Mobile Expert Interview Series: ClickSoftware's Israel Beniaminy, Part 1

ClickSoftware's Israel Beniaminy

I was able to catch up with ClickSoftware's VP of Product Strategy, Israel Beniaminy, today in unseasonably warm Petach Tikva, Israel this morning for an interview.

Note:  Israel responded in writing to my questions and then we followed up with a phone interview.

Kevin: What are your current roles and responsibilities? How long have you been in these roles?
Israel: I am Senior VP of Product Strategy at ClickSoftware. Informally, I describe this role as managing the process in which innovation ideas are created, gathered, researched, refined, selected and converted into concrete business plans. I have served in this and prior roles bridging between business and technology at ClickSoftware for the past eight years. Before that I served in more technical roles, and under pressure I will admit to still being a technologist at heart.


Kevin:  Where are you located?  How long have you been in that area?
Israel:  During most of my professional career I have been based in Israel, including my current location at ClickSoftware's Israeli office, in Petach Tikva (near Tel Aviv).


Kevin: What mobile device(s) do you carry?
Israel: This tends to change quite often.  Current snapshot:  Main workhorse is Lenovo X200 laptop – e-mail, research, development, writing, etc.  Blackberry Bold for voice and short e-mails; iPod Touch for music and reading e-books (the small size still makes for surprisingly convenient reading, and you can't beat its size and weight for portability).  iPad for Internet browsing, some more e-mail (is that a recurring theme?), reading e-books and some games.


Kevin: What are some of your favorite mobile applications that you have on your mobile device?
Israel: As a voracious reader, I love the e-book readers, switching between Kindle App, Stanza and iBooks according to the e-book type and source.  Apart from these, I have LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter apps on all my mobile devices.  My favorite navigation app is Waze – it works well, has good traffic reports, and it is so impressive that they got all that via crowd sourcing.  Games come and go – one game I liked recently is Tower Madness.


Kevin: Do you ever use your mobile device to buy things?
Israel: Yes. Mostly e-books and applications.


Kevin: How many computing devices do you have in your home?
Israel: Depends on how you count.  My wife, son and daughter each have a desktop.  We also have a netbook but have been using it less since a lot of the things it can do are better on an iPad or iPod, or on my son's Motorola Milestone (Android mobile device).  We also have several iPod Touch devices, gaming machines – Wii, PSP, and soon to add a living-room media computer.


Kevin: How long have you been involved in enterprise mobility?
Israel: For at least a decade now.


Kevin: How did you get involved in enterprise mobility?
Israel: Working on field service solutions, it was very natural to think of how to communicate with the field service engineers.  I remember one customer of ours, a service organization, whose service engineers worked out of remote locations and didn’t start each day at the office.  I think it was around 1995, when mobile data was very expensive and not too reliable, so the solution they came up with was to send each technician a fax with the next day's scheduled tasks.  The technicians would report the task execution by filling in paper forms and faxing them back to the main office.  Combine this with the complete inability to know where your workers are during the day, and you must find yourself thinking: "there must be a better way!"  So we started out by integrating our scheduling and routing solutions with mobile solutions developed by partners, even when only a minority of field workforces were mobilized. Later, we saw that connecting to the field service management and scheduling system was a prime driver for mobilizing, and that mobility had to be tightly interwoven into the service task life cycle, so we developed our own mobility solutions.


Read Part 2 of this interview.
Read Part 3 of this interview.
Read Part 4 of this interview.

Whitepapers of Note:

• ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
• The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
• Networked Field Services
• Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business

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

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin
Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly

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

Mobile Money News Weekly - Week of February 28, 2011

Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

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The Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio are using GoPayment, a mobile payment app, to process credit card transactions for this year's cookie season.

http://www.marketingvox.com/girl-scouts-turn-to-mobile-payments-for-cookie-season-apple-wins-patent-for-e-wallet-048781/

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Mobile banking growth in the United States continues to be fueled by aggressive adoption of smartphones and regular mobile Web use, according to Forrester Research.

http://www.mobile-financial.com/node/13674/Steady-mobile-banking-growth-to-drive-demand-for-better-functionality:-Forrester

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Bank of America, the leading U.S. retail bank, has reportedly started inviting select customers to trial its new NFC-based Mobile Wallet using BlackBerry smartphones.

http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/article/rim-teams-with-us-bank-on-nfc-payments

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An app surge and smartphone growth has set the stage for a mobile banking uptick. Mobile banking today is where online banking was 10 years ago.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: IDC's Nick McQuire, Part 2

IDC's Nick McQuire

This is Part 2 in this Mobile Expert Interview Series with IDC's Nick McQuire.  Read Part 1 here.

