Swarming, Mobility, Speed and Digital Disruptions

Digital disruptors like social media, mobile communications, analytics and cloud services are introducing crazy new dynamics into our world.  These dynamics are impacting our industries, markets, businesses, management disciplines, politics and even our culture today.  I believe we have only just begun to recognize some of the impacts of these disruptions.   

We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate and YouTube to tell the world. ~ Egyptian Activist

One of the impacts of digital disruptors is the increasing emergence of swarming or swarm intelligence. Here is a definition, “Swarming involves the use of decentralized forces against an object or opponent, in a manner that emphasizes mobility, communication, autonomy and coordination or synchronization.” ~ Wikipedia

Swarming, although perhaps unrecognized, is precisely what the Egyptian Activist was referring to in the above quote.  The ability for autonomous or semi-autonomous groups to work closely together because of mobile communications, social media and the ability to coordinate or synchronize one’s actions, locations, status and intentions to accomplish a joint goal.

Swarming can be a powerful force multiplier as well, where fewer resources, with mobile communications, social media, good intelligence and coordination can accomplish more than by working alone and uncoordinated.

Nearly every day we witness demonstrations of how spontaneous social media based campaigns are changing our world.  We see companies changing policies and practices due to near-real-time feedback from the market swarm.

In the new book from Forrester Executive, James McQuivey, titled Digital Disruption, he describes how to embrace digital disruptions using what I view as a swarm strategies, "Abandon traditional 'return on investment' metrics and instead, for digitally disruptive initiatives, adopt ROD—'return on disruption.' Where the goal in ROI is to generate a known return from a known investment, the goal in ROD is to invest as little as possible, placing quick, cheap bets on the initiatives with the largest possible breakout success."  Once you see a success, swarm it! Communicate it!  Synchronize around it!  Invest in it.  Run with it.

I see the same approach emerging today in marketing.  Let’s try a variety of approaches to marketing and once the successful ones emerge, invest in them.  

There is so much we don’t know.  There is so much happening at such a fast pace in social media that we cannot effectively plan for or anticipate.  New management strategies, such as swarming, must emerge to address this rapid pace of change.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Digital Disruption and Enterprise Mobility

This week in the March 18, 2013, edition of The Wall Street Journal was an article titled Built Not to Last by Alan Murray.  This article reviewed the book Digital Disruption by Forrester executive James McQuivey.  I loved the article and have now downloaded the book to read in its entirety.  I guess it is true that people like to hear what they already believe.  McQuivey identifies many of the trends I am also seeing in the market today.

In his book McQuivey argues that technology has made it possible to launch companies without large amounts of capital, proprietary labor pools or vast swaths of intellectual property. Increasingly, anyone with a powerful idea can assemble the tools to make his idea a reality.

Here are some of my favorite excerpts from Murray's article:

"The only defense to this massive attack [from digital disruption competitors], Mr. McQuivey says, is to mimic the enemy.   The consequences for existing companies, if you believe Mr. McQuivey, are extreme. "Digital tools allow digital disruptors to come at you from all directions— and from all ages, backgrounds and nationalities.  Equipped with a better mindset and better tools, thousands of these disruptors are ready to do better whatever it is that your company does. This isn't just competitive innovation, it's a fundamentally new type and scale and speed of competitive innovation."

I think of the hugely successful digital camera company GoPro.  I bet half of the films shown at the Banff Film Festival are filmed on a GoPro camera.  They enable every daredevil adventurer to film and produce their own next viral video for under $500.  A one person operation can now produce and publish film that would have taken a traditional studio millions of dollars.  That is digital disruption.

Here is another excerpt, "Managers must "adopt a digital disruptor's mindset" and "behave like a digital disruptor." "Gone are the days,” he writes, "when you can assign this task to the digital team or the mobile guys.  Everyone in every level of the organization must accept that they have the responsibility to become digital disruptors within their domain and as well as across traditional silos.”

I have been teaching SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) strategies sessions all over the globe the past few months.  I can verify that SMAC topics or digital disruptions cannot be limited to just the enterprise mobility team or the digital team.  Digital disruptions are impacting entire industries.  They must be taken seriously by all parties.

How do you face digital disruptions?  How do you know, what you don't know you need to know?  Here is McQuivey's recommendation, "Abandon traditional 'return on investment' metrics and instead, for digitally disruptive initiatives, adopt ROD—'return on disruption.' Where the goal in ROI is to generate a known return from a known investment, the goal in ROD is to invest as little as possible, placing quick, cheap bets on the initiatives with the largest possible breakout success."

