Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

Ben Lee on the Mobile Wallet

Mobile retailing guru Ben Lee has written a very interesting blog article on Google's new mobile payment platform. Some of the most interesting points are as follows:

Google’s next version of its Android Smartphone software will support a technology that lets people use their handsets, instead of credit cards.
Google CEO Eric Schmitt said that support for Near Field Communications will be integrated into the next version of its Android software.
Three of the four largest mobile phone carriers in the U.S. have formed a joint venture to turn phones into digital wallets.
Many mobile application developers will incorporate this new functionality into mobile retailing applications.

Bill Moylan, Syclo's EVP of Sales

This is part four of the an interview with Syclo's Bill Moylan.

Kevin: What other trends are you seeing in the enterprise mobility market?

Bill: We are actually still quite focused on the traditional market of field services. We have a narrower view of enterprise mobility than perhaps you. There are more devices, more operating systems and more choices for mobile devices, but the value propositions are much the same as we have been selling for sometime.

Kevin: What do you predict will be different in 2011 in the enterprise mobility market?

Bill: There will be a massive amount of options available for new mobile devices and operating systems. This will allow Syclo to recommend exactly the right kind of mobile devices for each kind of job. We will be announcing Android support soon.

Kevin: What industry markets are you focusing on today?

Mobile Coupons and Enterprise Mobility

In an article written by Helen Leggatt for BizReport, she writes that 54 percent of retailers will put m-coupon (mobile coupon) systems in place in the next 12 months. These systems will allow coupons to be dispatched to customers' mobile phones and scanned at the point-of-sale. I can anticipate that the "dispatched" component could easily be scheduled, location-based, by subscription or on-demand.

In a recent survey by mBlox it was found that over three quarters of all consumers surveyed use coupons when shopping, and 29 percent of UK and 15 percent of U.S. consumers have already used a mobile coupon. In addition, 71 percent of UK and 42 percent of U.S. mobile users said they would be interested in receiving mobile coupons/vouchers while they are shopping in a store to alert them to a special offer or promotion.

The mBlox survey also shows that there is a different level of adoption rate between UK and U.S. consumers when it comes to business communications use mobile phones.

59 percent of UK and 17 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed stated SMS is their preferred choice when being contacted about appointment reminders.
For payment reminders, such as credit card and utility bills, the consumer research showed that more than one in three consumers in the UK chose SMS as their preferred communication channel, but just one in 10 chose SMS in the U.S.
Almost 90 percent of consumers prefer multi-channel options for interacting with businesses.

It will be interesting learning what components of SAP will be integrated with mobile coupon applications. If you have insight into this, please let me know by commenting below. SAP service partner, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions is one company that I know specializes in the mobile retail application market.

***************************************************
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.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's Bill Moylan, Part 3

Bill Moylan, Syclo's EVP of Sales

This is part three of this interview with Syclo's Bill Moylan.

Kevin: Do you talk about improvements to DSO (days sales outstanding) as a value that may be available through better field services processes?

Bill: Absolutely! Make sure that all billing is done accurately. Make sure you are providing the services in the SLA (service level agreement). Make sure you have all the warranty information. Get the customer to sign off on the work. SAP gives you a lot of strength in this area.

Kevin: What mobile device trends are you seeing in your markets?

Bill: Executives want BlackBerry applications. Executives are trying to get IT to accept iPhones.

Kevin: How are you working with Sybase?

Bill Moylan, EVP of Sales Syclo

This is the second part of this interview with Syclo's Bill Moylan.

Kevin: What advice do you give companies that are just looking to get into mobility?

Bill: Let me start out by giving some advice as to what companies should not do. I have seen many companies that try to build a strategy around what smartphones they happen to have in their pocket. Some companies say to me, “We use BlackBerrys, so we need a mobile application for a BlackBerry.” That is a wrong strategy, as mobile devices will change, but you want your enterprise mobility strategy to be long lasting. That is not a good strategic view.

Companies have key business objectives; they are usually around reducing costs and increasing revenue. Companies should look at their objectives and then hunt for areas in the various operational areas where mobility can help the company accomplish them. We work with a lot of life science companies. They may be looking for ways they can improve the efficiencies of their 1,500 sales reps. Walk around the entire organization, look for people not chained to their desk and look for ways to improve their operations business, ignore the devices.