Kevin: What do companies often forget or fail to plan for when implementing enterprise mobility solutions?
Nick: There are a few areas but one area in particular is failing to plan for the future.  Often, the mobile solution does not fit the long term business or IT goals and the focus of the solution is often too narrow.  This is because in the past mobility has been tactically geared around a specific task, problem or process and essentially deployed in a silo within the company.  Over time we are now seeing other, perhaps more strategic areas, open up around mobile, but what is in place is not scalable.  This can become an unmanageable and costly pain point for many companies.  The good news here is that in Europe at least, service providers, telco and IT, are starting to help businesses handle this complexity from devices and contracts through to more complex mobilization projects in terms of managed services which require lower upfront investments.

Kevin: What are the biggest challenges in enterprise mobility today?
Nick: There are, of course, a few but we see that many European organizations are struggling with best practice in terms of mobile policy in the new world brought on by consumerization.  CIOs are aware that devices are entering their organization at a rapid rate.  They are increasingly considering "bring your own" liability schemes but are asking each other for help and guidance in terms of management and developing policies and governance frameworks for these.  They are asking questions like, "What do I need to be thinking about?  What are the risks?"  We will see vendors and service providers step up their guidance to CIOs on consumerization this year I believe, born out of their own internal practitioning at the moment on these issues.

Kevin: What were some of most surprising trends for you last year, 2010?
Nick: The biggest one of course was the success of the iPad in the enterprise.  We have all heard about this I know, but I think many didn’t predict how fast this would occur.  For example, we at IDC in Europe did a large CIO survey last year on mobility which was fielded in July with the results coming back in August.  Interest in tablets was quite small from CIOs in July-August because it was "pre-iPad era".  It's like BC-AD switch over in many respects.  The pace of change is so phenomenal now.  I think the iPhone kick-started a slight change in conventional IT philosophy around standardization and control in 2009-10, but the iPad's arrival virtually cemented this change almost overnight in 2010, and few I believe could have predicted that pace of change.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: IDC's Nick McQuire, Part 1

IDC's Nick McQuire

Nick and I will both be attending the upcoming conference in Brussels entitled, The Enterprise Mobility Exchange.  I saw him on the agenda and arranged an interview with him.

Note: These are not Nick McQuire's exact words, but rather my notes from the interview.  However, Nick did review this article and provided edits in advance of publication.

Kevin: Tell us about your roles and responsibilities and what areas you cover?
Nick: I have been at IDC for just over a year, and I was at BT Global Services in the strategy arm working across the mobility and UCC portfolios before that.  Before BT, I headed up Enterprise Mobility research in Europe for Yankee Group so have been directly and indirectly in the enterprise mobility segment in Europe for close to ten years now.

Kevin: What are your focus areas today?
Nick: Enterprise mobility and M2M (machine-to-machine communications) in EMEA.  I focus my research on the mobile and M2M value chains in terms of vendors and service providers.  In terms of end users, at IDC we do a fair bit with CIOs, especially in terms of our events platform, but also we run numerous CIO dinners across Europe throughout the year working with them on their challenges in terms of mobility.

Kevin: What do you think is the value of attending an event like the Enterprise Mobility Exchange in Brussels on May 9 - 11?
Nick: I was particularly interested in attending this event based on its success in previous years, especially in terms of field services.  I am especially keen to hear how recent enterprise-wise mobile trends are impacting the field services community, especially in terms of consumerization of the enterprise.  Are enterprises still looking in silos in terms of their approach to mobility?  I am interested in hearing best practices around mobile strategies and deployment in general and given the breadth of attendees and the scope of industry topics covered, I am sure there will be lots to learn in Brussels!

