Exploring the Future with Kevin Benedict

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's CEO Rich Padula

October is traditionally a very busy time for high tech companies, and this year there is no busier category than enterprise mobility. For that reason, I was especially pleased that Syclo's CEO Rich Padula made himself available for a brief interview last week.

Kevin: Rich, what mobile device(s) do you carry?
Rich: I carry a Blackberry, iPad, Netbook and iPod. I have a desktop in the office.

SAP CIO Oliver Bussman

I am excited to report that I will be conducting the SAP TechEd Live interview (see sample) with SAP CIO Oliver Bussman later this month at TechEd in Las Vegas. Oliver Bussman is involved in all the major mobility projects that are rolled out within the SAP organization.

Oliver spoke about some of his recent mobility projects in this article:

SAP has rolled out almost 1,500 iPads for users across its business
The iPads were configured with email access, access to a virtual private network (VPN), Citrix software to enable access to server-based applications and business intelligence tools via BusinessObjects.
The company currently has 17,000 BlackBerrys rolled out across the organisation and Bussmann said that within 12 months, there will be as many iPads in use by SAP employees.

If you have questions that you want me to ask Oliver, please comment below and I will add them to the list.

I hope to see you in Vegas!

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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.

What are Machines Talking About?

M2M and Kevin Benedict

In the article M2M: Driving Expoential Growth in Connections, author Perry LaFarge writes, "The number of machines communicating with each other wirelessly will soon dwarf the number of people connected via mobile devices."

What kind of machines are communicating with each other? Machines like Redbox movie kiosks communicating DVD inventories to iPhone users; tractors and other heavy equipment reporting their maintenance status to the central office; and all kinds of high value assets reporting their location, status and numerous other details monitored by remote sensors. Homes are also reporting minute by minute energy consumption to both the homeowner and the utility through smart meters and smart grids. The use cases are endless.

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly - October 5, 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.

iPhone Owners First in Online Shopping and BlackBerry Owners are Last

In an article I read today on mobile marketing it said, "Consumers who own an Apple iPhone are more likely to shop online from their phones, than those consumers who owned phones based on Google Android or BlackBerry operating systems...BlackBerry is way behind the Android and iPhone."

Santa Claus Smartphones and Online Shopping

I read this in the Dallas Morning News online version today, "Last year, more than 60 million Americans were mobile Web users, up 33 percent from 2008, according to Nielsen. This holiday season, Nielsen predicts one-third of all mobile phones in use will be smartphones, up from 21 percent a year ago.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: WorkLight's COO Kurt Daniel

I interviewed WorkLight's COO, Kurt Daniel this week. This was an interesting interview, as WorkLight is following a different strategy than most enterprise mobility vendors. They have developed a MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) and a mobile SDK (software development kit), not for their own use, but rather for systems integrators and end customers to use to develop their own enterprise mobility solutions. They want to be a technology company, not a mobile application company.

Virtual Utility Summit - Optimize Your Mobile Workforce

I came across this virtual utility summit that is offered this week. If you are involved in enterprise mobility projects for a utility company, this may be for you. Here is the description:

Discuss the challenges and opportunities around effectively managing the mobile workforce in your utility. With today's environmental, regulatory and economic pressures the issue of effectively managing a mobile workforce has never been more critical. Yet very few, if any, events focus on this important subject matter.
The virtual summit will explore key aspects of workforce management; from managing a smart metering rollout and handling multi-stage and multi-day work and crew management.
Hear from industry experts and utility organizations that have implemented workforce management systems to transform their business.

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - September 30, 2010

Kevin's 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 numbers and trends.

SMS, Human Capital Management and Mobile Applications

It is easy to think that high value mobile applications need to be complex and sophisticated, but that is not always the case. This morning I read about a solution that helps firefighters manage their human resources and schedules by interacting with their staff via SMS. The solution, called ClickRoster, will automatically create the roster for every fire station and every shift for both full time and part time firefighters, allocating individuals to specific roles based on skill requirements and the Watch Managers’ decisions.

Ventureforth Delivers Mobile Enterprise Solutions for Oracle PeopleSoft Using Syclo's Agentry Platform

Ventureforth, a Syclo Independent Software Vendor, licenses and develops off-the-shelf mobile solutions for Oracle, PeopleSoft and Indus (Ventyx) with the configurable mobile platform architecture from Syclo’s Agentry platform. This is interesting for two reasons:

Last week I interviewed the COO of Worklight, Kurt Daniels (see interview later this week) and learned about their strategy to become the leading mobile application platform for smartphones, tablets and beyond. What makes them unique? They want to be experts in mobile technologies, Mobile SDKs (software development kits) and platforms, but they don't want to develop mobile applications themselves. They want to support systems integrators and customers that want to develop their own mobile solutions.

Do SAP and Sybase Recognize What is Happening?

I know many people that work at Sybase in the mobility products area. They were overworked before the acquisition. Now they are overworked times 10. Why? SAP bought them and enterprise mobility is in big demand today. SAP customers have been waiting a long time for an SAP direction and roadmap around mobility and now that SAP has a strategy there is a huge backlog of interest. What does SAP do with this interest? They call the product folks at Sybase Unwired Platform and request their assistance.