Kevin: Do you see executives and board members starting to use iPads? Are iPad users more interested in funding mobile projects?

Bill: I see far more executives using BlackBerrys. Since they use BlackBerrys they are always asking what they can do with them. Often they are looking for approval management and things like that on BlackBerrys. I do see iPhones, but they are usually rogue iPhones.

Kevin: How does a company prepare for mobility?

Bill: The first step is that you need to understand your current processes. Where are you today? What are your current processes?

Measure the current processes.
How much time do all your processes take?
How long are you traveling?
How long does it take to complete the work order?
How often are your service technicians completing a repair on the first visit, and how many times do they have to come back for a second and/or third visit?
Are your service technicians bringing the right tools for the job?
Do they have the right parts for the job?
How long does it take to fix that particular piece of equipment?
How much overtime am I paying?
Can they move to a more planned maintenance model? CMMS really help!

I spoke to a company two months ago about problems or failures in their processes. They said the two biggest problems were service technicians entering the categories of “other” and under this answer; they would add the second “other.” How can you use “other” to improve planning and processes? How can you use “other” to improve predictability? You need to require real answers that are useful answers.

“Be a work order.” Pin a work order to your shirt and walk the process. Understand all the hands that touch it, and all the steps. No cheating!

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's Bill Moylan, Part 1
Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's Bill Moylan, Part 3
Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's Bill Moylan, 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.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's Bill Moylan, Part 1

Bill Moylan, Syclo EVP of Sales

Bill Moylan, EVP of Sales at Syclo was kind enough to spend some time with me recently answering questions. Syclo is a co-innovation partner of SAP.

Kevin: What mobile device(s) do you personally carry?

Bill: I am a mobile junkie! I have a BlackBerry 9700, iPhone, iPad, iPAQ, and I will occasionally carry a Symbol MC55. I want to get an ES400. I have been a mobile junkie for years! I use the iPad, iPhone and BlackBerry every day. The iPhone and iPad are mostly for personal use. However, the BlackBerry is chained to my hand for work. Oh yes, I have a Netbook in the livingroom to surf the internet while watching TV. I also have a laptop, but it stays in the office. I carry the iPad nowadays.

Kevin: How do you carry them all, one in each pocket?

Bill: No, I carry the iPhone and BlackBerry in the same pocket. I carry the iPad in my briefcase. The iPad is very useful. I used the iPad for navigation this week on a three hour drive. I sat in back and surfed the web on the long drive.

Kevin: What is your favorite mobile application?

Bill: The coolest mobile application that I have is called “Wine Snob.” At a restaurant, you can snap a photo of a bottle of wine, it captures the GPS, and it will instantly bring up the details and the retail price. That way you can see how much you are overpaying for the wine! You can rate the wine, see other people’s ratings and add comments; enter the restaurant name and the people with you. It keeps a historic log of the wine you have drank, your ratings and the location you had it.

Kevin: How romantic! A candle light dinner, you snapping photos of wine bottles, scanning ratings on your iPhone and complaining about overpaying.

Bill: No, it is not very romantic, but my girlfriend loves it too. She often carries my iPad. When my daughter is with me, she carries the iPad.

Kevin: What is your average mobile application deal size now days?

Bill: Average deal size – many are still SMEs, but average deal size is $250,000 because of smaller upgrades. Net new accounts are all $500,000-$1 million. The deals with SAP are very substantial.

Kevin: How is the SAP relationship going?

Bill: The relationship is going very well. I am on the road with SAP sales teams now all the time. I just got back from a sales call with SAP. It was with a company that does outsourced plant maintenance. I was with the SAP area VP of sales and the account executive. We had fun, as we got to see exactly what happens in the field. I love being in the field, and I training my sales team to be very thorough in the discovery process, so we understand the value.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's Bill Moylan, Part 2
Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's Bill Moylan, Part 3
Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's Bill Moylan, 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.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: SAP's Usman Sheikh, December 2010

SAP's EcoHub is SAP's online market for certified partners' solutions. If you want to know what's new in the SAP ecosystem, EcoHub is the first place to visit. I wanted to learn what was new in the category of enterprise mobility on EcoHub, so I called up my friend Usman Sheikh, vice president of SAP's EcoHub. He was kind enough to answer a few questions and share his thoughts with us.

Kevin: Usman, you have a great vantage point as vice president of EcoHub. You get to see what your certified partners are doing. What is new at EcoHub?