Kevin: What do companies need to think about before starting an enterprise mobility project?
Nick:  Of course many companies will have different approaches but we tend to advise CIOs that the starting point should be to conduct a general audit and rationalization of the estate to determine what enterprises have and what the priorities should be.  This should range across mobile infrastructure, devices and contracts and liability schemes to determine the costs, inventory, policy and any projects that are in place already flying under the radar.  This process in itself is often a revelation for many companies and going through this rationalization exercise up front is a critical step because it often lays bare a few key, previously hidden, priorities early on.

The next step, once organizations have determined what they have, should be to engage the business units to understand their requirements and what mobility means to them to do their job effectively. Having cross functional user buy in early on helps with sponsorship internally but also with prioritization as well.  We also argue that IT should functionally profile their users during this process to best determine user requirements and solutions for specific user groups, work styles and work spaces within the organization.  Not all workers are mobile workers and equally some worker roles have higher risk profiles than others. Gone are the days when blanket policies and standardized technology apply to all workers in organizations, so functional profiling is an important exercise.

Next, after the fact finding, it is then critical to put in place a mobile strategy that aligns with wider business goals of the organization and takes this input from the business teams.  What are the priorities for the company over the next two to three years, and what is needed to achieve them?  Is it to cut costs or to drive growth and greater customer interaction?  Is it to foster better collaboration and innovation or more effective business continuity?  Is it about talent recruitment and retention?  A mobility strategy should directly align to and enable these strategic priorities.

Finally, we argue that success for wide mobility implementations within enterprises needs central governance especially in its infancy.  Perhaps it’s a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Mobility within the company or a VP of Mobility internally.  But some form of central governance, which considers cross functional interests across the mobile workforce for sure, but also senior management and functions from HR, Legal and Operations.  This 360 degree view will ensure considerations across the business are met from employees, partners, legal, including unions, etc., and of course customers.  It will also ensure governance across the business in terms of avoiding duplication and unnecessary costs as well as to ensure priorities and standards are in place.

Read Part 2 of this interview.

Click Image to Learn More - Smartsoft Mobile Solutions

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin
Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly


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

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's Mike Oliver, Part 2

Mike Oliver

This is Part 2 in this Mobile Expert Interview Series with Sybase's Mike Oliver.  Read Part 1.

Kevin: What are some of the most surprising trends you saw in mobility in 2010?
Mike: It has to be the iPad. Tablets have been around forever! All of a sudden Apple makes one with the great interface and everyone wants it? I have one but am personally frustrated with some of the limitations of the current iPad, but you can’t deny that it has been a big success and I’ll definitely buy the next version. I also love the new Samsung Galaxy, it fits into my jacket pocket. Overall though, I would rather use my NetBook. It has a keyboard, long battery life, prints and boots up fast without the tablet limitations.

Kevin: What are some of the biggest challenges you see in mobility today?
Mike: Simple connectivity is still a big challenge in the UK. We couldn’t get connectivity in our own office today. Every day when I drive home from the office I lose connectivity in three different locations. This is the middle of the UK! There are so many places where signals are just not good enough to support a mobile worker using an always connected mobile application. We have developed all kinds of features into Afaria just to help mobile workers in areas where there is intermittent connectivity.

Kevin: How are enterprise mobility implementations different from other typical IT projects?
Mike: IT folks have a difficult time truly understanding mobility. Many don’t even understand the differences between the mobile operating systems and mobile devices. It is a whole new world for them.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's Mike Oliver, Part 1

Mike Oliver

I first learned about Mike Oliver, European Mobility Marketing Manager for Sybase, because we are both on the agenda for the upcoming conference in Brussels entitled The Enterprise Mobility Exchange.  Mike was kind enough to schedule some time to share with us.

Note: These are not Mike Oliver's exact words, rather my notes from our interview.  However, Mike did review these notes for accuracy prior to publishing.

Kevin: Why are you going to the Enterprise Mobility Exchange in May? What is the value?

Mike: I spoke at this event last year and found that the quality of the delegates is unmatched. People must pay to attend. The focus has been on utilities and field services and this is a great market for Sybase and our partners. We have found great opportunities from this event every time we have attended. We always get more meetings than we have on our schedule.

Kevin: What are your current roles and responsibilities?

