Mobile Strategies and Consumer Products Companies

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In February I worked with insiderResearch on an enterprise mobility survey.  We surveyed 602 companies.  I wrote a report (available for free here) on the general results of this survey.  I am now going to be digging deeper and reviewing the results by industry.  So stay tuned!  In this article I will review one set of results from the consumer products industry.

First a little background, 44 of the 602 companies were in the consumer products industry.  Seventy-five percent of these had annual revenues of more than $500 million.

Survey question:  How would you describe the mobile strategy at your organization?

• 36% (32% for all respondents) - Enterprise wide - governing all applications and devices
• 24% (28% for all respondents) - we have NO mobile strategy
• 24% (24% for all respondents) - experimental, each business unit and group does it's own thing with little or no oversight
• 17% (16% for all respondents) - distributed, each line of business or location sets it's own strategy

These findings are revealing to me.  Sixty-five percent of these consumer products companies don't have a corporate wide enterprise mobility strategy.  This opens the doors to silo strategies, redundant efforts and costs, waste and inefficient IT environments.  It also makes it very hard to standardize on mobile security, support and mobile application management.

Let's now analyze the results from the consumer products industry, and compare it to all of the 602 responses.  Thirty-six percentage of consumer products companies have an enterprise wide mobile strategy that governs all applications and devices, but only 32% of the entire list does.  That suggests there is a slightly higher level of enterprise mobility maturity in this industry, than the average.  However, the rest of the results are nearly the same.

The fact that 75% of these companies have annual revenues of over $500 million, and 65% still don't have a corporate wide enterprise mobility strategy, bodes well for a mobile strategy consultant like me, but not for the potential chaos that is coming to the IT organization if corporate wide standards, frameworks and platforms are not implemented fast.

***I also conducted an enterprise mobility survey of 118 companies in Q4 2011 with different survey questions.  You can get the results of that survey for free here.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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 Commerce News Weekly – Week of April 1, 2012

The Mobile Commerce 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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

PayPal is throwing its full weight into the mobile payments market. To fill its vacant top spot, the Web payments giant is elevating David Marcus, who joined the company in August as its mobile chief. Read Original Content

The payment space is in an extremely transformational period but the widespread adoption of mobile payments may be four to six years away, according to comments from American Express executives. Read Original Content

The gap between smartphone and tablet behavior continues to grow, signaling how the two devices need to be treated with different marketing campaigns, according to a new study from Forrester Research. Read Original Content

Verivo is a leading provider of enterprise mobility software, Verivo helps companies accelerate their business results. Its unique technology empowers teams to build, deploy, manage and update their mobile apps -- rapidly and securely. Verivo’s mobility platform is used by hundreds of companies in numerous industries, worldwide. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Verivo.  To learn more, visit www.verivo.com

Although just 14 percent of wealthy consumers (with a minimum gross annual income of $150,000) who own a smartphone say they regularly use their device to shop for products and services, overall two-thirds do so at least rarely, finds the Luxury Institute in March 2012 survey results. Read Original Content

The mobile experience is in a renaissance period, from phones to tablets to autos and more. Many predict NFC will bring one of the most significant improvements to the mobile experience of all. Read Original Content

Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly – Week of April 1, 2012

The Field Mobility and M2M 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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

InSync Software has announced the availability of Sapphire, its new iApp 4.0 application platform.  Sapphire features enhancements that include GPS device support and smartphone support for InSync Mobile. Read Original Content

Law enforcement's use of geospatial analytics has moved far beyond a couple of researchers or the fictional exploits of the television show Numb3rs; and businesses are now following their example in using GIS technology and applying geospatial predictive analysis to their businesses. Read Original Content

New 2010 U.S. Census datasets are now available and can be downloaded as a collection of layer packages from ArcGIS. Read Original Content

Since 1995, Syclo has enabled hundreds of companies in 37 countries and industries supercharge their businesses with mobility.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Syclo. http://www.syclo.com/.

The RFID Journal has announced the finalists for the 2012 RFID Journal Awards, in categories including Best RFID Implementation, Most Innovative Use of RFID, and Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service. Read Original Content

The French North Pole 2012 Expedition will be using the Algiz XRW notebook by Handheld for communications and computing during its five-week expedition. Read Original Content

Development Models for Enterprise Mobility

My friend and collaborator Andre Guillemin and I have been pondering different development considerations and models for enterprise mobility.  Here are a few of the models we have been discussing:

Model #1 - one mobile application for use on one mobile device
Model #2 - one mobile application for use on multiple mobile devices using the same operating system
Model #3 - one mobile application for use on multiple mobile devices and multiple operating systems
Model #4 - multiple mobile applications for use on one mobile device
Model #5 - multiple mobile applications for use on multiple mobile devices using the same operating system
Model #6 - multiple mobile applications, multiple mobile devices, multiple operating systems and multiple versions of operating systems

I most often see Models #1 and #2 in environments with purpose built and ruggedized devices that utilize RFID or bar code scanners.