Usman: Here are some interesting EcoHub facts. 15 percent of all EcoHub solutions are mobile. When we headline with mobility our EcoHub web traffic doubles. We get 30-40 percent more sales leads for mobile solutions than other solution categories. Twenty-five percent of leads that come into EcoHub are the result of social media marketing campaigns.

Kevin: What does EcoHub do for mobile application vendors?

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - November 18, 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.

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Smartphone applications will enable the mHealth industry to successfully reach out to 500 million of a total 1.4 billion smartphone users in 2015 the new "Global Mobile Health Market Report 2010-2015" by research2guidance says.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/500-million-people-will-be-using-mobile-health-applications-in-2015-107160173.html

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The new release of Open Text Everywhere features native client applications for Apple iPhone and iPad.

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-cms/open-texts-enterprise-cms-mobile-app-befriends-iphone-ipad-009154.php

Vivido Labs Releases New Mobile BI Application for SAP Customers

I have been checking in with SAP's mobility partners this week to learn what is new. I contacted Vivido Labs and it turns out they were in the process of announcing a brand new Moible BI (business intelligence) application. So let's talk about it!

It allows you to access BI data on your server and view the updated BI data from your smartphone. Now for the fun part? You can customize all the views of the data right from the smartphone. You can add columns, hide columns, and look at the data in hundreds of different ways. In my experience looking at the same data from different perspectives can give you unique insights.

I am a big fan of getting the right data to the right person at the right time. I see this as a good step in that direction.

Kevin's M2M News Weekly - November 17, 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.

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Worldwide revenue for embedded mobile modems for M2M applications is forecast to more than triple in 2010 over 2009, and to continue growing strongly through at least 2014, at a 66 percent compound annual growth rate.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Infonetics-Research-Embedded-mobile-M2M-modem-market-on-track-more-than-triple-2010-1330192.htm

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Members of the M2M sector are posting third quarter financial results this week, and the news seems overwhelmingly positive across the board.

http://www.telecomengine.com/techzones/wireless/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_6663

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sky Technologies' Neil McHugh

I was having a discussion with some folks at SAP this week and they shared their impressions that Sky Technologies, an SAP mobility and EcoHub partner, has been winning a significant number of enterprise mobility deals around the world over the past few months. I thought what better time to check up on Sky Technologies than now. I called Neil McHugh, Sky Technologies VP of Sales and Marketing in Texas for an update, and he was kind enough to grant me an interview.

Kevin: Neil, tell me what is new at Sky Technologies since we last met at Sapphire.

Neil: In the first half of 2010 sales were slow as the economy was still an issue with large companies. After Sapphire and SAP announced the acquisition of Sybase, we decided to rethink our strategic plans to really understand what is best for us as a company. The results of our strategic realignment have been the following:

• The 2nd half of 2010 has been significantly stronger than the first half.

• Year to date, we are up 52 percent is sales. Our fiscal year is July to June 30, 2011.

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly - November 16, 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.

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At its second annual developer conference, PayPal announced the release of Mobile Express Checkout, a platform that will allow customers to pay for retail products in stores using only their mobile phones.

http://blogs.forbes.com/moneybuilder/2010/10/26/paypal-wants-you-to-ditch-your-wallet/

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Retailers are wising up to the trend in mobile coupons, according to a recent report by IHL Group and RetailConnections. Many are set to implement systems that will allow them to deliver coupons directly to a consumer's mobile phone.

http://www.bizreport.com/2010/11/54-of-retailers-to-put-m-coupon-systems-in-place-in-next-12.html

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's Willie Jow, Part 3

This is Part 3 of my interview with Willie Jow, vice president of mobility product marketing with Sybase.

Kevin: I have had SIs (systems integrators) calling me this week asking if I know where they can find experienced SUP (Sybase Unwired Platform) developers that they can add to their practice. It appears there is a big and growing demand. What are you going to do to help train, support and certify developers on SUP?

Willie: We have a phased approach. Within Sybase we have been training systems integrators for many years. We have already trained a number of SAP systems integrators on how to customize mobile CRM by using SUP. Our immediate focus is on training internal SAP folks on our solutions. We have been very busy for the past 90 days and have had great reception and results. This same training will soon be available to our systems integrators. We have a lot of plans underway for training.

