Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Open Text's Micah Kalen

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

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

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

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

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

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - September 23, 2010

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market numbers and trends.

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

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

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

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

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

Kevin's M2M News Weekly - September 22, 2010

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices that I read each week. I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article. I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

Archived editions of Kevin's M2M News Weekly are available at here.

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others.

Also available are Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly and Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly.

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I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here.

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Yesterday marked the official launch of the brand new "Global Smart Grid Federation," an international organization that seeks to promote best practices for smart grid and assist with the deployment of smart grid around the world.

http://www.telecomengine.com/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_6578

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ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business. This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

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Indianapolis based VoCare Inc. has raised $2.2 million from angel investors to launch a mobile device that connects doctors with patients and expects to reach $3.5 million in fundraising by the end of the year.

http://www.ibj.com/vocare-raises-22-million-for-telehealth-device/PARAMS/article/22235

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MathWorks rolled out a series of new capabilities and products to address the more complex simulation needs of engineers building embedded systems that incorporate wireless, sensor processing and streaming media capabilities.

http://www.designnews.com/article/510524-MathWorks_Advances_Signal_Processing_System_Design.php

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Garmin Ltd. will decide over the next couple of quarters the future of its struggling smartphone unit, and is ready to exit the business if it does not achieve success, a company executive said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6881WD20100909

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Healthmed Services, Ltd., an innovative software development company, announced the launch of a new software technology that has the capability of modernizing remote patient access through the use of handheld devices.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/630-billion-healthcare-expansion-propels-virtual-vantage-software-to-transform-healthcare-industry-2010-09-17?reflink=MW_news_stmp

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In a recent study of handset motion sensors by ARCchart, the research firm expects the market for accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers (compasses) and pressure sensors to exceed $1 billion by 2014.

http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2010/06/17/handset-motion-sensor-market-top-1-billion-2014.htm

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The Motorola Solutions business of Motorola, Inc. today announced its newest mobile computing solution for healthcare – the MC75A0-HC Enterprise Digital Assistant. The new MC75A0-HC provides healthcare organizations with a rugged and disinfectant ready mobility solution.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/motorola-advances-healthcare-mobility-with-new-enterprise-digital-assistant-102944209.html

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AT&T Mobility furthered its no contract offerings by unveiling a pay as you go mobile broadband plan and a trio of new laptop computers with embedded wireless modems.

http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20100920/CARRIERS/100929997/att-mobility-unveils-no-contract-mobile-broadband-plans-new-laptops

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In the near future diabetes patients will be able to better manage their health through mobile phones and get better access to diagnosis and treatment of various ailments, experts said.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/health/health-care-to-get-boost-from-cellphone-technology-1.682135

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North Carolina Zoo researchers are using remote sensing and satellite tracking tools to bring endangered animals back from the brink.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/09/19/1704779/nc-zoo-works-without-borders.html

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The $90 million investment by Gary and Mary West in the West Wireless Healthcare Institute may seem enticing to someone with a startup mobile or wireless healthcare company, but don't get the wrong idea.

http://www.fiercemobilehealthcare.com/story/west-wireless-cmo-were-not-giving-money-away/2010-09-14

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A new iPad app will listen to the ABC television series "My Generation" with you, and serve up content to augment the experience.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/09/16/my.generation.ipad.app/index.html?iphoneemail

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The new California Telehealth Network, a statewide, medical grade broadband system for improving health care access and emergency services, will receive a $9 million federal grant and additional $5 million in matching funds from some prominent California organizations.

http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=74648

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Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones, declared “Nokia is back” at its Nokia World conference in London, and unveiled a new version of its Ovi Maps software.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/nokia/8002277/Nokia-World-Location-based-services-key-to-the-future-says-Nokia.html

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Medtronic has announced plans to launch a new patient management solution designed to make it easier for clinicians to monitor heart failure patients. The medical technology firm's CareLink Network for Heart Failure will be introduced in autumn 2010.

http://www.zenopa.com/news/800067537/Medtronic_launches_remote_monitoring_system_for_heart_failure

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Last month, Facebook announced its "Places" product, essentially a location based feature that allows users to share their locations among their network of friends.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=135830

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Archinoetics, which develops products primarily for the military, is releasing to the commercial market a software program called Physio-Lab, which collects and analyzes physiological data. The software, which costs between $2,200 and $4,500, can be used in research and pharmaceutical trials.

