Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

Mobile Expert Interview Series: ClickSoftware's Gil Bouhnick

I had the opportunity to spend time on the phone this morning with Gil Bouhnick who was calling from warm and beautiful Tel Aviv. He is the Director of Mobile Solutions for ClickSoftware and a big fan of mobility, so much in fact, that he has four mobile smartphones and rarely leaves home or the office without two or more in his pockets. Although his office is in Tel Aviv, most of ClickSoftware's customers are in North American and in Europe.

Gil's role is in the product management group at ClickSoftware. He has spent years at ClickSoftware and has been a part of the evolution of their mobile solutions. Early on, ClickSoftware, a company focused on field service automation and service scheduling optimization, integrated with mobile solutions from companies like Antenna, Dexterra (now part of Antenna) and Syclo. However, over time they began to recognize that they needed their own mobile software and framework to support the requirements of their field services customers.

I have to think that ClickSoftware felt it would be better to provide their own mobile software rather than refer business to their largest strategic competitors.

When ClickSoftware determined they needed their own mobile solution and framework, they began working with Microsoft's mobility team and developed their mobile solution around Microsoft environments. Nearly all of their customers were using ruggedized laptops and rugged handheld devices from vendors like Panasonic, Psion Teklogix, Motorola/Symbol and Intermec, which were all using Windows Mobile operating systems. Even today, in the rough and tumble world of field services where ruggedized laptops and handheld computers are required, Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating systems dominate.

ClickSoftware did take a good look at Sybase's mobile middleware before deciding on Microsoft's middleware. They believe Sybase was a good option, but they chose Microsoft and continue to be big fans of Windows Mobile due to Microsoft's dominance in the rugged industrial grade handheld computer markets.

I asked Gil about their plans to support iPhones and Android devices, and he shared that they are preparing to release light weight browser-based applications for Blackberrys, iPhones, and Android devices.

From our discussion, it appears that ClickSoftware is a strong believer in thick mobile clients that can work in connected or disconnected locations. He used the example of service technicians working in elevator shafts that do not have connectivity, but must access and record information on their handheld computer. He also described an increasing need for field services applications to support on-device barcode scanners and integrated GPS functionality.

ClickSoftware's customers (there were twenty new mobility customers in 2009) have large numbers of mobile users. One of their recent customers deployed over 5,000 mobile applications to ruggedized devices. He said all of their large customers to date are using the Windows Mobile operating systems.

Gil shared an interesting trend among their customers. He says he is actually seeing an increase in field service workers caring two mobile devices. The ruggedized industrial grade laptop or handheld computer and a Blackberry, iPhone or Android device. Why? Because often the ruggedized work-oriented computer is focused specifically on the field service application and process, and the field service technicians wants a smartphone for work communications and personal use.

Gil explained a unique phenomena they regularly experience with their customers. He said once a company starts working with a mobile application they nearly always start expanding into all kinds of new and interesting directions. It is very hard for a mobile user to stop at one mobile application. He said mobile applications are hard to limit. Their boundaries are hard to establish. Field services applications can quickly grow to include inventory management, scheduling, asset tracking, dispatch, CRM, inspection, etc.

I have also experienced this phenomena. Once the field service team becomes accustomed to working with mobile applications, they can recognize the need for many additional mobile applications that would benefit them. This was one of the key reasons ClickSoftware decided to jump into the mobile application space with both feet. They recognized that eventually customers would want mobile extensions to all of their software applications, and they were in the best position to support these requirements.

Field service technicians are no longer as easily impressed with mobile applications as they were a few years ago when all things mobile were magical. Today, they are downloading all kinds of powerful mobile applications to their personal smartphones in the evenings and weekends. Today, they expect to see that same level of sophistication from their field services applications.

In late 2009 ClickSoftware released their first standalone mobile solution, called ClickSoftware Mobile. Prior mobile solutions from ClickSoftware were mobile extensions to their enterprise field services applications. ClickSoftware Mobile contains many templates, forms builders and workflow processes that are useful for the field service industry. As it evolves, it will become a useful MEAP for many other processes and workflows as well.

Gil says he believes SAP has the right strategy towards mobility today. He described SAP's mobility strategy as the "App Store" approach to letting nearly everyone offer mobile applications that integrate with SAP. He said this strategy was necessary due to the challenges SAP had in the past with their internal mobility efforts.

What is SAP doing wrong? Gil said one of the challenges he sees is that SAP does not know what to recommend when customers ask. He said all of the mobility vendors continually update SAP on new developments, but he doubts that information is effectively distributed to the field. There are just too many developments happening too fast. He said think of the confusion when a SAP customer needs mobility in 3 or 4 different areas that are covered by different SAP mobility partners. How is the customer going to make a good decision?

What can we expect to see from ClickSoftware in 2010? Gil says that ClickSoftware has deep expertise in field services automation, which will be shown in many new features in their mobile applications including integrated SMS that is contextually aware. Customers can be notified of arrival times automatically based on the current location and schedule of the field service technician. He said their applications are increasingly location sensitive and many new features are being integrated that use GPS coordinates as important data inputs. He gave examples that included location of other service technicians, the inventories of other nearby service vehicles, and web services that include traffic information and alternative routes to help field service technicians be as efficient as possible.

Another feature that Gil's customers have been requesting is a light weight browser based-mobile application for contractors and sub-contractors. These workers are often only involved in a project for a limited period of time and come with many different kinds of mobile devices. As a result, a browser-based approach that enables any contractors with internet connection and permission to access project and scheduling information is best.

When asked about ClickSoftware competitors, Gil said Syclo is likely their biggest strategic competitor. It is my impression that ClickSoftware is committed to the field service industry and complimentary business processes for most of their business now and in the near future. He added that he does not compete much with Sky Technologies but finds their SAP "innerware" approach to mobility interesting.

Gil believes that Apple's iPhones and App Store changed the world. Apple revolutionized how all other mobile applications are developed and deployed. Apple opened up the world in new and different ways and inspired both developers and users to see smartphones and mobile applications differently. He believes the new Apple iPad has the potential to make a similar market impact.

I said to Gil, "Tablets have been around for a decade. Why do you think that the iPad has the ability to revolutionize the world?" Gil answered, "Apple has the ability to do even the simplest things amazingly!" It is the ability to produce amazing experiences that can inspire the world.

Additional interviews in this series:

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Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles. ***************************************************

Sybase has Record Q1 - Credits Mobile Apps for Growth

Sybase has reported some interesting numbers that seem to be meaningful for the SAP enterprise mobility market in general.

