Mobilizing Your Enterprise with SAP by SAP Press

SAP Press has just published a new book titled Mobilizing Your Enterprise with SAP that I recommend reading.  It is the best I have read.  I had the honor of being asked to write the Forward for this book along with Sanjay Poonen, SAP President and Corporate Offier, Technology and Innovation Products.

Here is an excerpt:
 

Enterprise mobility is transformational.  It is not just about a particular mobile device, screen size, operating system or online application store.  It is a new way of conducting business that demands our attention.  Companies will succeed or fail based in large part on their ability to respond to this reality.

Within the pages of this book are detailed many of the most important enterprise mobility trends and technical requirements that are shaping our IT landscapes today.  Nearly all of us easily recognize and appreciate the value and utility of the smartphone and tablet in the consumer space.  Today, the great minds of business and enterprise IT have turned their attentions to contemplating the full range of benefits that mobile technologies can bring to their individual regions, markets, industries and operations. 

This book opens by describing two specific waves of enterprise mobility, extending and creating.  Extending our ERP and other IT investments out to mobile devices is one wave, and creating completely new business processes is another.  Extending our internal IT investments to mobile devices offers important incremental improvements that deliver efficiencies, productivity gains and improved customer interactions to name just a few, however, creating completely new processes that are only possible with mobile technology and real-time communication is the giant leap forward.

What can be done differently in your business if you have real-time visibility to the status and location of your workforce and all of your resources, assets, inventories, supplies, and customer needs?  How can you improve your business performance by using real-time data in the field to drive better and faster decision-making?  How can you beat your competition and improve your business performance by developing real-time unified views of your operation?  What is possible if you have complete situational awareness because you have implemented a network centric operational strategy that provides full visibility and maximizes your ability to make good and fast decisions from anywhere?  The answers to these questions will dictate your company’s future.

This book is the first of its kind.  It is the first book I have ever read that attempts and succeeds in covering the full breadth of the enterprise mobility landscape from mobile business trends to specific technical development strategies within the SAP ecosystem.  I would even go further and endorse this book as required reading for anyone, SAP user or not, that wants to understand the full scope of enterprise quality mobile solutions and how it is possible to transform your business with this knowledge.

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @krbenedict.

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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy 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 August 5, 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

According to a June 2012 survey including 5,000 Android and iPhone users in the U.S., Nielsen found that 47 percent of those surveyed have used a native shopping app on their phones. The report finds that approximately 45 million U.S. consumers have used shopping apps. Read Original Content

Visa is using the Olympics as an international showcase for mobile payments. The company has installed 140,000 payment terminals in London with NFC chips that enable the tap-and-pay process. The terminal locations include 5,000 London taxis and 3,000 point-of-sale venues. Read Original Content

Forrester Research expects close to 100 million NFC devices, which enable mobile contactless payment, to ship worldwide by the end of the year. 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

According to Berg Insight 30 million NFC-enabled smartphones were sold in 2011, of those sold 5 million occurred in North America. Read Original Content

Google has announced substantial improvements to its Android-based wallet app, allowing users to add credit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Financial Services to its e-wallet. Read Original Content

Is Enterprise Mobility Funny?

The answer, according to my wife, is no.  However, I am reading a book on how to write comedy.  I apologize in advance for any offense.

Isn’t it sad to read about Research In Motion’s demise over the past couple of years? Morale is so bad in Waterloo, that psychologist are calling it Blackberry whine.

Mobile security is a very big concern for most executives surveyed.  No CEO wants another Tiger-Woods-text-message-discovery incident happening on their watch.

Foxxcon is a big player in the mobile device industry; in fact they are the world’s largest maker of electronic components and they manufacture Apple’s iPhones and iPads.  If Apple grows any more, China is going to have to drop their one child policy.

Microsoft is preparing to release Windows 8 and they hope this will make them a player in the mobile industry again.  If they don’t come up with a winning solution this time, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will need to step in.