Digital disruption means a mobile banking app can replace a physical branch.  It means a GoPro digital camera and YouTube can replace a studio.  It means Craig's List can replace billions in classified ad revenue for newspapers.  It means I can download McQuivey's e-book seconds after reading the review and by-pass the book store.

My advice is to face these digital disruptors early, before you get SMACked.  For a very good whitepaper by our Cognizant team on this subject download, Don't Get SMACked.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

GIS Data and Modern Mobility Solutions

I found this quote in an article titled "ESRI Takes Its Deep Mapping Software Online To Help Developers Become More Like Geographers" over the weekend, "The future is that developers will become more and more like geographers and cartographers as they increasingly work with real-world data.” ~Amber Case, ESRI.

I found that quote to be particularly enlightening as the more developers work with The Internet of Things, the more they must know about the physical world.  This has not always been the trend.  For  years developers seemed to be developing a different world, a virtual world far removed from dirty dishes, oil changes, child care and landscaping.  However, today, our virtual and physical worlds are quickly merging and developers are back into getting their hands dirty.

The rapid expansion of The Internet of Things or M2M (machine-to-machine) solutions mean many different kinds of sensors are being attached and embedded in equipment all around us.  This effort collects data and digitizes the physical world.  This data, and what it really means, is now available to developers.  For example, developers are working on understanding how real-world weather data impacts logistics delivery models.

Here is one of the most interesting concepts from the article, "ESRI sees itself blending its GIS (geospatial information systems) software to create relationships about where things are and how they are connected."

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Google X, Hyper Spectral Remote Sensing - It's All About Sensors, Mobile Technologies and Big Data

Did you sign up to beta test Google Glasses?  Have you ridden in Google's driverless cars?  Your answer to both questions is likely not yet, but these are two very interesting innovations coming out of Google X (Google X is a secret facility run by Google thought to be located somewhere in the Bay Area of Northern California) that have been widely covered by the media.

These two innovations demonstrate the combination of mobile communications, the Internet, mobile software apps, all kinds of sensors, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and real time analytics.  I think the coolest components of these innovations are rarely highlighted - the integrated sensors that make them possible.

Sensors measure and collect data and can be connected to just about any piece of equipment.  Satellite cameras are sensors.  There are audio and visual sensors.  There are pressure and heat sensors.  There are all kinds of sensors.  One of the most interesting sensor technologies I have been researching of late is hyper spectral remote sensors.

Developments in hyper spectral sensors are being supported by innovations in remote sensing combined with GIS (geospatial information systems) and Big Data analytics. These sensors can be integrated into very powerful cameras.  Hyper spectral remote sensing is an emerging technology that is being studied for its ability to detect and identify minerals, terrestrial vegetation, and man-made materials and backgrounds.

Hyper spectral remote sensing combines imaging and spectroscopy (spectroscopy is a term used to refer to the measurement of radiation intensity as a function of wavelength) in a single system which often includes large data sets that require Big Data analytics.  Hyper spectral imagery is typically collected (and represented) as a data cube with spatial information collected in the X-Y plane, and spectral information represented in the Z-direction.

What can be done with hyper spectral remote sensing?  Using powerful hyper spectral cameras one can detect unique noble gases (each unique gas emits a unique color on the spectrum), different inks, dyes and paints (each have different characteristics that can be uniquely identified).  You can detect, identify and quantify chemicals.  You can detect chemical composition and physical properties including their temperature and velocity.

Taking a hyper spectral image of an object, connected to real-time Big Data analytics, can tell you an amazing amount of information about it.  Theoretically, a hyper spectral image of a person combined with facial recognition can identify a person, their shampoo, make-up, hand lotion, deodorant, perfume, the food they ate, chemicals they have been in contact with and the materials and chemicals used in their clothes.  OK, the implications of this technology for personal privacy are really scary, but the technology itself is fascinating.

Theoretically hyper spectral remote sensing systems can be used for healthcare, food monitoring, security at airports, for public safety, in intelligence systems and integrated with drone and satellite surveillance systems.

Google Glasses do not yet have hyper spectral remote sensing cameras built-in, but they do have sensors that are limited only by their physical size and weight, and include augmented reality connected with Big Data.

The world is quickly being documented, digitized and given a digital persona.  The digital persona is only as accurate as the sensors that are being used.  The more accurate and connected sensors are to Big Data analytical systems, the more the Big Brothers know about us and everything around us.