"2010 is off to a strong start for Sybase," stated Chairman, CEO and President of Sybase John Chen. "We achieved historical first-quarter highs in revenue, operating margins, earnings, and cash flow." Added Mr. Chen, "Expansion of data, mobile devices, and real-time computing is driving adoption of our Unwired Enterprise strategy and stimulating demand for our data management, analytics, and mobility offerings."

If this is an indicator of a trend for enterprise mobility, rather than just an improving economy, then let the fun begin!

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles. ***************************************************

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Troy O'Connor

I had the opportunity to interview Troy O'Connor recently while he was in Australia. He is the CEO of Sky Technologies, an SAP Partner, and an expert in SAP mobility. Sky Technologies is a software company, and their mobile solution for SAP is the SkyMobile Framework.

Troy first got into mobility as a systems integrator for SAP. He cut his teeth on mobile applications for warehouse and inventory management over a decade ago. SAP developed a lot of barcode data collection applications using rugged handheld computers like the LXE.

I asked Troy about his thoughts on mobile micro-applications and MEAPs (mobile enterprise application platforms). He said that mobile micro-applications are very useful, especially for simple forms-based mobile applications, but he would advocate that mobile micro-applications should be developed using a MEAP and supported by a MEAP. That way there is a standard way of developing, integrating and supporting them. MEAPs should provide a rapid and agile development environment for both thick client applications and mobile micro-applications.

I then asked Troy for his thoughts on the role of thick mobile clients and thin mobile clients. He responded that thick mobile clients are less important when there is 100% connectivity, but there are many cases where rugged working environments do not have connectivity. In such places being able to operate in a connected or disconnected mode is important. He added that he prefers the term "Intelligent Mobile Client" over the term thick client. Intelligent Mobile clients typically have more computing power, on device databases, document management, and data collection capabilities that thin clients.

"What about MEAPs?" I asked. He listed the core features he felt a MEAP should have:

SDK to provide tools for rapid and agile mobile application development.
Interface management to protect the integrity of the SAP transaction and ensure it happens and is completed in SAP.
Data modeling, data profiling and data synchronization.
Device management, which is important so errors and support issues can be discovered and resolved quickly.

I followed up by asking, "How do you tell the difference between a good and bad MEAP?" He answered:

The MEAP must be very flexible, because SAP is very flexible. The SAP user must be able to rapidly customize their mobile applications to match any customization they do in SAP.
The MEAP must support both pre-developed (canned) mobile applications and custom mobile applications.
100% of Sky Technologies' customers have requested some level of customization. That is why the MEAP must support this capability.
SAP is a transactional management system, and because of that any mobile applications integrated with SAP must also be compliant as a transactional management system and provide complete end-to-end visibility to these transactions.
SAP interface management is critical. SAP must have visibility into mobile transactions and be able to monitor them from inside of SAP.
SAP scales up to tens of thousands of users. The mobile enterprise application platform must also scale up.

I asked Troy about Sky Technologies' strategy of using an SAP "Innerware" architecture for their MEAP. He responded that Sky Technologies was given a namespace inside of SAP by SAP to integrate their SkyMobile MEAP. It was then certified by SAP and enables SAP to have complete transactional visibility to mobile transactions. The "innerware" strategy also enables them to utilize and maximize SAP's integration technologies including SAP NetWeaver. Many other mobile software companies choose to duplicate SAP functionality in external third party middleware which adds unnecessary layers of complexity.

I learned a new term from Troy - "short pants." This term refers to youngsters or pretenders, those that lack a complete understanding of an environment. He used that term to refer to mobile software companies that do not have deep knowledge and experience working with SAP. I have now added that term to my vocabulary.

When asked his opinion on SAP's current mobility strategy, Troy answered that he agrees with SAP's partnership strategy for delivering mobile applications. He said the market and technology is moving too quickly for a large software company to keep up. They need to support the innovation that can come out of their smaller mobility partners.

In response to the question, "What should SAP do differently?" He answered, "Clarify the licensing strategy and price for mobile applications." He shared that some of his SAP customers had run into confusing licensing issues around mobile devices for SAP, and this caused some grief.

The last question I asked was, "What should an SAP customer ask a mobile application vendor before purchasing?" Troy answered, "Where is the master system? Is it SAP or a third party database or middleware application?"

Related Articles:

Mobile Expert Interview Series: PriceWaterhouseCoopers' Ahmed El Adl, PhD
Mobile Expert Interview Series: Nokia's John Choate
Mobile Expert Interview Series - Jane and Keelin Glendon of HotButtons

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Bloomberg BusinessWeek Reports on Productivity Gains - Is Mobility to Blame?

I read an interesting article by Mike Dorning in last week's Bloomberg BusinessWeek. In summary, the article said surveys are showing that people do not believe the economy is improving despite nearly all market indicators suggesting otherwise. Of particular interest is the following excerpt, "While jobs have been slow to return, the country has experienced 'an incredible productivity boom' that strengthens the economy for an expansion, says Greenhaus of Miller Tabak. Labor productivity, or worker output per hour, grew at a 6.9 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter, capping the biggest one-year gain since 2002."

I am seeing an incredible interest in enterprise mobility applications these days. I wonder how much of the 6.9 percent productivity gain in Q4 of 2009 can be credited to companies extending their ERPs to mobile devices. What are your thoughts?

SAP announced in December that mobility is one of their core focus points for 2010. I can see this demonstrated with their EcoHub mobility theme this month. In 2009 it was business intelligence. This year I believe it is enterprise mobility, and next year the combination of enterprise mobility, business intelligence, and location based services (geospatially aware apps).

I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Where Has Microsoft Mobility Gone - Here?

Several years ago when I was up to my neck in mobile application development projects, the only mobile operating systems referred to were Windows Mobile, Windows CE, along with a few reminiscent comments about Palm OS. Today, the mobility world is a completely different place but perhaps not as different as you may think.

The world of Windows Mobile and Windows CE still exists. In fact the industrial and ruggedized mobility environments are strong and completely dominated by Microsoft operating systems. This may surprise folks who are relatively new to mobility and may have thought enterprise mobility is limited to the smartphone. The ironic thing is that Microsoft was primarily focused on the consumer device market but accidentally found themselves dominating the markets for ruggedized and industrial grade mobile devices.

SAP mobility partners like Leapfactor, RIM, and Vivido Labs are mobilizing SAP primarily for the users of smartphones such as iPhones, Blackberrys, and those using the Android operating systems, but just because they are making the headlines does not mean there isn't a substantial and growing market for rugged and industrial mobile devices using Microsoft Mobile.