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2010/09/13/story6.html?b=1284350400%5E3928651

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Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed "MedWatcher," a new iPhone application that provides drug safety surveillance in real-time.

http://healthcareitnews.com/news/medwatcher-app-aims-boosting-adverse-events-reporting

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Pulse Energy, a premier provider of energy management solutions, has teamed up with Sierra Wireless to deliver cutting edge cellular deployments that enable customers to more efficiently monitor and manage energy usage.

http://m2m.tmcnet.com/topics/m2mevolution/articles/102029-pulse-energy-collaborates-with-sierra-wireless.htm

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PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute recently carried out a nationwide survey of 2,000 consumers and 1,000 physicians. The idea of remote healthcare was liked by 56 percent of the consumers.

http://healthcare.tmcnet.com/topics/healthcare/articles/100888-30-percent-americans-would-use-mobile-device-monitor.htm

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

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

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Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly – September 21, 2010

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retail applications, mobile payments and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Archived editions of Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly are available at here.

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others.

Also available are Kevin’s M2M News Weekly and Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly.

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I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here.

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Restaurants, retailers and other small businesses with storefronts are embracing location based social networks – think Foursquare or Facebook Inc.'s Places – to woo customers and keep them coming back.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483832278936028.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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Smartsoft Mobile empowers some of the world’s largest multi-national organizations to extend and improve business processes by providing mobile solutions to their employees and customers. Smartsoft has more than 700 experienced ERP/mobile consultants with over 5,000 man years of experience helping 400,000 plus mobile users achieve their business goals with powerful mobile B2B and B2C applications, designed and developed specifically for today’s popular consumer and industrial grade mobile devices. For more information please visit, http://www.smartsoftmobile.com/. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Smartsoft Mobile Solutions.

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Macy’s has taken steps to improve customers’ shopping experience in store and on the go via enhanced mobile offerings. The company and its upscale sister store Bloomingdale’s have optimized their e-commerce sites, so when consumers enter it via their mobile device, they can view larger and clearer images.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/macy’s-aims-for-customer-satisfaction-via-new-mobile-technology-adoption/

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Shopkick has made quite a name for itself in recent months. The location based iPhone app recognizes when users are near a retail store, and then offers rewards for coming closer to it and bigger rewards for stepping inside.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/09/09/mobile-app-rewards-shoppers-entering-store

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The business model seems simple enough: Convince merchants to offer steep discounts in exchange for a guaranteed stampede of customers. That is the premise of the wildly successful social couponing Web site Groupon, which in less than two years has 18 million subscribers and spawned a host of imitators; but some businesses that advertise through the site are learning that there can be too much of a good thing.

http://mobile.washingtonpost.com/rss.jsp?rssid=601&item=+http%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fwp-syndication%2farticle%2f2010%2f09%2f17%2fAR2010091707048_mobile.xml+&cid=573&spf=1

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According to a new report from ABI Research, location based marketing will increase from only about $43 million this year to $1.8 billion by 2015 as part of overall mobile marketing budgets.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=135110

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For all the hype and attention location based services are getting these days, only 1 in 25 Americans have ever tried one, and only 1 out of 100 use them weekly, according to a recent survey by Forrester Research.

http://venturebeat.com/2010/08/30/location-based-services-survey/

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Consumers are flocking to smartphones and the apps that run on them as fervently as mobile technology investors had hoped; but so far, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android users have shown a preference for applications that extend well known Web properties, rather than apps that have appeared for mobile devices only.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/09/15/which-mobile-apps-are-poised-for-success/

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The decision by the largest regional mall owner in the country to embrace a smartphone application marked a new stage in the rapidly unfolding evolution of mall marketing.

http://retailtrafficmag.com/management/marketing/owners_keep_pace_marketing_09072010/

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By now consumers have become very accustomed to using their Smartphone as a personal global positioning system. It was not long ago that companies like TomTom and Garmin thrived selling GPS devices as a stand-alone tool. It is funny how fast technology caught up with these companies. Along came the huge growth in consumer grade Smartphones, such as the iPhone, Blackberry, Droid, and Windows devices. Consumers now had a GPS in their pocket that can give directions for driving, walking or even using public transit systems.

http://smartsoftmobile.com/wordpress/2010/09/21/mobile-geo-location-tools-for-applications-and-their-usage-in-retailing/

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From sticking to a budget to finding the best price on literally billions of items, these 20 mobile shopping apps for Android, iPhone, and Blackberry will save you both time and money. Whether you prefer to shop online or at a brick-and-mortar retail store, these apps maximize quality while minimizing cost.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2010/09/20/20-best-mobile-apps-for-saving-money

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Bharti Airtel has become the first telecom player to be issued a semi closed wallet licence by the Reserve Bank of India.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/business/rbi-allows-airtel-offer-limited-mobile-banking-147

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Technological advances have made it easier for consumers to stay on top of their finances by enabling them to easily check how much money is in their bank accounts and manage their funds.