How about we all work together to ensure that our Big Brothers are good big brothers.  What do you say?

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Pondering BYOD - Is it Really Viable?

I have been involved in enterprise mobility for many years, and have watched enthusiastically as mobility has evolved into a massive technological, societal and cultural force.  I have witnessed mobility changing entire industries and driving growth.  I have studied the impact of mobility on companies and productivity.  I now wonder at what point are mobile solutions so important to a business that companies cannot afford to support a BYOD strategy.

This morning I was reading a new detailed whitepaper on BYOD titled "Making BYOD Work for Your Organization."  The paper is very thorough and identifies what companies should be considering, but I can't help thinking BYOD is complex, difficult to management and expensive to support.  I wonder if BYOD is really as beneficial as many claim.  I wonder if all the added complexity, governance and risk is actually factored into ROIs around BYOD.  I read one report last year that claimed BYOD was much more expensive to support than company liable devices.

What do you think?  Have you tried both and tracked the costs?  If so, I would love to hear from you.

I have also been pondering the changing role of mobile solutions in companies.  Mobile solutions have evolved into mission critical solutions.  Solutions that businesses require to complete day to day tasks.  Are businesses OK with letting these mission critical processes and solutions be run on a device of their employees' choosing?  What if the mobile device breaks and the employee has not budgeted to replace it, so they don't?  Can companies require their employees to replace a BYOD device so they can continue to be productive?  At what point do employees' decisions negatively impact customer service and productivity?

It seems to me that as mobile devices become required tools for productivity, the business must take more steps to ensure the process and solutions work.  There are also considerations around achieving economies of scale in the app development process and support of mobile devices.  There need to be standards of some sort to maximize efficiencies.

Here is a silly scenario I would invite you to consider.  An automobile manufacture decides to allow employees to bring their own tools to the assembly line.  The manufacture argues their employees would be happier to bring their favorite tools from home.  As a result there are thousands of different tools on the factory floor, some of better quality than others.  Some tools work well, others don't.  Soon tools are breaking, getting lost and needing replaced.  Each time a tool has a problem it impacts the production of automobiles.  Sometimes an employee does not have the money to replace their tools when they break.  The assembly line stops.

At some point, perhaps now, mobile solutions are as important to a business as the right tools on an assembly line.  When must a business step in to ensure maximum productivity around mobile devices?

I think BYOD is often promoted by MDM/MAM (mobile device management or mobile application management) vendors as a justification for buying their solutions.  Not a bad approach, but again I wonder if the BYOD trend is actually in the best interest of most businesses.

I think if a company embraces a BYOD strategy, then they should look to simplify mobile apps and standardize on HTML5, so they can easily support the maximum number of mobile devices.  If a company chooses both native app development and a BYOD strategy, they risk being buried in an avalanche of complexity.

Mobility is powerful and supports efficiencies and productivity gains.  Mobile solutions support social and collaborative business processes in real time.  These benefits are massive.  I would encourage companies not to delay receiving these benefits by making the support of mobility more difficult that it needs to be.

I want to hear your opinions on BYOD.  What do you think?  Please comment!!!
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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

All MWC2013 Video Interviews with Mobile Experts

If you missed any of my recent Mobile World Congress 2013 interviews with mobility experts, here is your chance to watch them all in one place.  Grab some popcorn!

Let's Talk about Social and Mobile Integration with SAP!
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/lets-talk-about-social-and-mobile.html

Kevin Benedict MWC2013 Interviews: SAP's Vishy Gopalakrishnan, Part 1
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/kevin-benedict-mwc2013-interviews-saps.html

Kevin Benedict Interviews SAP's Vishy Gopalakrishnan at MWC2013, Part 2
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/kevin-benedict-interviews-saps-vishy.html

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Florian Ganz, Part 1
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/kevin-benedicts-mobile-world-congress_6.html

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress Interviews: Florian Ganz, Part 2
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/kevin-benedicts-mobile-world-congress_7.html

Notes and Videos from the Mobile World Congress 2013, Fred Yentz Part 1
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/02/notes-and-videos-from-mobile-world.html

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Fred Yentz, Part 2
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/kevin-benedicts-mobile-world-congress_1066.html

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: SAP's James Naftel, Part 1
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/kevin-benedicts-mobile-world-congress_4516.html

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: SAP's James Naftel, Part 2
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/kevin-benedicts-mobile-world-congress_6685.html

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Antenna Software's Jim Somers
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/kevin-benedicts-mobile-world-congress_5.html