A few weeks ago I spoke to Andy Sivell, a project manager for SAP mobility partner Sky Technologies, about a large mobility project he is working on for a water utility in Australia with many hundreds of mobile application users. The rugged devices being used are Motorola MC75s, all with Windows Mobile operating systems. The mobile applications they support are:

Enterprise asset management
Mobile work order dispatch
Field services
Parts and equipment consumption
Maintenance
Job costing/time tracking
Mobile resource management applications

It is easy to forget, with all the buzz around iPhones, iPads, Android and BlackBerrys, that there is another large and growing market for industrial grade mobility applications using Microsoft OSs.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Mobility in the Enterprise from SAP

Announcement from SAP

Mobility is a key strategic priority for SAP. Starting today, Monday April 19, through April 30, 2010 “Mobility in the Enterprise” will be featured on SAP EcoHub. We have assembled an extensive array of valuable assets,(also see below) i.e.:

1. The best enterprise mobile solutions from partners that include Sybase, Syclo, Mellmo, Sky Technologies, Vivido Labs and Leapfactor. All contribute towards sales and revenue.

2. Videos and blogs from senior SAP executives and mobile visionaries. We received overwhelming commitment and cooperation from SAP executives and partners. We received 20 videos and 15 blogs on mobility and 3 partners have bought advertisement packages during this period.

3. Tools to locate the right mobile solutions. Check out the very cool “Find the right mobile solutions for your business” mini-app.

4. Engagement vehicles i.e. the mobility survey and an invitation for mobile app developers to introduce themselves to SAP.

5. Links from SAP.com, SCN, partners sites and mentor blogs to SAP EcoHub

“Mobility in the Enterprise” presents a great opportunity for our customers, AEs and partners to learn and engage with SAP on mobility. You can help us by publicizing and raising awareness of the mobility theme. Please take 5 mins to visit EcoHub yourself and become familiar with the content and solutions. The time for mobility in now! EcoHub is ready!

Sincere Regards,

Usman Sheikh

Vice President
SAP EcoHub
SAP AG
M +1 650 391 4830
E u.sheikh@sap.com

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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SAP's Mobility Theme Launch

SAP kicked off their Mobility Theme on EcoHub today. They will be promoting mobility over the next few weeks leading up to Sapphire by highlighting blogs, videos, demos, webinars, and other events related to mobility. SAP is promoting its mobility partners including Sybase, Syclo, Sky Technologies, Leapfactor, RIM, Vivido Labs, and others.

The SAP banner above this article allows you to answer several questions and be directed to various mobility vendors that are partnered with SAP. Very clever SAP!

This is a very interesting time for those involved in SAP mobility, and I look forward to participating in as many events as I can. I will be participating in a mobile SAP CRM webinar on April 27, in an SAP Insider event in Palo Alto on April 30, and attending many mobility events at Sapphire the week of May 16 in Orlando, Florida.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Mobilizing SAP’s CRM - Freedom to Succeed

I have been invited to participate in an upcoming webinar on Mobilizing SAP's CRM. The details can be found on SAP's EcoHub website, and it is scheduled for April 27 at 1:00 PM EDST. The topics will include:

• Position CRM in your company.
• How to avoid adoption issues.
• Ways of implementing to maximize efficiency.
• Simplifying for mobile access.
• How to deploy SAP’s CRM across any mobile device.

Mobilizing SAP CRM is one of the highest priorities for SAP CRM customers. In a recent interview that I did with EntryPoint's founder Pete Martin, he said that 100% of his net new SAP CRM sales prospects are now requiring a mobile extension to CRM. This motivated him to partner with SAP's partner Sky Technologies to provide mobile SAP CRM solutions. Anything that can be credited with helping a sales force sell more product is very interesting to a company. Making the sales force more efficient, productive and effective is the goal of all companies.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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The Confession of an Enterprise Mobility Guy

Yesterday, because it was spring weather in Boise, Idaho, I put on a light weight jacket with only one secure interior pocket. This forced me to choose between putting my wallet or my iPhone in it. I chose the iPhone. I then proceeded to a store where I sat in a number of different chairs. When I returned home my wallet was predictably missing.

As I pondered my earlier choices, I wondered what made me choose my iPhone over my wallet. What decision would you have made? My iPhone is a portal into both my personal and professional life. My wallet is simply a container.

I read in the Wall Street Journal today an article by Katherine Boehret called "A Leash on Mobile Devices that Like to Wander." It lists two different devices that sound an alarm if you walk too far away from your mobile device. The problem is these device manufacturers assume you will lose your iPhone rather than your wallet.

I must confess that replacing my wallet now days seems easier than replacing my iPhone. Someday soon they will be one and the same, and having just one secure pocket in my jacket will suffice.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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SAP CRM Partner EntryPoint Consulting Looks to Mobility for Growth

I read with interest today a press release about SAP partner EntryPoint Consulting. I know them, and they are a long term SAP consulting and channel partner that is involved in the CRM side of SAP. They were involved in some of the earliest implementations of mobile SAP CRM several years back and experienced a lot of first mover pain as a result. I know they have been watching the SAP mobility evolution with keen interest for several years.

From today's press release it looks like Pete Martin, managing partner at EntryPoint has decided it is time to get serious about SAP mobility again, and he partnered with SAP mobility partner Sky Technologies to deliver mobile SAP CRM capabilities. I spoke to him several months back, and he said 100% of his SAP CRM sales opportunities this year were asking about mobile device support so he was very interested in the SAP mobility ecosystem.

Here is a quote from today's press release, "We were convinced that we ‘chose right’ when some of the most sophisticated SAP customers, such as Colgate, chose Sky as their preferred mobile platform..." Martin goes on to say, "By combining our CRM consulting expertise with Sky’s leading platform, we now have the ability to offer companies a comprehensive set of CRM consulting in the marketing, sales and service functional areas. In short, we can offer them ‘SAP CRM in the palm of their hand.”

SkyMobile provides a single integrated framework that is used to mobilize and manage SAP applications on all major mobile platforms including Windows, BlackBerry, Android, Symbian, and iPhone.

I would like to hear more about what Colgate is doing in the SAP mobility space with Sky. I know that Colgate is often in the forefront of new technologies and trends. Perhaps, someone from Colgate will share?