http://www.uknetguide.co.uk/Finance/Article/Keep_eye_on_current_account_with_mobile_phone_banking-105321.html

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Mobile technologies can evolve customer experiences with in store navigation, product searches, digital shopping lists, in store coupons, reviews and more.

http://mobile-barcode.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-barcode-innovations/articles/102091-delivering-rewarding-retail-experiences.htm

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Zappli Inc. announced the launch of myShopanion, a mobile social shopping solution, available as a free download at the iPhone App Store. myShopanion is a mobile shopping advisor that lets consumers access extensive information on millions of products, share shopping insights with friends, and buy at the best price.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-mobile-solution-turns-all-shopping-social-102831909.html

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PlacePop, a company that allows any company to create and maintain virtual loyalty cards, launched its iPhone app today. It also announced fresh funding of $1.4 million from a number of angel investors.

http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/30/placepop-launches-mobile-loyalty-programs/

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CardStar’s loyalty card smartphone app — also available on iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices — has made that a scene from the past, though certainly not a simpler time. Consumers can manage their collection of retailer and brand discount cards through the app, which boasts 19 retail categories and 700 merchants.

http://www.adotas.com/2010/08/cardstar-brings-loyalty-programs-to-ipad/

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Best Buy Co., Inc., a leading retailer of consumer electronics, has announced it plans to bring a location based retail experiment, using the "shopkick" mobile application rewards system, to 257 U.S. stores by October 1. Best Buy will examine the ways in store shoppers value and redeem offers and rewards through their smartphones.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/best-buy-to-launch-location-based-retail-experiment-in-257-us-stores-2010-08-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp

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Another company has launched a location based mobile phone application that aims to encourage consumers to make repeat visits to bricks-and-mortar merchants.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/09/16/placepop-launches-geolocation-app-consumers

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Recent articles from Kevin Benedict’s blog Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others

Mobile Retailing - Macy's and Bloomingdale's Mobile Applications Strategies

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

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

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Mobile Retailing - Macy's and Bloomingdale's Mobile Applications Strategies

Macy's and sister store Bloomingdale's recently announced that they have both recently revised and improved their e-commerce websites to better support their mobile retailing strategy. When customers use an internet-capable mobile device to visit macys.com and bloomingdales.com, they now see larger and clearer images and click-through buttons so using the sites are faster and easier. Technology detects the type of mobile device a shopper is using and customizes the presentation of macys.com and bloomingdales.com to that customer. They have added the following features to their e-commerce websites:

When consumers access their websites through a mobile device, they can view larger and clearer images and click-through buttons.
The site is faster and easier for mobile devices.
New technology detects the type of mobile device and customizes the website accordingly.

Many of their customers come to the website after receiving email messages from Macy's or Bloomingdale's that they read on their mobile devices. When they click the links they routed to the e-commerce website that is now optimized for their mobile device.

On the mobile retailing application side they have done the following:

Macy's upgraded and relaunched their iPhone application - iShop.
They are testing various marketing scenarios and strategies with shopkick and Foursquare.

Macy's new version of the iShop application for iPhones provides the following features.

Loads faster
Navigates easier
Integrates in real-time with macys.com to provide an improved mobile shopping experience
Browse through merchandise
Place and track orders
Read product reviews
Explore gift guides
Find store locations
Access information on special events and campaigns

Macy's is also testing location based services. Here is an excerpt from their recent press release:

Macy's has begun piloting the use of shopkick -- a new location-based shopping app -- at about 150 stores in the New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago markets. By downloading shopkick free from the iPhone App Store, Macy's customers can earn "kickbucks" reward points by simply walking into a Macy's store with their mobile device. They also will receive offers on products or related to specific departments within Macy's. Kickbucks can be redeemed, at the touch of a button on the iPhone, for Facebook Credits to play games online, song downloads, in-store gift rewards at Macy's and other shopkick partner stores, magazine subscriptions, iPods and charitable donations.

I recently interviewed Dan Homrich, CEO of Smartsoft Mobile Solutions about mobile retailing applications. Many of Smartsoft's largest mobility customers are global retailers. Mobile retailing is a fast growing and emerging mobility market segment that compliments SAP's mobile strategy to touch over 1 billion users by 2014. You accomplish that kind of ambitious goal by placing valuable mobile applications into the hands of consumers, not just enterprise users.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

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

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 6

This is Part 6 in this series on My Advice to Mobile Application Vendors.

Today SIs (Systems Integrators) are wondering about their role in the SAP enterprise mobility ecosystem. They have traditionally played a significant role in SAP implementations, but what about mobility? I had the opportunity to exchange emails recently with Florian Ganz, a systems integrator, with Energy4U a Siemen business in Germany. You many find his experiences and thoughts insightful on this subject.

