.  There may be safety issues and safety regulations that must be followed.  There are often specific processes that must be followed to reduce risks and to provide the safest working conditions possible for the workers and other people around the jobsite.

Legal Liabilities

There are many risks that must be considered.  If a jobsite is not properly prepared for safety and an accident happens, the company responsible for the work may be liable.  How do you ensure your workforce follows the appropriate processses, does mandated tasks and documents these steps to reduce risks?  Can a mobile device be used?

Best Practices

It is often the case that companies train their employees to do what is considered best practices within their company and industry.  These best practices can be at the core of a company’s competitive advantage.  How does a manager ensure that best practices are being followed on remote jobsites where there is no onsite supervision?  Best practices might be the difference between running an profitable operation and an unprofitable operation.

Read Part 2 of this article.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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.