This is Part 2 (see Part 1) of an indepth interview that I recorded with mobility expert Neil McHugh. We talk about all kinds of strategies that companies must consider when preparing to implement enterprise mobility.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1vibltMryY&feature=youtube_gdata
Whitepapers of Note
The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services
Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business
Webinars of Note
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution
Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility in Fortune 500 Companies - 10 Lessons Learned
Barcode Scanning In Mobile Applications
SAP Mobilization - What You Need to Know
***************************************************
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.
Mobility News Weekly - Week of March 14, 2011
Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly
It's almost too cool to believe. Simply wave a piece of American currency in front of your iPhone's camera and LookTel, created by software company Ipplex, will tell you the denomination without even having to access the internet.
http://www.good.is/post/video-possibly-the-best-iphone-app-yet-sees-money-for-the-blind/
********
Apple, Nokia and Research in Motion together have generated 64 percent of the revenue in the popular and ever growing smartphone market.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2011/03/15/apple-nokia-and-rim-tops-in.html
********
Verizon Wireless is the last operator to launch a phone under the 4G banner. The first smartphone for VZW’s long-term evolution network, the HTC Thunderbolt promises to be the fastest gizmo on the market.
http://blog.connectedplanetonline.com/unfiltered/2011/03/16/vzws-4g-smartphone-service-begins-thursday/
********
Consumerization, cloud computing, tablet computing and mobile collaboration are among the major trends that will drive the market for enterprise mobility solutions over the next year.
Enterprise Mobility Podcast Series: Neil McHugh
I was able to track down Neil McHugh, VP of Sales and Business Development with Sky Technologies today and record his thoughts on a variety of subjects related to enterprise mobility and strategy. This is a very interesting discussion. The link below takes you to Part 1 (see Part 2) of the interview on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38TMW2ysQGY&feature=youtube_gdata
Listen to Part 2 of this interview here.
Webinars of Note:
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution
Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility in Fortune 500 Companies - 10 Lessons Learned (with Kevin Benedict)
Barcode Scanning In Mobile Applications
SAP Mobilization - What You Need to Know
***************************************************
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38TMW2ysQGY&feature=youtube_gdata
Listen to Part 2 of this interview here.
Webinars of Note:
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution
Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility in Fortune 500 Companies - 10 Lessons Learned (with Kevin Benedict)
Barcode Scanning In Mobile Applications
SAP Mobilization - What You Need to Know
***************************************************
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 Money News Weekly - Week of March 14, 2011
Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly
Google is trying to beat Apple to the punch when it comes to making Near Field Communication technology popular in the U.S. Google is about to begin testing mobile NFC payments and plans to do so by installing "thousands" of VeriFone NFC readers at merchants in New York and San Francisco.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/03/google-reportedly-testing-phone-payments-in-nyc-san-francisco.ars
********
Recent reports have projected mobile payments would grow to a $680 billion market by 2016. Juniper Research has valued the mobile payment market at $170 billion in 2010 and projected it to grow to $630 billion by 2014.
http://www.procurement.travel/news.php?cid=mobile-payment-providers-consumer-applications-commercial-applications-hype.Feb-11.28
********
Forrester reports that less than 6 percent of American adults have ever used mobile payment. Americans seem stuck on paper money and credit or debit cards — behind both high-tech first world countries and the developing world in using phones as a wallet.
http://www.technewsdaily.com/us-lags-even-developing-world-in-using-cell-phones-as-wallets-2318/
********
Apple has told several UK mobile operators that NFC will not be part of the next iPhone, because Apple is concerned about the lack of an industry-wide standard.
Enterprise Mobility Podcast Series: SAP's Dr. Ahmed El Adl
This is a great interview that I conducted with SAP's Dr. Ahmed El Adl last week. He discusses his new role at SAP working on enterprise mobility projects and strategy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZva1Y6KqF0
***************************************************
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZva1Y6KqF0
***************************************************
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 Retailing News Weekly - Week of March 14, 2011
Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly
Berg Insight estimates that the total value of the global mobile marketing and advertising market was € 1.72 billion in 2009. Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 41 percent, the mobile ad market is forecasted to be worth € 13.5 billion in 2015.
http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/sbwire-82016.htm
********
While today mobile represents 15 percent of online advertising, by 2015 it will represent 64 percent of all digital ads.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/9264.html
********
Recent reports show the total download app market for Android and iPhone will reach a whopping $15 billion by 2013.
http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2129310&spid=24698
********
AOL is trying to transform itself from an Internet service provider to a media company, driven by advertising. And as attention shifts to the mobile Internet from the desktop, AOL realizes that it needs to kick start a mobile advertising business, too.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/03/11/businessinsider-aol-mobile-ads-2011-3.DTL
********
The mobile marketing industry in Kenya is set to see significant growth with the launch of the East African chapter of the Mobile Marketing Association.
Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sky Technologies' Neil McHugh, Part 3
 |
| Neil McHugh |
Kevin: Do companies need a mobility enterprise application platform?
Neil: We believe so. Ninety percent of the customers we have deploy more than one mobility project. Mobility is a strategic IT initiative and by deploying a mobile platform, customers can grow and evolve their mobile infrastructure without having to worry about scalability or supporting multiple application types and can continue to add various mobile devices as technology evolves over time.
Kevin: Do companies need mobile device management?
Neil: They should definitely consider MDM if the enterprise owns the devices, not so when they allow users to access data through their own personal devices.
Kevin: What is the hardest part of working with mobile devices?
Neil: Just the constant changes of operating system updates….
Kevin: Where do you see the biggest value in mobile business intelligence?
Neil: The ability to present data in a dashboard screen where you can view critical aspects of your business in one location. This is extremely advantageous if your data is spread across different systems and you can pull data dynamically into one application. This is a cool app.
Kevin: What value do you see in location-based services?
Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sky Technologies' Neil McHugh, Part 2
Read Part 1 of this interview.
Read Part 3 of this interview.
Kevin: What are some of the biggest challenges you see in mobility today?
Neil: For customers, so many solution options which provide many alternatives but also lots of confusion. Mobility is critical to a customer’s competitive strategy to ensure efficiencies continually improve and operational costs are reduced. With so many options, customer may fall for the marketing hype promoted by some of these vendors which harms the credibility of the mobile technology market. So our challenge, as a mobile solution provider, is to educate customers in technology and ensure they follow a logical evaluation process that will eliminate vaporware vendors and provide them with a solution that works and meets their business requirements.
Kevin: How are enterprise mobility implementations different from other typical IT projects?
Neil: I think from an IT project viewpoint there is far more emphasis and focus on the user experience and the interface. In other non-mobility projects the primary objective was ensuring the solution worked and if it looked nice…that was great. With mobility, it is all about the application. How it looks, ease of use which is just as important in today’s world.
Kevin: What do companies fail to plan for when implementing mobility?
Neil: Customers sometimes fail to consider and plan for the rapid change in mobile devices. How they are going to manage and support the increasing number of devices. How will they implement changes across their entire company when either an application is updated, or the hardware operating system changes. A good device management system should be considered during their planning stage.
Kevin: Where can companies find the biggest ROIs when implementing enterprise mobility?
Neil: There are so many situations where customers can experience significant ROI, but one of the simplest examples are those customers that implement Field Service applications. Engineers can often be on the road for several weeks which means submitting invoice information back to the admin departments can be delayed which exerts unnecessary pressure on the cash flow. By deploying mobile applications, engineers have access to customer information, part numbers and prices which enable them to write invoices on the spot. They can virtually do anything while mobile that they can do in their office. This solution has a direct impact on the bottom line and improves customer satisfaction dramatically.
Kevin: What advice do you have for companies just starting down an enterprise mobility path?
Neil: I would advocate that customers do their own research and not rely on the typical top SI’s or analysts for solution recommendations. We always suggest that customers go through a complete RFP process and chose the top four vendors. From there they should ask each vendor to do a POC on site within three days, provide three customer references. The chosen solution should have the capability and flexibility to evolve and future changes should be easy to change by the customer’s IT staff.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of this interview.
Whitepapers of Note
The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services
Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business
Webinars of Note
Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility - 10 Lessons Learned
Barcode Scanning in Mobile Apps
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution
***************************************************
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.
Read Part 3 of this interview.
Kevin: What are some of the biggest challenges you see in mobility today?
Neil: For customers, so many solution options which provide many alternatives but also lots of confusion. Mobility is critical to a customer’s competitive strategy to ensure efficiencies continually improve and operational costs are reduced. With so many options, customer may fall for the marketing hype promoted by some of these vendors which harms the credibility of the mobile technology market. So our challenge, as a mobile solution provider, is to educate customers in technology and ensure they follow a logical evaluation process that will eliminate vaporware vendors and provide them with a solution that works and meets their business requirements.
Kevin: How are enterprise mobility implementations different from other typical IT projects?
Neil: I think from an IT project viewpoint there is far more emphasis and focus on the user experience and the interface. In other non-mobility projects the primary objective was ensuring the solution worked and if it looked nice…that was great. With mobility, it is all about the application. How it looks, ease of use which is just as important in today’s world.