*************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Monetizing Mobile Applications in the SAP Ecosystem

SAP is trying to figure out the best way to monetize enterprise mobile applications and B2C mobile applications. These are complex issues. Extending the functionality of SAP to mobile users is a key goal for SAP. They want to enable many, many more users to benefit from SAP. The mobile workforce and consumers are both areas where SAP can extend value, but how do they charge for it?

I have had conversations this month with several SAP ecosystem veterans about this topic. They remembered conversations several years ago when SAP was quoting full PULs (platform user licenses) for each mobile user. That did not go over well. They have since revised that number down, down, down, but now you have mobile micro-applications that just expose little segments of value to users. How is this going to be monetized by SAP. There is value for micro-applications vendors and end users for using SAP functionality on an iPhone, but how should it be priced? How can it be monitored?

SAP's goals are also to extend SAP functionality to consumers' smart phones in a B2C model. An example would be an iPhone enabled catalog that is hosted on SAP. It may include inventory updates, shopping carts/order entry, shipment tracking, etc. How does SAP monetize consumer applications that are developed by mobile application vendors?

I would like to hear your thoughts, as this is an issue that is being worked through now.

*************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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Mobile Micro-Applications vs Thick Mobile Clients

As I have shared before, my background was in the MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) world. We used different acronyms, some not repeatable in this family friendly blog, but it was the same thing as today's MEAPs. I have managed development projects where the mobile applications we delivered could be considered a full ERP in many places. It was painful and expensive, but it worked. Our customers had hundreds of route sales, service technicians, and delivery folks walking around carrying full functional ERPs on their ruggedized mobile handheld computers.

The application I am referring to above consisted of the following:

Mobile sales force automation application
Mobile order entry application
Mobile invoicing
Mobile proof-of-delivery application
Mobile work order management application
Mobile inventory management system
Mobile price and promotion management application
Mobile enterprise asset management application
Mobile CRM to access customer service and support issues

MEAPs and thick client mobile applications certainly have their place, but there was so much customization that this finished mobile application was probably out-dated by the time we delivered it. If any part of our mobile application needed changed, the entire mobile application had to be updated and re-tested. With a mobile application that big and complex, the opportunities for bugs were endless. We had to charge a fortune to deliver it.

Our customer wanted a thick mobile client application that could work in a connected and disconnected mode so that their employees could work whether there was connectivity with the internet or not. Three years ago there were not a lot of options. As a result there were a lot of thick mobile clients delivered.

With this particulary mobile application, the training requirements were huge. The mobile workforce needed to understand every aspect of their mobile ERP before it could be effectively used. You can image the level of IT support for the first six months.

It will be interesting to see how thick clients and MEAPs evolve. There are some very active debates on the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on LinkedIn on this subject.

Where do MEAPs stop and mobile micro-applications start? If I were to develop that same mobile application today, would I use nine mobile micro-applications rather than try to build all of the features and functionality into one giant mobile application? Good question!

SAP's partners are on both sides of this question. SAP partners like Vivido Labs and Leapfactor focus mostly on mobile micro-applications. Sybase and Syclo focus mostly on thick mobile clients, while Sky Technologies seems to be hedging their bets with both thick mobile clients and mobile micro-apps.

It will be an interesting evolution to watch!

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Simple Mobile Applications Can Offer Real ROIs

The International Telecommunication Union reported in 2009 that 28% of people in Africa have mobile phones but only 5% have the internet. The report also said that mobile phone subscriptions in Africa were increasing by 50% per year. As a result of this rapid growth, mobile application developers have been creating simple mobile applications for African businesses that utilize SMS rather than mobile smart phones with data plans. There are some lessons to be learned.

In a recent CNN article entitled, "Mobile App Developers Tackle Africa's Biggest Problems," the author writes about developers creating powerful and beneficial mobile applications that work with simple and limited 140 character text message inputs. One example was a mobile application that enables dairy farmers to request the average price of a unit of milk in certain areas. The text message queries a database that returns an answer. This may seem to be a very simplistic application, but it means a huge amount to the dairy farmer. Without access to information on the local market prices for milk, the dairy farmer can be convinced, out of ignorance, to sell his/her product for less that the market price. Armed with knowledge, the dairy farmer can negotiate for a fair price.

Another example given was a mobile wireless fish sensor in a lake that alerts local fisherman via text messages of the presence of fish. For the local fisherman whose income depends on being a successful fisherman, this could be a very useful mobile application.

The lesson I learned from these examples is to not undervalue the usefulness of simple mobile applications. My background is in the MEAP space where we developed thick client mobile applications that were mini-ERPs on ruggedized Windows Mobile devices. Our MEAPs and mobile applications required large and expensive development efforts. They were certainly useful and appreciated by our clients, but it does not always require that level of development to provide real value.

Some segments of the mobile workforce could benefit from simple updates, key data provided at the right time, and the ability to query on key data and incremental efficiency improvements. Mobile micro-applications definitely have their place.

In the SAP ecosystem you are starting to see an increasing number of mobile micro-applications from SAP partners like Vivido Labs, Leapfactor, Sky Technologies. These applications are designed to replace specific paper processes and enable the mobile workforce to accomplish more while traveling. I have been given some previews and I believe that Sapphire 2010 will be remembered as the Year of Mobility in the SAP ecosystem.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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Everyone Wants A Piece of SAP Enterprise Mobility!

I was surprised to read today that SAP's ECM (enterprise content management) partner Open Text Corp. now has a mobile applications strategy. "This move is part of a strategy designed to help organizations harness the power of today’s mobile workforce in an effort to increase productivity."

The solution is called Open Text Everywhere and it is designed to make the entire Open Text ECM Suite available through mobile devices. This move by Open Text highlights an interesting evolution in the mobile ecosystem around SAP. A number of SAP's partners are producing mobile applications that only work if you buy their products. There is nothing wrong with that strategy, but it does add confusion to companies interested in general SAP enterprise mobility. Now there are at least four categories of mobile applications for SAP customers:

MEAPs (mobile enterprise application platforms) - Enables the user to develop, customize and support many different mobile applications and mobile devices on one platform (e.g. Sybase, Sky Technologies, etc.).
Mobile micro-applications - Lightweight mobile applications typically available from App stores that are specific to particular limited business processes in SAP (e.g. Vivido Labs, Leapfactor, etc.).
Mobile solutions that are designed to work primarily with a specific vendor product (e.g. ClickSoftware, Syclo, Open Text, etc.).
Out of the box mobile applications (email, calendars, etc.).

There may be more mobile application categories, so let me know which ones I missed.