Mike: I am the European Mobility Marketing Manager for Sybase. Before SAP acquired us, I was responsible for marketing our mobility solutions across all of Europe. Now I cover a subset of our products including Afaria and SQL Anywhere.

Mobile Retailing News Weekly - Week of February 28, 2011

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

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

Forrester forecasts that marketing spending on mobile display ads and search will surpass $1 billion in 2011.  That means marketers are set to find quantifiable ROI (return on investment) on mobile for generating real leads, driving foot traffic, and selling products and services.

http://memeburn.com/2011/02/mobile-marketing-and-m-commerce-is-where-the-money-is-moving/

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More and more brands are directing resources to mobile advertising, according to a new survey from DM2 Media and Jumptap.  According to the study, nearly 85 percent of marketers are doing some form of mobile marketing or advertising.

http://www.mediapost.com/blogs/raw/?p=5770

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More and more companies are using mobile marketing to reach consumers, but the latest research suggests they may need to change their tactics.  According to a study by Frost and Sullivan, tablets are a threat to both smartphones and netbooks.

http://www.dma.org.uk/news/nws-dmitem.asp?id=6438&t=Mobile+marketing%3A+Tablets+are+threat+to+smartphones

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VeriFone Systems, Inc. the leading payment solutions provider in the U.S., has urged aspiring mobile payment service companies to engage with retailers in determining market requirements to enable mobile phone-initiated payments and services at the retail point of sale.

The Enterprise Mobility Trends of 2011 - Webinar

Looking into the Future

I would invite you to consider attending the following webinar on enterprise mobility Thursday, March 10, 2011.  It is a panel discussion on how apps and tablets are transforming businesses.

Here is the description of the webinar from Sybase:

Join us for a lively discussion on the latest trends in enterprise mobility with the expert authors of the just-released Enterprise Mobility Guide 2011 published by Sybase.

We'll cover the latest trends in mobile device management and app development - platforms such as iOS, RIM and Android and hardware such as smartphones and tablets - all from the business perspective that matters to you.

Guest experts include:

• Kevin Benedict, a leading independent mobility analyst and consultant in the SAP ecosystem
• Phillipe Winthrop, former Strategy Analytics analyst and creator of the Enterprise Mobility Forum
• Lynette Luna, Editor of FierceMobileIT and Contributing Executive Editor to FierceWireless
• Host: Eric Lai, UberMobile blogger at ZDNet and editor-in-chief of the Enterprise Mobility Guide 2011

BONUS! All webcast attendees will be among the first to get a free copy of the new Enterprise Mobility Guide 2011 mailed to them. Contributors to this 130 page book include: industry experts from Accenture, Google, Motorola, Orange, RIM, Samsung, Verizon, and others; analysts from the Yankee Group and Enterprise Mobility Forum; and leading executives from Sybase and SAP.

Date: Thursday, March 10, 2011
Time: 2-3 PM ET/11-12 noon PT

 Register Here! 

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

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

Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of February 28, 2011

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

Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

A hand-held scanner that can detect cancer at a patient’s bedside using just a speck of tissue has been created by scientists from Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-23/harvard-scientists-create-hand-held-device-to-detect-cancer-at-bedside.html

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The highly competitive handset-based mobile resource management market is expected to grow to $2.33 billion by 2016 inside North America.

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9a45fc/north_american_mobile_resource_management_mrm

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Thermo Fisher Scientific has launched a new version of its handheld TruScan analyser that not only increases the speed with which the device can identify chemicals, but also broadens the range of compounds it can handle.

Building Compliance Features into Your Enterprise Mobility Solution, Part 2

Monitoring activities

This is Part 2 in this series on building compliance features into enterprise mobility solutions.  You can read Part 1 here.  This article looks at ways to configure best practices and other compliance requirements into mobile applications.

Sales and Marketing

It has been demonstrated many times that the trusted service technician that is standing in a customer's kitchen is a far better sales person than an unknown telephone sales person calling at dinner time. So how can you build processes into mobile applications that help your field services engineers be as effective as possible selling products and services?  Wouldn't it be nice if there was an automatic prompt that told the field services engineer what to discuss with each customer?