Florian entered the world of SAP mobility while working at SAP AG. It was 2005, in the middle of SAP's mobility puberty. He was given the challenging task of trying to fix SAP's early mobility projects and their escalating issues. The experience was invaluable, as he quickly became exposed to just about every challenge large enterprises could have with mobile applications. He traveled to almost every continent and spent time with over 35 SAP customers.

In 2008, in the midst of SAP's dark ages in mobility, Florian was introduced to SAP Co-Innovation and mobility partner Syclo. Syclo had a MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) and pre-developed mobile solutions that were certified on SAP. Many of the challenges that Florian had worked on at SAP were already resolved in the flexible and scalable solutions from Syclo. About this time Florian left SAP AG to help start a new business unit focused on mobility at Energy4U. His experience with SAP, and his new found knowledge of Syclo, enabled them to quickly close new mobility business with companies like RheinEnergie.

Energy4U has now implemented over six large enterprise mobility projects using Syclo's mobility solutions. In addition, they have also implemented many other custom mobile applications. Florian says,"There are many vendors and implementers in the SAP mobile eco-system, but only a few understand both topics (SAP and mobility). The majority lack the SAP, mobility and integration skills that are required." He believes that the key to their success as systems integrators in the mobility space is the fact that most of his team has many years of experience in both enterprise mobility and SAP (I thought it was because his team reads my blog articles!!!).

He is currently very interested in learning the details about the SAP/Sybase roadmap. He has seen many SAP strategies in his time that did not work, so he is more than ready for a plan that will.

I hope to interview Florian in the near future and get some more details regarding his projects.

So Florian's advice, as gleaned from his email: Have in-depth SAP knowledge, years of enterprise mobility experience and deep SAP integration skills. Also, there was value in having experienced all the pain that SAP mobility projects suffered in the early years.

Read the rest of the articles in this series:

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

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

27 Questions to Ask a Company Preparing an Enterprise Mobility Strategy

There are enterprise mobile application vendors like Clicksoftware that focus on supporting the needs of SAP customers that have mobile workers in rugged outdoor environments, and there are companies like Smartsoft Mobile Solutions that focus on supporting the needs of large and global retailers that use SAP and want customer facing mobile solutions to sell more products. These environments can be very different from each other. How do you know where to start when developing an enterprise mobility strategy?

If you are an enterprise mobile applications vendor, a member of an IT organization or a systems integrator that is working with a client to help them develop an enterprise mobility strategy, then it would be useful to have a few questions to get the discussions started. The following list of 27 questions is a good start, but I believe it is still an incomplete list. I am sure I have missed important questions, so please click on the "comments" icon below and add to the list.

What business processes are you considering mobilizing?
What ERPs or business applications are involved?
What are your preferred integration strategies?
What business units or departments are involved? Is this a corporate project or departmental?
What are your priorities for mobilizing business processes? Which ones first, second, third?
How many people will be using these mobile applications?
What are the roles and responsibilities of the mobile users?
What are their working environments? Hot, cold, wet, dusty, underground, on a power pole?
Will they always have internet connectivity or do they need offline support as well?
What are the expected ROIs?
What is the desired timeline?
Do you have business process diagrams developed for these solutions? If so, can we review prior to our meeting?
What is your one to three year roadmap for enterprise mobility?
Do you have existing mobile enterprise solutions? If so, please describe.
What are your mobile device or smartphone preferences?
Do you need an SDK (software development kit) to customize and/or edit your own mobile applications?
Do you want to develop your own mobile application in-house, buy off-the-shelf or contract with a third party for a custom mobile application?
If you want to develop in-house, are your stakeholders patient enough to wait for the final product? What are the costs to the business of not delivering on time?
If you develop in-house, who will support new versions of the mobile operating systems and new mobile devices?
Which business unit will budget to pay for upgrades to mobile operating systems and mobile devices? They change every few months? Do you really have developers that will be available for all of these updates and upgrades?
How will you support it? What is the plan for supporting mobile applications and mobile devices?
What countries will be using it?
What data plans does the company want to use in each country?
How will you manage the data plans?
What is the policy for replacing missing or damaged mobile devices?
Which business unit will pay for lost devices and data plans?
What is the process for approving mobile access to ERPs and business processes?

There are many more questions that will be asked and answered once there is a formal strategy and project, but this high level list is intended to get an IT organization thinking about some of the bigger issues and priorities before drilling down into specific mobile application project requirements.

Let me know if you would like me to help your organization think through these issues. I have a bit of experience in this area.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

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