I wonder how committed companies like Open Text are to mobility? Are they serious, or are they just trying to excite an exciteable analyst? Initially Open Text is only going to support BlackBerrys, but claims a long term commitment to supporting other mobile devices. They plan to release applications that provide a comprehensive view of business processes, content and workplace social collaboration (as long as it involves their product). Here is the list of mobile applications they are planning to develop:

Manage everywhere for documents and content.
Engage everywhere focusing on process workflows.
Collaboration everywhere using social media.

Although the product descriptions sound general, I expect they will only function with Open Text products. That means SAP users who want these functions, that are not Open Text customers, will need to search for other mobile application vendors.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Redbox, M2M and Mobile SAP Micro-Apps

M2M is not only a cool acronym, kind of James Bond like, but a very interesting category in the wireless industry. M2M in this context means machine-to-machine wireless connectivity. A few other terms that describe this category are "the Internet of Objects" or the "Internet of Things." All of these terms relate to machines that can talk or exchange data with other machines via wireless connectivity.

One strange example that I wrote about a few months ago was a bathroom scale that would wirelessly tweet your body weight to your Twitter list every time you weighed yourself. The scale, a machine, was collecting data and sending it automatically via a wireless connection to another machine (server).

A recent example that I found particularly interesting was Redbox. These are the DVD rental kiosks that we see everywhere now days. Did you know that Redbox machines are M2M enabled? You can go to the Redbox website, find a kiosk near you that has a movie you want and reserve it online. You can also use their micro-app for iPhones to find a movie in a kiosk near you and rent it.

A quick digression - look for a large number of new mobile micro-apps to be announced at SAP's Sapphire event in May. Companies like Vivido Labs and Sky Technologies, and many others, will be releasing many new mobile micro-apps for iPhones, BlackBerrys, Android and other OSs. These are typically small, one purpose or business process, mobile apps that are integrated with SAP.

Here in Boise, Idaho there is a local success story involving M2M with a company called Telemetric. Here is their description: Telemetric provides wireless remote monitoring and control of equipment and machinery using cellular networks. We provide solutions that enable electric, water and gas utilities and their customers to measure, monitor and control usage of valuable resources. Our solutions improve system efficiency, asset management, speed up responses to service interruptions and equipment problems, and automate reporting functions resulting in lower operating costs and more reliable service.

Telemetric develops monitoring equipment that measures and reports wirelessly to other machines. Managers can watch dashboards and see the measurements from remote equipment.

The bottom line is that field data collection does not always require a person with a ruggedized handheld computer to be traveling around collecting data. High value assets and equipment can be set-up with monitoring devices that report their status to other machines and servers that can be programmed to do certain things based upon the data coming in. I am now writing a new analyst report on M2M to be released in June 2010.

Related articles:

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Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Mobile SAP Apps for Sales Order Capture and Delivery

Banks Holdings Limited (BHL), a SAP customer, is one of Barbados' most successful public companies and the island's largest beverage conglomerate. BHL has four subsidiaries comprising of two beverage manufacturers, a dairy processing plant and a distribution firm.

BHL has recently mobilized three key SAP business processes:

Pre-Selling - The Pre-Selling scenario enabled the capture and confirmation of new orders by the mobile salesforce as they interacted with the end customers, giving them visibility into their individual orders and pricing structures. By delivering SAP pricing schemas to the mobile device, BHL's sales representatives now have the ability to highlight to customers any volume scale based price breaks and a potential for cross selling opportunities.
Dispatch - Dispatch is responsible for managing the inventory required to fulfill the orders being delivered on a daily basis. Leveraging the SAP FIFO and guided picking processes, the mobile dispatch process ensures the correct stock is not only loaded into the correct delivery truck but also in the most efficient order for the actual deliveries being fulfilled.
Delivery - The delivery process is responsible for the Proof of Delivery (POD) process to the end customers. The mobile component not only manages core delivery processes, but also allows for any last minute adjustments to a delivery requested by a customer and the corresponding downstream SAP pricing impacts these changes may have.

BHL wanted a solution that could meet the following requirements:

The ability to work both online and offline when mobile staff is beyond mobile device coverage boundaries.
Support for multiple device types such as Motorola’s hand-held devices and printers.
Integration without the need for complex middleware.
Flexibility of the GUI interface.
In-depth SAP experience.
The ability to extend SAP specific business processes to the point of activity (mobile)
The ability to utilize existing SAP ABAP skills kept cost of enhancements low as any future changes and enhancements could be performed in-house.

SAP has a number of mobility partners including Sybase, RIM, Sky Technologies, Sylco and Vivido Labs. In this case BHL selected SAP Certified Partner, Sky Technologies for their mobile SAP CRM.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Network-Centric Warfare and Network-Centric Field Services

Last year I published an article on Ulitzer called Network-Centric Field Services. This article discussed the way the US military uses mobile data collection, satellites, drones, M2M and many other data collection tools and techniques to create an accurate and real-time picture of their work environment. This approach enables the users of this system to see where their assets are located, where they are needed and how best to manage them at all times.

I believe this approach has great value for field service operations and many other areas and is worth studying in detail. The ability for a company to know in real time where their fleet of vehicles is located, where their human resources is located, where their jobsites are located, the status of their jobs and where their equipment and mobile inventories are located is critical to effectively managing field services. Equipment and mobile inventories can be better shared across projects, and the right people can be used on the right projects at the right time.

In a plant maintenance environment, equipment can be constantly reporting its status and maintenance needs either in a connected or disconnected mode to a plant maintenance team. This data can alert when there is a problem, or automatically schedule itself for maintenance. This is especially useful when maintenance experts are responsible for multiple plants and remote and/or mobile equipment. It enables experts to see a far bigger picture and be at the right place at the right time.

In a field service operations environment - all of the high value mobile resources can be connected wirelessly to a centralized management application. Wireless data collection is now easily available. The bigger challenge is integrating all of this data into a management application that has the business intelligence capacity to recommend how best to use all of the incoming data for optimal efficiencies.

I gave several examples of organizations using this network-centric approach in the article Street Parking and Mobile Data Solutions. One example was of a city using sensors in street parking sites that wirelessly report when they are available. The reports could be viewed on iPhone applications. Another example was of the giant cement company in Kenya called LaFarge that was implementing a SAP solution and mobile appliction to provide better tracking and visibility into materials coming in and inventory going out to the customer.