Kevin: What do companies fail to plan for when implementing mobility?
Neil: Customers sometimes fail to consider and plan for the rapid change in mobile devices. How they are going to manage and support the increasing number of devices. How will they implement changes across their entire company when either an application is updated, or the hardware operating system changes. A good device management system should be considered during their planning stage.
Kevin: Where can companies find the biggest ROIs when implementing enterprise mobility?
Neil: There are so many situations where customers can experience significant ROI, but one of the simplest examples are those customers that implement Field Service applications. Engineers can often be on the road for several weeks which means submitting invoice information back to the admin departments can be delayed which exerts unnecessary pressure on the cash flow. By deploying mobile applications, engineers have access to customer information, part numbers and prices which enable them to write invoices on the spot. They can virtually do anything while mobile that they can do in their office. This solution has a direct impact on the bottom line and improves customer satisfaction dramatically.
Kevin: What advice do you have for companies just starting down an enterprise mobility path?
Neil: I would advocate that customers do their own research and not rely on the typical top SI’s or analysts for solution recommendations. We always suggest that customers go through a complete RFP process and chose the top four vendors. From there they should ask each vendor to do a POC on site within three days, provide three customer references. The chosen solution should have the capability and flexibility to evolve and future changes should be easy to change by the customer’s IT staff.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of this interview.
Whitepapers of Note
The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services
Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business
Webinars of Note
Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility - 10 Lessons Learned
Barcode Scanning in Mobile Apps
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution
***************************************************
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: Sky Technologies' Neil McHugh, Part 1
 |
| Neil McHugh |
Note: Neil responded to these questions in writing, so these are Neil's words with minor editing.
Kevin: What are your current roles and responsibilities? How long have you been in these roles?
Neil: I am the Vice President for Sales & Business Development for Sky and have been working with them for almost three years.
Kevin: Where are you located?
Neil: I am located in Houston, but my offices are in Dallas and Palo Alto.
Kevin: What mobile device(s) do you carry?
Neil: I carry a iPhone, iPad and laptop when I travel.
Kevin: What are some of your favorite mobile applications that you have on your mobile device?
Neil: My favorite apps for my personal life are VectorVest for financial stock monitoring. OpenTable to find good restaurants and Redbox for my DVD rentals. From a work viewpoint an application that simplifies my life when I travel such as (Workflow – PO & Expense approval) CRM for accessing customer information.
Kevin: Do you ever use your mobile device to buy things?
Neil: I tend to use my iPad to buy things on Amazon, eBay and moving money around when I am buying stock.
Kevin: How many computing devices do you have in your home?
Neil: We have two laptops, two iPads, an iPhone and Android. Six devices if I counted correctly.
Kevin: How did you get involved in enterprise mobility?
Neil: Networking with contacts brought me into the world of SAP and mobility.
Kevin: What do you like most about working with enterprise mobility?
Neil: I came from a background of mainframes with IBM which was very stable but bordering on stagnant. Enterprise mobility is quite different, and it is the first time I have worked in a space where consumer and enterprise meet with the same technology. So, it is a very dynamic space where hardware, software and communications will continue to improve and help us all to be more efficient.
Kevin: What are some of the most surprising trends you saw in mobility in 2010?
Neil: Probably the uptake of the iPad and follow-on tablets. It was only 11 months ago that the first iPad was released and estimates suggest 10 million from Apple and 7 million from other suppliers. Also, the adoption rate of iPads into the enterprise has been extremely quick.
Read Part 2 of this interview.
Read Part 3 of this interview.
Whitepapers of Note
The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services
Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business
Webinars of Note
Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility - 10 Lessons Learned
Barcode Scanning in Mobile Apps
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution
***************************************************
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.
Unified View of Mobile Field Operations
PG&E ultimately consolidated all of their dispatching and field services management into two centers and standardized on a central scheduling solution. This resulted in a unified view of the workforce's schedule.
Today, the central dispatchers at PG&E have the visibility and management flexibility to schedule or reschedule work and crews to where they are most needed across regions. This solution consisted of ClickSoftware's ServiceOptimization Suite of tools including ClickSchedule, ClickPlan, ClickAnalyze and ClickForecast integrated with SAP’s work order application.
PG&E is a great example of the implementation of a concept called "Network Centric Operations." The ability to have a unified real-time view of all of your assets, work/missions, schedules and resources so that you can manage them to most efficiently accomplish the mission.
I have been studying with keen interest recently how the military is incorporating these kinds of strategies to do more with less. I believe this goal is equally important in the commercial sector.
***************************************************
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.
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