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: ILS Technology's Charlie McNiff
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/03/kevin-benedicts-mobile-world-congress.html

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: ClickSoftware's Steve Mason
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/02/kevin-benedicts-mobile-world-congress_28.html

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: SAP's Benjamin Wesson
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/02/kevin-benedicts-mobile-world-congress.html

Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Webalo's Founder, Peter Price
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/02/mobile-world-congress-2013-interviews_27.html

Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Soti's Shash Anand
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2013/02/mobile-world-congress-2013-interviews.html

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict Interviews SAP's Vishy Gopalakrishnan at MWC2013

This is Part 3 of an interview I recorded with SAP's Vishy Gopalakrishnan at the Mobile World Congress 2013.  In this segment we discuss how to select the appropriate mobile platform and development environment for your project.  Grab some popcorn!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/1swa68hPpO8

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Let's Talk about Social and Mobile Integration with SAP!

In this interview from my Mobile World Congress 2013 Interview series with SAP's Vishy Gopalakrishnan, Vice President, Global Center of Excellence - Mobile Solutions, we discuss the integration of social with mobile, enterprise systems and processes.  Grab some popcorn!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/GQg43tAI4ic

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict MWC2013 Interviews: SAP's Vishy Gopalakrishnan

This mobile expert interview recorded in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress 2013 is particularly insightful.  SAP's VP Global Center of Excellence - Mobile Solutions, Vishy Gopalakrishnan shares his views on enterprise mobility trends in this segment.  There will be several more segments with Vishy to follow.  Grab some popcorn!

P.S. Here is a new whitepaper that our team at Cognizant just published titled, Making BYOD Work for Your Organization.

Video Link: http://youtu.be/29XKOJbhrdk

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress Interviews: Florian Ganz, Part 2

In Part 2 of this segment I have the privilege of interviewing mobility expert Florian Ganz on enterprise mobility trends and developments around the SAP Mobile Platform..  I have known Florian for many years and he has implemented many large enterprise mobility solutions, and as a result, has much wisdom to share.  Grab some popcorn!

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Fred Yentz, Part 2

M2M and the Internet of Things were central topics at the Mobile World Congress 2013.  SAP was showing off several demonstrations on how machine data, wirelessly sent to SAP, could be analyzed in real-time using SAP Hana.  In this interview, M2M expert and ILS Technology CEO Fred Yentz discusses the concept of "Sensor-to-CIO."  Grab some popcorn!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/cZOCxiUkViQ

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Florian Ganz

Have you ever wished that you didn't get so many emails?  If email wasn't used, then how would you communicate?  In this interview with mobility expert Florian Ganz, he describes how his company transitioned to an email-less company.  Grab some popcorn!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/gWEMAGsLlLo

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: James Naftel, Part 2

Forgive me for the opening section of this video.  My fantasy life has spilled over.

This is Part 2 of my interview with SAP's Director of Product Management, Mobile Security, James Naftel.  In this interview we discuss what to expect in 2013 from SAP's Afaria, and current pricing models that SAP is offering for this MDM solution.  Grab some popcorn!

Video Link:  http://youtu.be/VBcaeuRw4QY

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Ron Hassanwalia

If you are interested in learning more about mobile device management and mobile security this short video is for you.  I filmed this in Barcelona, Spain at the Mobile World Congress 2013.  The first minute is a bit blurry, but then clears up.  My iPhone must not have been paying attention to where I was filming.  In this interview Ron Hassanwalia from www.Soti.net explains many features in an MDM.  Grab some popcorn!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN-vNkHG8NM&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: James Naftel

In this interview recorded in Barcelona, Spain, I ask about SAP's answer to Dropbox - SAP Mobile Documents.  James Naftel, Director of Product Management, Mobile Security, explains how it works and why it is an interesting new development.  Grab the popcorn!

Video Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOqSFP8LKy8&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Jim Somers

In this interview I ask Antenna Software's Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Jim Somers about the trends he is seeing around enterprise mobility in 2013.  Grab the popcorn!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SdSl5c_amw&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked
 

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Charlie McNiff

It was interesting how much of the Mobile World Congress this year was about M2M and the Internet of Things.  I guess it makes sense from a teleco perspective, mobile data is mobile data, whether it comes from a mobile app on a smartphone or a piece of heavy equipment wirelessly reporting its maintenance needs.

I have often written over the years that M2M and enterprise mobility would eventually converge.  This year they certainly did at the MWC 2013 event.  Mobile data coming in from remote workers and assets is all valuable to the enterprise.  With the right business analytics solution your managers can use this real-time data to make good data driven decisions.