Kevin: A few weeks ago I asked Vishal (SAP Board Member) what his advice was to companies and systems integrators that need a mobile strategy today. He said the "clean" answer is to get trained on SUP and use that as the platform for all mobile applications. My question to you is if that was the "clean" answer, what is the "dirty" answer?

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's Willie Jow, Part 1

Willie Jow, vice president of mobility product marketing with Sybase, was gracious enough to let me interview him about the latest developments in enterprise mobility at Sybase, an SAP company.

Note: The words in this interview are not always Willie Jow's exact words. I have condensed many of my questions and his responses to make them more concise for the reader.

Kevin: Willie, how does Sybase, which is known for its databases and mobile middleware solutions, become a mobile applications company?

Willie: It is true we are best known for our mobile middleware, and that our history has been focused on supporting channels like ISV, OEM and other kinds of partnerships that delivered the mobile applications. However, a couple of years ago SAP approached us about working on the mobile CRM application. We accepted this opportunit,y and when we completed the mobile application it was very well received by SAP and customers. We now have a great deal of experience developing mobile applications for SAP.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's Willie Jow, Part 2

This is Part 2 of my interview with Sybase's Willie Jow, vice president of mobility product marketing with Sybase.

Kevin: Tell me about the announced mobile SDK. Where will the SAP/Sybase SDK stop and the native development environments start?

Willie: That is still being finalized even as we speak. The target date for release is Sapphire 2011.

It is important to note that there are two different kinds of applications, 1) native applications like the CRM and field service apps, and 2) the container approach. The container is on the device, and we populate it with data. Our workflow app is a container application. However, our mobile CRM is a native app. Both will exist and be supported in the SDK.

Kevin: What do you mean by “container?”

Willie: Think of it like an application sitting on your mobile device using native features and code. However, it has no business logic, or data elements. We push data to the container. It is for simple queries and data collection. Our SAP workflow apps fit this model, like travel approvals or discount approval. We push the data to the mobile container application. We see HTML 5 also in this area and are evaluating.

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - November 11, 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.

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Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and chief executive, said 200 million people now access Facebook through its mobile application, a threefold increase since last year.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/11/facebook-opens-up-about-mobile-strategy-unveils-new-deals-program.html

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Kicking a boot into RIM's side, Dell announced all 25,000 employees will be given Dell Venue Pros running WP7 in exchange for their BlackBerrys, but they're also offering a new service to their clients for help switching from BlackBerry.

http://m.gizmodo.com/5682309/dell-were-kicking-[blackberry]-out

I have been corrected by SAP on several points since I published this article earlier today. This is the revised and corrected edition.

This is my understanding of how the SAP/Sybase mobility business unit is now organized. The Mobile Business unit will be under John Chen and it has three main groups:

Mobile Platform – led by Billy Ho
Mobile Apps – led by Bob Stutz
Mobile Services – led by Marty Beard

Terry Stepien, will also report to John Chen and lead the Mobile Business unit's managed mobility efforts through the various MNOs (mobile network operators) and ODMs. Willie Jow will be responsible for supporting sales.

I understand that eventually Kevin Nix's team will also move to Bob Stutz's group.

If I have any of this wrong, please correct me.

Thanks,
***************************************************
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 - November 10, 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.

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M2M represents both a new set of uses for mobile technology and a new source of revenue for mobile operators, and Sprint is aggressively investing in this area.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/208875/sprint_pursues_mobile_m2m_craze.html

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The emergence of mobile health - or mHealth - presents a new opportunity to enhance disease prevention and management by allowing health related data collection beyond the traditional bounds of the clinic or hospital.

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/46273.php

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly - November 9, 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.

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Amazon.com just made an interesting upgrade to its iPhone mobile shopping app. Users of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3Gs running iOS 4 can now scan a barcode on a product and instantly get matching product and pricing information from Amazon's catalog.

http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/10/amazon_adds_barcode_scanning_to_iphone_shopping_app.html

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Savvy apparel retailers are having no trouble wrapping their heads (and dollars) around mobile friendly sites and apps as a way to boost revenue and connect with consumers.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/publishing-style/how-fashion-brands-can-make-the-most-of-m-commerce/937

Report from Last Week's ClickConnect North America 2010 on Enterprise Mobility

I had the opportunity to attend ClickSoftware's user conference for a couple of days last week in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was at the Royal Palm, a beautiful resort located in an orange grove. I was able to meet with many large utility customers and large field services organizations and spend some quality time with Shawn McEwan from Sybase and interview many of the executives from ClickSoftware.