Model #2 is often found when the same application needs to run on two or more different ruggedized mobile handheld computers, but all on the same version of the same operating system.

Model #3 is often seen in line of business apps.  You have a specific ERP or business app, and a specific business process that is extended out to mobile devices. The mobile app is only intended to be an extension of the one process, but used on different mobile devices and operating systems.

Model #4 is often used when the company has invested heavily into one kind of mobile device.  This is often found when a company has a large inventory of industrial grade mobile handhelds.  Once the mobile device investment is made, the company wants to maximize the ROI, so they look for ways to mobilize additional business processes that they can deploy to the device to maximize their return.

Model #5 is a often found in companies that have all Blackberry, Android or all Windows Mobile devices.  This model is rarer these days.  The advantage is lower development, training and support costs when all users and developers are trained and familiar with the one OS.

Model #6 is the predominant model of mobile apps intended for use on smartphones today, but it is also the most complex to manage.  If you have 5 mobile applications, supported on 4 different operating systems (12 different operating system versions), and running on 25 different mobile devices, then you have the potential for several hundred different combinations that must be maintained.

Since model #6 is the model of today and the near future - mobile platforms, frameworks, IDEs (integrated development environments) and MAM (mobile application management) tools are essential for successful enterprise mobility deployments.

Did I miss any models?  Correct me if I did!

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.

Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly – Week of April 1, 2012

Welcome to Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility in Asia.  Asia is predicted to be the fastest area of growth for enterprise mobility between now and 2016.

Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Cognizant is enhancing operations in the Asia Pacific region and has opened a new development center in Singapore. Read Original Content

PayPal is hoping to move into China and has applied to Chinese authorities for a domestic payment license.  If the license is approved, PayPal may also expand its PayPal Here mobile card payments service into China. Read Original Content

Demand for the Internet in China is high, with 505 million Internet users at the end of November 2011 and 58 percent of those users access the internet via cell phone. Read Original Content

ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

The chairman of China Mobile, Wang Jianzhou, has resigned and reports indicate former vice minister of Industry and Information Technology Xi Guohua is replacing him. Read Original Content

Consulting firm Netscribes (India) Pvt. Ltd. has released a new report, Enterprise Mobility Market in India 2011. Read Original Content

According to a new report by Research and Markets, the unified communications market in India is being boosted by the ongoing proliferation of high speed Internet services such as 3G and broadband. Further, the demand to incorporate mobility amongst corporations is also raising the demand for UC based technology so as to facilitate seamless flow of information and data. Read Original Content

Mobile Health News Weekly – Week of March 26, 2012

The Mobile Health News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to mobile health that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

According to a recent Deloitte survey, 78 percent of senior mobile industry executives view healthcare as the most promising new growth channel for 4G services. Read Original Content

A recent report from BBC Research indicates that the global telemedicine market grew from $9.8 billion in 2010 to $11.6 billion in 2011 and will almost triple to $27.3 billion in 2016. Read Original Content

One of the broadest efforts to assess "mHealth" strategies is being made by dozens of faculty, staff and students in multiple departments at the Johns Hopkins University, which has 49 official studies underway in Baltimore and around the world as part of its Global mHealth Initiative. Read Original Content

Webalo technology eliminates the need for traditional mobile application development tools and custom programming to provide in hours, instead of weeks or months, mobile access to the specific enterprise data and functions that smartphone and tablet users rely on to do their jobs.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Webalo, www.webalo.com.

Globally, about 3.1 billion people used mobile phones in 2007; that’s nearly half the planet. In theory, this access to the Internet and specifically to mobile phone technologies should advance healthcare delivery, but is mHealth really going to improve health outcomes? Read Original Content

A new global mHealth market survey conducted in late 2011 examines the opinions of both start-up companies and mHealth and traditional healthcare market players that have had experience publishing applications for a smartphone platform. The report covers major questions about current mobile health market, and discusses hypotheses about market trends. Read Original Content

Mobility News Weekly – Week of March 26, 2012

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

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly

To drive innovation and business opportunities in Finland's mobile ecosystem, Microsoft Corp. and Nokia will each invest up to 9 million euros into a newly established mobile application development program at Aalto University during the next three years.  Read Original Content

Every 3.5 seconds, someone in America loses a cell phone, and more often than not, it happens in a coffee shop. All those absentminded moments add up to $30 billion in annual losses, the report, from mobile security company LookOut claims.  Read Original Content

According to research firm IDC, Apple is the app designers’ platform of choice. Despite flourishing sales of devices powered by Google’s Android OS, more developers said they were “very interested” in developing apps for devices running Apple’s iOS.  Read Original Content

ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

The U.S. Army has officially announced a prototype of the Army Software Marketplace, a web-based app store that currently includes twelve different training apps that have been approved for Army-wide use. That includes just iOS apps, but it will soon include apps for Android.  Read Original Content

The latest version of Apple’s iOS software, 5.1, has hit roughly 61 percent adoption among users of some popular iOS apps. Developer David Smith saw 61 percent of users already upgraded to the latest version of iOS after only 15 days of release.   Read Original Content

The Black Hole of Enterprise Mobility Apps

I was eating my fried chicken cobb salad at an airport restaurant in Chicago yesterday and overheard a table full of businessmen next to me talking about mobile apps.  One of them bragged about how easy it is to develop mobile apps.  He used as evidence the fact that even his brother-n-law had developed one. 