At the show, SAP connected their M2M initiative with their Hana platform to deliver real-time analytics to the Port of Hamburg in Germany.  The demonstration was in the Connected City at the show. The solution was used to track incoming cargo containers, truck parking spaces and truck locations.  The M2M data coming in wirelessly from these three areas was analyzed in seconds and used to improve efficiencies in the logistical processes.

In this short video, I interview SAP partner ILS Technology about where they see growth in the M2M industry.  Grab some popcorn!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/EEdG1rWzTdc

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the insightful whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Notes and Videos from the Mobile World Congress 2013, Part 2

Day Two of the Mobile World Congress 2013, and also Wrinkle Tuesday.  My hotel does not have irons or ironing boards and it was on the MWC 2013 recommended list...ugh.

Here are some notes from my observations and discussions on Day 2:

1. SAP Mobile Documents - this is an internally developed solution that acts like a secure Dropbox, but able to be central managed by IT.  Very useful!
2. SAP is discussing M2M and/or The Internet of Things in at least two different locations here.  They have a demo in the Connected City, and a demo of a smart vending machine in their booth.
3. Dropbox is also showing off an enterprise version.  You can now switch between a personal Dropbox and your enterprise version (secured and managed by your IT).
4. SAP has developed several very interesting mobile B2C apps with deep social engagement models built in.  I love it.  One for sports teams and the other involving fashions and clothing.
5. Firefox showing off their new mobile phones.
6. SAP announced an M2M partnership with Ericsson.

I attended the Mobile Premier Apps awards session last night.  Several dozen start-ups were judged by different expert panels for viability and awards. There are many very clever developers out there. My favorite was BlindSquare.  A location based solution with audio information for the blind.  

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

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Read the insightful whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Notes and Videos from the Mobile World Congress 2013, Part 1

Yesterday was the first day of the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona.  It is reported there are 70,000 people here.  I counted 69,901.  I explored miles of aisles filled with mobile and wireless software vendors, equipment, accessories and devices manufacturers over 8 massive halls.

I have been tracking down mobility experts to interview.  I tried to upload some of the interviews yesterday, but my hotel wireless appeared just enough to tease me before disappearing again.

Today I will be speaking at the Power of Enterprise Mobility session in Hall 8.  There are seats for 250, but over 2,000 registered for it.  Yikes!

Here is the first of many interviews I recorded with experts in mobility and M2M.  This interview is with M2M / Internet of Things guru and Fred Yentz, CEO of ILS Technology.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the insightful whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

17 Questions to Ask When Developing Mobile Apps

In this short video I review the 17 questions to ask when preparing to develop a mobile app.  These are basic questions, and I cover them fast!  Enjoy!

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Thomas Jefferson on Mobile and Collaboration

I want an iPad mini!

I came across this quote from Thomas Jefferson recently that I found interesting, "He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessoning mine; as he who lights his candle at mine, receives light without darkening me. Ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition...this [capability] seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them."

Thomas Jefferson was ruminating about collaboration - mobile and global collaboration.  He was sharing his belief that good ideas should be shared widely for the benefit of all.  Allowing your best and brightest minds, no matter their geographical location, to contribute their good ideas using mobile and collaboration technologies is a system, as Jefferson worded it, "benevolently designed by nature."

If you are the software designer of the collaboration platform, you may desire more credit than Jefferson bestowed, but you are in fact, part of nature:-)

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the insightful whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

2013 Mobility Trends

In this short video I review the findings and predictions from Gartner and comScore for 2013 mobility and other digital trends.  Enjoy!  Video Link: http://youtu.be/YYmKYkQwWnw

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC, Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

What Questions Should We Ask Mobile Experts in Barcelona at MWC 2013?

Next week I will be speaking at the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona and also interviewing all the mobility experts I can track down. I recognize that many of you reading this post may not have the opportunity to attend, but have questions you would like me to ask some of the mobility experts. If so, please post your questions in the comment field below and I will do my best to track down the answers on your behalf.

Wow!  Eight halls full of mobile experts!!!  See image below.

Cheers!

Mobility and Collaboration Platforms, Part 2

OK, I am almost ready to get off of my soap box about how enterprise mobility and collaboration platforms, working together as part of SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud), are creating a huge sea change in how businesses are run.  In this short video I share some additional areas that will be impacted by these changes.  Enjoy!

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC, Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.