If you would like to discuss the concept of network-centric field services in more detail please contact me.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Mobile Expert Interview Series: EntryPoint’s Pete Martin

Pete Martin, the founder of EntryPoint Consulting worked for SAP for over five years. He managed field operations in his region which included sales and pre-sales. His consulting company, which was founded in 2003, resells SAP solutions to US based middle market companies and business units of the Fortune 1000. They focus on SAP CRM, an area where they have a lot of experience. Today mobility is a big issue for his customers.

Pete was involved in one of the first mobile SAP CRM implementations. It did not go well. Why?

SAP did not have a well defined interface for CRM at that time. There was about five different ways to interface with it and this caused confusion with all involved.
SAP did not have a strong mobility roadmap or good guidance at the time.
It was a case of you don't know what you don't know.
Broadband internet was not widely available and connection and synchronization speeds were slow.
The customer wanted to download huge price books and massive amounts of customer data which bogged down the system.
The client wanted to replicate their ERP on the mobile devices – not good.

After this first painful experience, Pete and his team stepped back and studied the mobility space for about three years. However, in 2009 they lost two SAP CRM sales because they did not have a strong mobile SAP CRM offering. This pain motivated them to jump back into researching good mobile solutions for SAP CRM. Pete says that now 100% of SAP CRM sales prospects are requesting mobile extensions. It is no longer an option. A mobilized version of SAP CRM is a requirement.

They looked at a lot of different MEAPs that worked with SAP. There were several things they wanted from a mobility partner:

EntryPoint sells to medium and large companies. They need a solution that can scale from a few dozen users to a few thousand. They needed a partner that could support both of these markets and be priced to work in both.
They looked for a mobile provider that had already successfully implemented mobile SAP CRM solutions at a large company. They wanted to see a full production environment already in place. The partner they chose already had a successful mobile SAP CRM implementation with one of the largest global CPG companies.
They wanted a mobile provider that was not overly complex. They were looking for a simple and elegant architecture that was easy to implement and support.
They wanted to partner with and learn one mobile solution that could be broadly implemented across many different business processes.
They wanted a mobile provider that "partnered" well. Some mobile providers are large and small partners get overlooked. EntryPoint wanted a mobile partner that wanted them.

The end result was that EntryPoint Consulting selected SAP Partner, Sky Technologies as their mobile SAP CRM partner. They are now confident in telling customers they can have a mobilized CRM in 90 days.

Mobility is a big focus for EntryPoint Consulting in 2010. Why?

SAP customers are asking for mobile solutions and mobile extensions to their business processes.
Sales prospects are all asking for mobile extensions.
When EntryPoint Consulting promotes events around mobilizing SAP CRM they get BIG responses.
They lost two SAP CRM sales last year because they did not have a good mobile solution provider and plan in place.
SAP field sales is asking EntryPoint about their mobile solutions and plans. Pete wants a good answer.

I asked Pete what he thought about SAP's current mobility strategy and he said, "In markets where products and technologies are changing fast, it is hard for SAP to keep up. They are simply too big to be nimble. It is best for them to partner for mobile solutions today." In a follow up statement he added, "SAP's sales teams are still a bit confused by SAP's mobility strategy." It seems there is more to be done to evangelize SAP's mobility strategy and plans internally.

Pete also shared his thoughts on what SAP sales teams could learn from other CRM vendors. He said other vendors had learned how to sell to mid-level, line of business folks successfully. This according to Pete, is where CRM is sold. SAP sales teams are great at the C level sales process, but have historically been troubled when selling to the line of business. "If the VP of Sales can't connect to the CRM with his/her favorite mobile smartphone, the sale is lost," said Pete.

To read additional articles from the Mobile Expert Interview Series see below:

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***Full Disclosure: I am an indpedent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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Mobile Expert Interview Series: PriceWaterhouseCoopers' Ahmed El Adl, PhD

I had the privilege of interviewing PriceWaterhouseCoopers' Director of Enterprise Mobility Solutions, Dr. Ahmed El Adl a few days ago. He works out of PWC's Boston office and focuses on developing and expanding PWC's mobility practice. He is a big fan of this blog which instantly increased his credibility with me.

Ahmed worked for SAP in Waldorf from 1998-2002 and focused on SAP's CRM solutions. In fact he was involved in one of the very first mobility projects for SAP CRM. At that time SAP's architecture was simply not suited for mobility and it did not go well.

Ahmed said that a lesson learned from that first mobile SAP CRM experience was not to let sales and marketing completely drive design and engineering. The engineers developed everything that the marketing teams asked for, but the result was a mobile application that was far too big and heavy to work for customers.

Ahmed is a fan of SAP's current mobile strategy of working with many mobility partners. He believes SAP should slow down and focus on defining the mobile connectivity layer and open up their system for more nimble and innovative mobility partners to provide mobile applications. Mobility is evolving very fast and it is hard for a giant like SAP to effectively keep up. By opening up to mobility partners, SAP customers can get what they want now without waiting for SAP.Ahmed is the kind of consultant I would want to hire. He has experienced the good and bad of early mobility adoption and brings great wisdom to the table now.

Although Ahmed agrees with SAP's current strategy and likes what he sees from many of SAP's mobility partners, it doesn't mean he is satisfied. He believes Sybase, an SAP mobility partner, is good but complex, heavy and has too many different components and technology layers. He listed the numbers of technology layers that are involved in a Sybase/SAP integration and it was daunting.

He shared his thoughts on Sky Technologies, another SAP mobility partner. He thought their approach was interesting, but he was concerned that their "mobile SAP innerware" strategy would introduce challenges. He wondered how IT departments would accept a third party mobility solution being so closely embedded with SAP code? Would the benefits out weigh the risks for IT departments? Would they accept it, or avoid it?

He said he likes much of what he sees from SAP's mobility partners, however he is still cautious. In fact, he has recommended to some clients that they should go through a complete RFI process to determine for themselves which vendor has the best fit for them.

Ahmed believes that ultimately SAP customers will want a strong MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) that they can standardize on, but for today mobile micro-apps can provide real value quickly. I was particularly interested in this statement as it aligns with many of the comments that other industry experts shared on the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin.

Ahmed identified several areas of mobility that he finds particularly interesting:

Telemedicine
Medical diagnostics that feed data to iPhone applications (e.g. EKGs, x-rays)
The Apple iTune model for app stores that allows small companies to compete against the big software companies.
He loves the idea of unlimited innovation, on a level playing field, and that one person software companies can help large enterprises increase productivity.

I asked Ahmed what mobile device or smartphone does he carry. He said all of them. He carries a PWC issued Blackberry in his pocket, but he literally travels with a suitcase full of different mobile devices that he can show off and demonstrate to clients. What a nightmare for the TSA agents! Don't get in line behind him.