I don't doubt it was a major accomplishment for the brother-n-law, but I do doubt the mobile app in question was actually enterprise ready.  There is much more involved with developing mobile apps than just putting your favorite spreadsheet into an iOS app and getting it approved by Apple.  There are things like deployment, maintenance, integration, app management, single sign-on and security that must be considered.

Unless there is a strategic reason to develop your own mobile apps, you should really look for off-the-shelf mobile apps first from quality mobile app vendors before succumbing to the temptation to develop your own.  I recently spoke about this subject on a webinar that is now available on-demand.  Developing a mobile app is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of cost, time and resources required to maintain it long term. 

When I was the CEO of a mobile app company, I remember how hard it was simply trying to organize and maintain all the different versions and code bases of the many custom apps we had developed for our customers.  It was crazy!  We had enough customers so it was justified for us to invest in tools to help manage this challenge, but it was still a cost and chore.

I will say it again, "Mobile apps have a beginning, but they don't have an end."  They will be here for the rest of your career so you need a plan.  Pick carefully the mobile apps that you want to design, develop, deploy, document, archive, support and maintain forever.  It can easily become a black hole with no escape if you don't.

I am also a big fan of cloud based mobile off-the-shelf apps when these are available.  I believe that most enterprises will have several different buckets of mobile apps.  Some buckets require custom developed mobile apps because of their unique features and the competitive advantages they provide, others however, can be off-the-shelf because they are simply providing efficiencies for standard ERP processes. 

Some mobile apps may be mission critical, but are only used by 10 people.  There are no economies of scale.  It may not pay to train a whole team to develop, document and support a mobile app for just 10 people.  Contract an expert team to jump in and develop it, if it is that important and worthwhile.  However, find out if someone else can support it in the cloud.

If your organization is like most I work with, you have very limited resources and budgets.  Pick carefully the kinds of mobile apps you are willing to develop and support yourself.  Don't waste your best talent developing mobile apps that can be purchased off-the-shelf and in the cloud.  Look for opportunities to develop unique mobile apps that provide the biggest strategic value and competitive advantages.  Then development them using a standard IDE (integrated development environment) connected to a MEAP.  Also, if you outsource the development work, make sure they use your standard IDE and MEAP.  Don't let them mess up your standards!

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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 Marketing News Weekly – Week of March 26, 2012

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

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

According to the latest data presented by YouGov, a survey on SMS and mobile phone marketing showed that 65 percent of people like receiving offers on their mobile phones and 75 percent of smartphone users prefer receiving offers via SMST. To review all the morsels of info found in the YouGov study, check out their infographic. Read Original Content

Advertising on mobile devices rocketed by 157 percent in 2011, to a new high of £203.2 million, according to the annual IAB and PwC mobile advertising spend study. Read Original Content

Catalyst Financial Resources LLC has released a report on the future of mobile media advertising and marketing. In the report, Catalyst gave a bullish outlook for the mobile marketing industry. The report indicates U.S. advertising spending is expected to grow to $169.5 billion in 2012 from $158.9 billion in 2011. Read Original Content

Verivo is a leading provider of enterprise mobility software, Verivo helps companies accelerate their business results. Its unique technology empowers teams to build, deploy, manage and update their mobile apps -- rapidly and securely. Verivo’s mobility platform is used by hundreds of companies in numerous industries, worldwide. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Verivo.  To learn more, visit www.verivo.com

Coca Cola is counting on mobile to help realize CEO Muhtar Kent's 2020 Vision Plan of doubling 2010 revenue to $200 million by 2020. Earlier this month the company launched an update of its 1971 ad, "I'd like to buy the world a Coke", reconfigured for the mobile age. With a few taps of the Smartphone, consumers can really “buy the world a Coke” and even add a personalized message. Read Original Content

By year's-end, mobile will contribute 25 percent to total paid-search ad clicks, up from 12 percent. By then, U.S. mobile campaigns will contribute about 23 percent to Google's paid-search revenue in the United States. Read Original Content

Mobile Middleware Strategies

Andre Guillemin and I just completed a 30 plus page whitepaper on mobile middleware strategies, and I will be discussing this on a webinar on Thursday, March 29th at 1 PM EDT.  The whitepaper title is Making Sense of Mobile Middleware Strategies.  Choosing mobile middleware was listed as the third biggest challenge on insiderResearch's recent Mobile Outlook 2012 report (get the report free here).

Webinar attendees will also receive a free copy of my whitepaper.

I invite you to attend!

Webinar Details:
Making Sense of Mobile Middleware Strategies
Thursday, March 29, 1PM EDT
Learn More
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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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.