Why were the iPhones so disappointed with their swimming performance at the Olympics?  They were out of sync.

Texting while driving is dangerous.  Your club could injure a spectator.

Providing real-time business analytics on mobile devices is a big trend.  If you are going to confuse a manager, let him be confused away from the office.

Again, my sincerest apologies.

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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy 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.

Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly – Week of August 5, 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

The seven standards bodies for telecoms that joined together to create a common M2M platform have now published a roadmap and have named the group “oneM2M”.  Read Original Content

MicroPower Technologies has formed a partnership with Sprint’s M2M network to enable MicroPower to add Sprint’s network as an additional channel to transmit wireless video.  Read Original Content

Automaker Honda is collaborating with M2M cellular carrier Aeris Communications to support its new electric-vehicle smartphone app, HondaLink EV.  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.

Aegis Technologies is building London 2012, a 3D database for the 2012 Summer Olympics utilizing multiple 3D modelers, texture artists and GIS analysts.  Read Original Content

Cloud-based, mobile and social field service applications provider ServiceMax is hosting a customer summit that will focus on ServiceMax, its customers and the journey toward field service transformation.  The summit will be held September 18, 2012 in San Francisco.  Read Original Content

The Siemens Foundation has partnered with Discovery Education to introduce an education program for teachers, which focuses on integrating technology with learning in new and innovative ways, in particular with the use of QR codes.  Read Original Content

Verizon Communications has finalized its $612 million acquisition of Hughes Telematics Inc.  Verizon states the acquisition prepares the company to speed up growth through the delivery of advanced automotive and fleet telematics and M2M services. Read Original Content

Ultimate Mobile Technologies, UAVs and Artificial Intelligence

X-47B

I read an interesting article this week titled I AM War Plane that was published in the August 2012 edition of the magazine Popular Science.  It was written by Clay Dillow and explored the new mobile technology that permits unmanned fighter planes to fly from specialized aircraft carriers.

The prototype plane, X-47B, is the world's first autonomous warplane, and first unmanned plane ever to land on a carrier.  By autonomous, the author means the ability to, in real-time, "assess fluid situations and form dynamic responses."

It is a stealth plane designed to deliver strikes or perform reconnaissance.  This plane is now part of the U.S. military's approximately 10,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in its inventory.  Here is the connection to enterprise mobility - these planes are loaded with remote sensors, video, radar, infrared and all kinds of mobile technology that is securely synchronizing with a back-office server in real time.  This is an incredible glimpse into the future of enterprise mobility.

Download report: http://info.antennasoftware.com/GartnerMQ_MADP_KB.html

In addition to all of the cool technology already mentioned, this plane's robotic brain makes all the moment-to-moment decisions on its own.  Yes, its mission is still controlled by people, but its tactical flight tasks are left to the UAV's on-board brain.  This brain enables it to operate in complex settings.  It can process vast amounts of flight data, make near-instantaneous decisions and guide itself to a flawless landing on the deck of a heaving aircraft carrier.

The X-47B uses many sensors that you can find in an iPhone.  It uses GPS equipment, accelerometers, altimeters and gyroscopes, plus a trunk load of classified equipment and sensors.

The author notes that one of the biggest advances in this UAV is the software that enables it to translate the on-board sensor data into decisions and commands that are sent to the flight computer.  This data must be translated and processed fast enough to enable successful and tricky landings on the deck of a moving ship that is buffeted by wind, rain and waves.

The X-47B is flying today.  The military's technology of today, will be in the commercial sector tomorrow.

The X-47B is not just a demonstration of mobile communications, remote sensors and artificial intelligence, but also a demonstration of M2M (machine-to-machine) communication.  SAP has recently sponsored a new M2M initiative (http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2012/05/sap-announces-new-m2m-initiative.html) and I am seeing more mention of M2M in the SAP ecosystem.  Some SAP partners like ILS Technology also have dedicated M2M solutions that are integrated with SAP.

Learn more at http://www.devicewise.com

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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy 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.