I don't think the management folks at Sybase yet recognize what the SAP ecosystem is going to do to them. I work closely with the SAP enterprise mobility ecosystem. The majority of these companies are going to want to partner with Sybase so they can support SAP's roadmap and strategy. Read SAP's Mobility Partners After SAP’s Acquisition of Sybase, Part 1 for more information on this subject. These companies have their own customer bases and are actively recruiting more business. This is going to drive a significant amount of new business to Sybase. It is going to require growth at Sybase.

Kevin’s M2M News Weekly – September 29, 2010

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile 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.

There is a fast growing segment of the mobile applications market that is rapidly being adopted by retailers. Retailers and consumer packaged goods companies like Best Buy, Disney, Procter and Gamble, Starbucks, The Gap, American Eagle, Sports Authority and Macy's are all involved in various location based services projects.

SAP's Consumer Mobile Initiative

SAP is now starting to really deliver vertical specific mobility strategies, ideas and solutions. I love it! They are demonstrating that they really understand the power of mobile applications. Take a look at the following agenda items from their upcoming SAP Retail Forum 2010 in Las Vegas:

Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly - September 28, 2010

More on Mobile Scanning Apps and Retail Stores

This morning I read an article written by Ben Lee of Smartsoft Mobile Solutions called Mobile Application Use for On-site Retail. Ben describes how a number of different retailers have incorporated mobile applications, barcode, QR codes and scanning software into their strategies.

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Brooks Brothers is using QR (quick response) codes in its fall collection print ads that let consumers purchase the items they see right from the pages of Esquire magazine. The challenge is getting customers to download the scanning software to their smartphone the first time. After the mobile scanning app is downloaded, the process should be very easy.

SAP Enterprise Mobility Webinar - SAP, Sybase, PriceWaterhouseCooper and Kevin Benedict

I am very excited about this upcoming webinar on October 6th at 2 PM ET, because I have seen the draft presentation and it offers details that have been hard to find until now. SAP/Sybase are starting to provide real insight into their strategies, the architecture of their solutions and the various components.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Open Text's Micah Kalen

For those of you unfamiliar with Open Text, they are an SAP Co-Innovation Partner (like Syclo and RIM). They are an enterprise software company and leader in ECM (enterprise content management). Open Text brings two decades of expertise and supports millions of users in 114 countries. They are focused on helping organizations capture and preserve corporate memory, increase brand equity, automate processes, mitigate risk, manage compliance and improve competitiveness. With that said, they are also developing a mobile enterprise software application called Open Text Everywhere.

SAP's Mobility Partners After SAP’s Acquisition of Sybase, Part 3

The true value in extending business processes to mobile devices is to enable more employees, customers and partners to benefit from the company’s existing IT systems and investments. Mobile applications enable more users to take advantage of the ERP and other IT assets. SAP, in their central role, needed to define how mobile applications could efficiently and effectively connect and integrate with their solutions. The Sybase acquisition and the recently announced mobility roadmap now fulfills that need.

SAP's Mobility Partners After SAP’s Acquisition of Sybase, Part 2

SAP made a safe bet with the Sybase acquisition. Sybase was already the undisputed global leader in enterprise mobility databases, mobile synchronization technologies, mobile security and mobile device management. This is not another new emerging strategy and future solution. It is a mature and proven solution with millions of mobility users worldwide.

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - September 23, 2010

SAP's Mobility Partners After SAP’s Acquisition of Sybase, Part 1

Many companies have asked me recently how the SAP acquisition of Sybase will impact the SAP enterprise mobility ecosystem. It is a fair question that needs to be answered, as there is an increasing interest and demand from enterprises for mobile applications.

Companies want and need to formulate a mobility strategy now, but they don’t want their first steps to be misguided. As a result they are watching webinars, attending conferences, downloading whitepapers and reading blogs in an effort to find answers. For years SAP did not provide many mobility answers. They struggled to understand and define a workable mobility strategy and roadmap. As a result, SAP mobility partners were forced to find their own answers. Today, however, things have dramatically changed in the world of SAP enterprise mobility. With SAP’s acquisition of Sybase, and their Sybase Unwired Platform (SUP), there is now a good and reliable mobile application platform and NetWeaver integration strategy that can be understood and followed by both customers and SAP mobility partners.

If your SAP enterprise mobility strategy calls for supporting a wide variety of mobile applications for different business processes, departments, users and industries, then you need to work with a MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform). If you need to support both horizontal and vertical mobile applications that need to run in both connected and disconnected modes, then you need to work with a MEAP.

Today, there are several MEAP companies. However, the obvious choice for SAP customers is the SAP/Sybase Unwired Platform. Why? SAP just spent $5.8 billion to help you meet your mobility requirements. It is SAP’s mobility solution going forward, and their roadmap includes features and functionality that will make the mobile infrastructure and implementation projects easier and more standardized so customers can achieve a lower TCO (total cost of ownership).