I have personally purchased extended maintenance warranties from my own HVAC service man several times over the past few years. They show me how I can save money and get better maintenance by being on the plan. I trust the experience of my service technician.

Mobile Enterprise Applications

When companies first begin considering an enterprise strategy for mobility, they often do not consider the role and value “compliance” layers can play. Even mobility vendors have not yet realized the true value. For the most part, enterprises are still thinking of mobile applications as a way to provide quick and mobile visibility to reports, notifications, approval processes, email messages and to replace paper forms. These are all good features, but there is much more that can be accomplished with mobile enterprise applications than has often been considered.

Building Compliance Features into Your Enterprise Mobility Solution, Part 1

One of the many challenges that companies have is managing a mobile workforce that is often working on remote and distant jobsites.  Many important parts of the business can be impacted by how the mobile workforce does their job while in these environments.  This article will discuss how mobile enterprise applications, with integrated compliance monitoring and prompting, can help companies manage remote and mobile work forces.

Customer Service in Remote Locations

The experience the customer has with your company is directly determined by how they are treated by the company representative they meet.  Often the onsite worker is the only face to face interaction the customer ever has with a person from your company.  The way the customer is treated and the services that are preformed can make all the difference between a good and bad experience and referral business.  How do you ensure that best practices are being followed in remote worksites?

Jobsite Safety

Jobsites can often be dangerous.  There may be safety issues and safety regulations that must be followed.  There are often specific processes that must be followed to reduce risks and to provide the safest working conditions possible for the workers and other people around the jobsite.

Legal Liabilities

There are many risks that must be considered.  If a jobsite is not properly prepared for safety and an accident happens, the company responsible for the work may be liable.  How do you ensure your workforce follows the appropriate processses, does mandated tasks and documents these steps to reduce risks?  Can a mobile device be used?

Best Practices

It is often the case that companies train their employees to do what is considered best practices within their company and industry.  These best practices can be at the core of a company’s competitive advantage.  How does a manager ensure that best practices are being followed on remote jobsites where there is no onsite supervision?  Best practices might be the difference between running an profitable operation and an unprofitable operation.

Read Part 2 of this article.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Rapid SAP Mobilization for the Enterprise Webinar

Preparing for the effort

SAP Services partner, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions has invited me to share my research on how best to prepare for implementing enterprise mobility in an upcoming webinar on March 8, 2011 at 11:00 AM ET.  Following my presentation, the Smartsoft Mobile team will present an overview of their experiences and knowledge gained through work on major SAP mobilization projects.

Topics to be covered include:

1. Trends in SAP Mobilization

2. Best Practice:  Mobile Engagement Methodology

3. Rapid Mobile Solution Deployment

4. Five Ways to Optimize your ROI

You are invited to join this webinar by registering here.

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

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

M2M and SAP Enterprise Mobility

I have a bandwagon.  When I get on it, I shout that enterprise mobility and M2M communications will quickly merge.  I published an article earlier today about Zia Yusuf, former SAP EVP, and his new company Streetline that perfectly demonstrates the combination of mobile and M2M technologies.  Streetline’s parking sensors report the availability of a parking spot to an iPhone app.

Machines talking to machines and then sharing that information with mobile applications are the wave of the future.  Today, Redbox (kiosk DVD movie distributors) has their computerized and M2M enabled red metal kiosks communicate with your smartphone.  You can open a smartphone Redbox application and query the availability in inventory of a particular movie within a specific distance from your location.  The GPS on your smartphone tells Redbox your location and it queries each of its metal distribution kiosks for inventory levels and reports back to your smartphone app.

Let’s now take a look at some of the session titles at an upcoming M2M conference as they hint at the relevance and importance of M2M:

• M2M for Public Services and Smart Cities
• Automotive M2M, Asset Tracking, and Telemetry
• Embedded Networking Systems in the Smart Home and Office

M2M communications impacts, public services, cities, assets, vehicles, homes and offices.  Sounds pretty ubiquitous to me.

SAP is also now involved in various parts of the M2M and smart grid discussion.  Here is a recent press release about an SAP whitepaper titled, SAP Leads the Charge for Smart Grid Adoption in Europe. 