I want to again thank Dr. Ahmed El Adl for his time and willingness to share his insights.

This article was the third in the series called Mobile Expert Interviews. See related articles:

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Sybase, iPad and an Analysis - I am Not Usually Snarky

I am mostly nice on this blog, but come on Sybase!!! What were you thinking with this report, "...Sybase has announced the results of a survey on mobile device usage, commissioned by Sybase and conducted by Zogby International. The survey, which was compiled from an online survey of 2443 adults with a mobile phone, 770 of which own smart phones, uncovered that the #1 reason U.S. consumers would use a device such as the Apple iPad is for "working on the go."

Sybase, the next time you want to commission such an in-depth report please call me. I will conduct it for at least 10% less than Zogby International and come up with the same findings.

More, "...the study demonstrates that consumers want more access to information and work applications on their mobile devices." OK, with that level of analysis, perhaps I would need to add another 5% to my proposal.

I looked up the definition of the word snarky. Sybase's report makes me feel that way. If you want to hear the word snarky, click here.

Remember to join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin if you are interested in real expert advice.

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Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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Mobile Expert Interview Series: Nokia's John Choate

I had the pleasure of interviewing Nokia's John Choate last week. He is working in the Augmented Reality (AR) space for mobile applications at Nokia's office in San Francisco. Isn't that a cool area to focus on? John's title is PMO 2.0. (Program Management Organization), and he works with the hardware and software sides of the Nokia business to bring them together and to define new technologies and solutions.

A funny side note - Nokia's offices are so high in an office building that their phones have a difficult time getting good reception and Nokia employees only use mobile phones. As a result Nokia employees are running around the office trying to find good reception. I must add that any mobile phone at that altitude, at that location, is likely to have the same challenges. It was just a reminder that there is more work to be done and that disconnected mobile smartphone applications are still needed, even in downtown areas. Can you image a field service technician trying to enter his mobile work order on a smartphone application that is dependent on real-time connectivity in that office?

Let's get back to the interview about Augmented Reality with John. Augmented Reality is described as a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery or data. Nokia's Point and Find solution is one of those solutions. With Point and Find the user can point the camera phone at an object and snap a picture. The picture combined with GPS coordinates immediately identifies the object and displays information about it.

Point and Find is not just for buildings and landmarks. The user can snap a picture of a movie poster and information about the movie, nearby theaters and run times is presented. In addition, you can snap a photo of a 2D bar code and product information will appear. Nokia also supports video as well as digital photos with Point and Find.

AR is fascinating to me. Different movie posters can bring up different information. The posters are recognized and different data is found. For example, the same poster in London, because it is associated with a GPS coordinate, would bring up different information than the same poster in New York.

Slight graphical differences in a poster or sign could tell the Point and Find application to display different information. Your real-world reality can now be supplemented by historical facts, nearby businesses, crime statistics, favorite restaurants and anything else you can image. This is crazy powerful stuff to ponder.

I wrote an article last year called Network-Centric Field Force Automation on how the military is using similar technologies in their network-centric warfare strategies and how field services could learn from it.

John and his colleagues at Nokia have many amazing ideas on how this can add value to the hospitality, retail and travel industries to list a few. For example, a sports tourist spends five times more than a general tourist. It is a demographic that businesses would like to target. How can this be done using AR...use your imagination.

A Nordstrom shopper could simply snap a photo of a Nordstrom store and information about their favorite products, their locations and prices could pop up in AR. Perhaps the application could alert the Nordstrom attendants that a premium shopper had just arrived.

John used terms like "buying a world" in our discussions. A business could "buy a world" in the Point and Find solution and decide what to put in this AR world. Do they want to load this world with historical facts, crime statistics, tourist locations, hotels and restaurants? The owner of this "world" could add as many layers of information as they desired. They could identify the underground electrical lines, sewage systems, accident statistics, health inspection reports of nearby restaurants, tour packages or simply point to a Starbucks.

I appreciate John opening this AR "world" to us and introducing us to Nokia's Point and Find.

Related article:

Mobile Expert Interview Series - Jane and Keelin Glendon of HotButtons

If you are involved in or interested in SAP related enterprise mobility, then you are invited to join the Linkedin group SAP Enterprise Mobility.

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Kevin Benedict
Author of the report, Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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Advice for Mobile Start-Ups - Article Series

A few months ago I started an article series called "Advice for Mobile Start-Ups." These articles are spread out over a couple of months and mixed in with several other series, so I have created this index to make them easier to find.

Advice for Mobile Start-Up Series:

If you haven't already joined, I would like to personally invite you to join the Linkedin Group called SAP Enterprise Mobility. It is for everyone involved in mobility projects and mobile solutions in and around SAP.

In addition, if you have an enterprise mobile software application or service that integrates with and supports SAP, please add your solution to the SAP Enterprise Mobility solution directory here so we can share your information with the group.

I provide executive and marketing workshops for mobile start-ups in the enterprise mobility industry. If you are interested in learning more please contact me.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Mobile Expert Interview Series - Jane and Keelin Glendon of HotButtons

I had the pleasure of interviewing two mobile experts this week, Jane Glendon and her daughter Keelin Glendon. Jane founded her mobile software application company, HotButton Solutions, http://www.hotbuttonsolutions.com/index.html, in Calgary, Alberta in 2000. HotButton Solutions focuses on mobile field data collection applications for the oil and gas industry. The focus is deep, as in deep mud and snow.

Jane and Keelin have a lot of great stories to tell about selling and supporting mobile applications in the wilderness. I learned that moose gather on the roads to lick the salt, bears like to scratch their backs on oil well heads and a rugged handheld computer screen only survives 4 whacks with a hammer and nail to break. I also learned that northern Canadian oil workers have been known to express their dislike for new technologies by throwing ruggedized handheld computers into a moving compressor fan (it still worked), and that clever oil workers customize mobile applications to keep track of animals and game they see along the road in preparation for hunting season. One particular oil well inspector developed a golf course along his oil well inspection run/path. This is the kind of work for me!

HotButton sales calls often require taking an airplane to a remote northern airstrip and renting a 4x4, or driving 9 hours through the wilderness to train oil patch workers on mobile applications. Keelin, who does much of the onsite training and sales calls in the cold northern oil patches of Canada considers mud, snow, seasons and storms before booking her travel. Before driving to some locations on remote one-way roads, Keelin must radio ahead to warn oil tankers coming down the mountain.