Sybase an SAP company, was attending in support of their recently announced partnership with ClickSoftware who is utilizing the Sybase Mobility Platform in their solutions. Terry Stepien, president, Sybase iAnywhere attended and spoke at the conference. Here are some of his comments on the partnership, “By implementing ClickSoftware’s mobile applications on components of the Sybase mobility platform, the service industry benefits from an integrated offering from two industry leaders; proven mobility infrastructure from Sybase and proven mobile applications from ClickSoftware. This partnership will transform ClickSoftware’s customers through highly productive enterprise mobility solutions. We look forward to growing this partnership into 2011 and beyond.”

I spent time at the CIO Council last week with Kris Muller in product marketing with Salesforce.com. He was at the CIO conference speaking about Salesforce.com's new solution called Chatter. Here is the official description of Chatter from Salesforce.com:

Chatter is a brand-new way to collaborate with people at work. Where the status of important projects and deals are automatically pushed to you — so you're always in the loop.

Share securely and collaborate instantly
Stay on top of what matters most
Gain insight and make smarter decisions

I am a big fan of mobile knowledge management and collaboration tools and this fits right in. It is a secure way for all members of a sales team (account reps, pre-sales, product marketing, product management, sales management, etc.) to closely follow developments on a specific account. The team can quickly and securely share information, deal documents, collateral and discussions.

JiWire, Mobile Check-In and Mobile Retailing Applications

I was a guest speaker at the CIO Council 2010 sponsored by Panorama Capital in Las Vegas last week. I was able to spend a couple of days with a number of high tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and a leading edge group of industry CIOs. The main focus of the conference this year was enterprise mobility.

One of the most interesting discussion tracks at the conference was the increasing role that WiFi may have as MNOs (mobile network operators) increasingly have bandwidth problems. There are more companies looking to add hotspots, expand coverage and other related services. One of these companies is JiWire.

Enterprise mobility is a term often used in the context of remote and traveling workers, but it can also be used for situations inside the four walls of a manufacturing plant. This article explores the use of enterprise mobility solutions within the four walls of a plant using SAP.

First, let's review what SAP says about their "Perfect Plant" initiative. SAP is enabling companies to create a framework for the “Perfect Plant” by integrating planning, asset management and execution with real-time visibility. As a result, manufacturing networks are more agile, responsive and operationally efficient with SAP solutions. Manufacturers embarking upon the journey towards a “Perfect Plant” gain visibility into all aspects of manufacturing operations, providing the ability to respond faster and minimize impact to the business and bottom line, driving increased yields, asset utilization and order fulfillment. The “Perfect Plant” is the ultimate goal for manufacturers looking to optimize utilization of their manufacturing assets and drive increased production performance in concert with enterprise objectives.

Mobile Retailing and NFC - Near Field Communications

The host of our CIO Council, Chris Albinson of Panorama Capital, today predicted that within one year mobile money will be on everyone's radar. I asked for more details from several experts over dinner this evening and they predicted that iPhone 5 will have embedded NFC (near field communication) chips. Google will announce mobile payment strategies, and so will other big players in the mobile money space like PayPal. NFC are chips that can communicate personal data when they touch POS (point of sale) sensors.

What does this mean for enterprises in the retail space? Who knows! All I know is that everything from POS systems, to banking systems, EDI transactions and credit and debit card systems will be impacted. Your smartphone will likely become your wallet. The chip in the smartphone will uniquely identify you and provide you with the ability to pay for all kinds of things by just touching your smartphone to a counter top sensor.

Mobile Payments and the Mobile Money Ecosystem

More from last week's CIO Council. Chris Albinson from Panorama Capital shared his predictions that mobile payments and location-based services are going to be the two hottest areas of enterprise mobility in 2011.

Others at the event shared that they expect smartphones will soon be available with a specific NFC (near field communications) chip that will enable your phone to be used for mobile money. The chip will be uniquely tied to you and your bank account in a secure way.

I also heard rumors that Apple may soon launch a mobile money capability through iTunes. Just rumors now, but I can easily image Steve Jobs transforming banking through iTunes and everything "i".