Jobsites have buildings with names like the doghouse, compressor shack, dehydration building and field office. These buildings have been known to collect bullet holes during hunting seasons. Stray dogs are known to make oil camps and field offices home and co-habit alongside the local bears that are given pet names by the workers.

The mobile application users are oil patch workers that have a wide variety of responsibilities and support many different business processes all on one rugged handheld computer. The same worker is responsible for a variety of tasks like the following:

Checking pressure gauges and documenting the readings
PVR – production volume reports
Conditional assessments
Rust inspections
Leak inspections
Safety and environmental compliance inspections
Maintenance inspections of equipment, machines, buildings, pipelines and vehicles
Site inspections (brush, grass, trees, etc.)
Work orders

The working conditions are often cold, dark, wild, isolated and surrounded by flammable fuels. Keelin brings rubber boots along on her visits. There are more moose than people and IS - Intrinsically Safe ruggedized handhelds are required. These are devices developed to function safely around flammable environments. That means no mobile phone capabilities. I guess mobile phones can ignite fuels… I learn something new every day. For the most part the ruggedized handheld computers are docked in the job shack to synchronize the collected data with the home office.

How do they know when the weather is too cold for the handheld computers to function? When the oil patch worker freezes.

One example of the importance of having real time data visibility is a recent incident where the oil production volumes reported to the central office did not match the delivered oil volumes. The central office activated an alert and the oil patch workers were ordered to look for an oil leak. One of the field workers quickly checked his handheld and found the missing oil volume sitting on a tanker that was preparing to depart. The alert was canceled and everyone went back to work.

HotButton's mobile data collection software application is called HotLeap and includes a Universal Data Translator, Staging database, Bullseye and OrgAdmin. Jane has even received a patent for her technology. It is designed to work with Windows Mobile and Windows CE devices.

One mobile client application can support dozens of different oil field applications and business processes from one common menu on the mobile handheld. These mobile data collection applications most often sync to multiple database applications in the back office. There is deep vertical expertise and experience built into these oil patch applications that is relevant in both Canada and in the USA.

Jane's next step, as a mobile software entrepreneur, is to find a larger software company that can help them go global through a partnership or possibly by acquiring them. She says her global oil company customers love their mobile applications but prefer a vendor with a global presence and more resources than HotButtons has today.

This article is the first in a series of interviews with mobile industry experts. If you have a mobile expert or unusual character that you would recommend for an interview please contact me.

The next article in this series is called Nokia's John Choate. He works in the mobile Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality programs at Nokia. Yes, it is as interesting as it sounds...stay tuned.

Scrutinizing SAP’s Mobile Strategy from Managing Automation

On the website Managing Automation, http://www.managingautomation.com/maonline/ they have an article this week by Stephanie Neil called Scrutinizing SAP's Mobility Strategy. Here is an excerpt, "... a quick search (on the SAP EcoHub) for ‘mobile infrastructure’ brings up Sybase, Antenna Software’s Concert development platform, and SkyConnect from Sky Technologies... I question whether or not SAP needs the same broad base of partners in mobility as it does in manufacturing. Most manufacturers are just starting to implement a wireless strategy, and since it is untapped terrain for them, they may just want a turnkey solution from SAP, not a menu of choices."

This is an interesting perspective. Neil seems to suggests that many SAP users (at least in manufacturing) would prefer just one designated turnkey SAP MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) and that having a plethora of partner selections is not necessarily useful. The challenge I have with Stephanie's comments is that I believe she underestimates the number of mobile applications and their complexity. Different mobile applications and mobile business processes require different workflows and expertise that may not all be present in one mobile software vendor. It will take a number of years before mobile applications support many of the more niche business processes which is why there is a need today for many industry experts to supply mobile applications.

Neil concludes with the following, "...SAP’s next move should be to acquire a mobile infrastructure vendor upon which it can build a stable of wireless applications that fit into its — and its customers' — long-term mobile enterprise plan. The company can continue co-innovating, but it needs to lead the effort. SAP has a rare opportunity right now to shape an emerging market."

I will dodge the acquisition issue, but I agree with Neil that SAP should take the lead. I believe SAP users would ultimately benefit from a standardized methodology for connecting mobile devices to SAP and managing these connections.

Thanks Stephanie for a thought provoking article.

If you are one of the plethora of mobile application vendors supporting SAP users, please make sure you add your solution to the SAP Enterprise Mobility directory so others can learn about you.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
www.netcentric-strategies.com
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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SAP Mobility Challenge, Part 7

SAP has much to gain from mobile enterprise applications. They can expand their user base beyond the current white collar workers in the office to the mobile workforce in the field. This has the opportunity to exponentially expand the number of people directly connected to SAP's applications and benefiting from them.

SAP is also seeking ways to expand connections to consumers in a B2C (business-to-consumer) model. This could expand the numbers of mobile users even more. Examples may include consumers requesting product orders, shipment tracking and customer support via mobile devices.

The challenge SAP needs to solve now is how to make money from these additional connected users on mobile devices. I believe it is fair for SAP to be paid for providing value to more users. Is extending SAP functionality to the mobile workforce worth the price of a full SAP user license, one half of a user license, one quarter? What do you think? That is the SAP challenge.

SAP's mobility partners like Sky Technologies, Sybase, ClickSoftware, Vivido Labs and Syclo all make money from selling software licenses or monthly subscriptions (SaaS) that enable the user to integrate and benefit from connectivity with SAP. It seems reasonable that SAP should also benefit from adding value to the mobile users. I expect there will be additional support requirements if an SAP customer doubled or tripled the number of users by extending mobile connectivity.

Mobile micro applications (light-weight mobile applications) that are purchased and downloaded from locations like Apple's iTunes make money for Apple and the software developer. Where does SAP fit into this revenue stream? Do mobile micro-apps pass on less revenue to SAP than a thick mobile client that can run in either a connected or disconnected mode.

How does SAP monitor and charge for mobile devices accessing its software? Where would the transaction gateway reside? This is going to be an interesting challenge for SAP. Please comment and share your thoughts on what models would work best and are justified.

Don't forget to join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin, and please make sure your enterprise mobility solution is listed in the SAP Enterprise Mobility solution directory.

For related articles:

SAP Mobility Challenges, Part 1
SAP Mobility Challenges, Part 2
SAP Mobility Challenges, Part 3
SAP Mobility Challenges, Part 4
SAP Mobility Challenges, Part 5
SAP Mobility Challenges, Part 6

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Author Kevin Benedict
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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