If you question the importance of this kind of technology here is the value as described in SAP’s press release on the paper, “the pervasive application of digital information and communication technologies can help the European Union achieve its 2020 goals of increased energy efficiency, lower carbon emissions, integration of renewables and greater energy security…”  Is there a nobler goal or mission?

SAP’s commitment to this technology area is highlighted in this press release excerpt, "At SAP, we are deeply committed to a leadership role in the development and application of ICT (information and communication technologies) tools and technologies able to turn the smart grid vision into reality…”




Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group 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.

Former SAP EVP is Solving Headaches with Mobile and M2M Technologies

Today Zia Yusuf is CEO of Streetline, a San Francisco company.  This former SAP EVP is showing up all over the media these days.  Why?  His new company provides some very interesting mobile and M2M (machine-to-machine) technologies that show real time parking availability on smartphones.

What does his solution consists of?

• Battery-powered sensors (M2M) in parking spaces
• Receiver
• Data center in Dallas, Texas
• $1.99 Mobile Parker iPhone application

Here is how it appears to work - Yusuf convinces various municipal governments on the benefits of using Streetline’s solution.  These benefits include:

• Reduces fuel used searching for parking spots
• Reduces the time spent searching for a parking spot
• Reduces neighborhood traffic
• Increased driving safety (not distracted looking for parking spots)
• Provides directions to available parking spots

Once approved, Streetline’s battery-powered sensors are installed in parking spots.  The sensors communicate with the nearby receiver (reporting whether the parking spot is empty or occupied), which connects to the data center in Texas, which in turn connects to iPhone applications everywhere.  The mobile app then shows the number of open parking spaces on any given street and directs you to them via Google Maps.

Jefferson Graham in a USA TODAY article reports that, “IBM in 2010 named Streetline the 'Global Entrepreneur of the year,' after it won several competitions IBM staged to look for companies working on a 'smarter planet.'"

I write about both mobile solutions and M2M (machine-to-machine) communications.  This solution utilizes both, so it wins my favorite mobile solution of the day!

Congratulations Zia!  I knew there was an afterlife.

Whitepaper of Note: Unlocking the Value of Enterprise Mobility

Mobility News Weekly - Week of February 21, 2011

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 data and trends.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

Enterprise mobility will be the biggest trend in tech this year, according to Forrester, with private app stores popping up to simplify mobile app overload.

http://www.cio.com/article/661863/Enterprise_Mobility_in_2011_Keeping_Apps_and_Phones_Under_Control

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Sprint and Good Technology have announced a partnership to provide business grade security and full device management features on Sprint's lineup of popular Android devices that business customers want most.

http://www.androidcentral.com/sprint-partners-good-technology-provide-android-based-business-solutions

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A new Android app, appropriately titled Route 66 Maps + Navigation, contains a feature called Follow Me that allows real drivers to follow virtual cars turn for turn.

SAP PCN Webcast on Mobile Device Management

I wanted to share information about an upcoming SAP PCN webcast on mobile device management that I will be participating in at 2 PM ET on March 2, 2011. Here is an excerpt from the SAP PCN's official invitation.

LEARN HOW YOU CAN BETTER MANAGE ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

Learn Directly from SAP and Industry Experts About Key Device Management Aspects of Enterprise Mobility

Webinar Highlights

• The case for mobile device management
• What the Afaria mobile device management solution brings to the table
• Strategies for managing your enterprise usage of mobile devices such as iOS, Android, and Blackberry
• Deploying and integrating with Afaria

Panelists

Kevin Benedict
Kevin Benedict is an SAP mentor volunteer, blogger, mobile and M2M industry analyst, and SAP Topic Leader for enterprise mobility.  He is a popular enterprise-mobility consultant, writer, and speaker on subjects related to mobile enterprise. Kevin is an entrepreneur and consultant on enterprise mobility. 

James Naftel
James Naftel is an Afaria product manager at Sybase, an SAP company. In this position, James drives product strategy for Afaria, the market-leading mobile-device- management solution from Sybase. His areas of focus include mobile-device software and asset management, identity and access management, and threat management.

Sam Lakkundi
Sam Lakkundi is an enterprise-mobility architect and a “SWAT” team member at Sybase, an SAP company. He has 15 years' experience working directly with customers that employ a wide range of technologies including client server, database, application server, and mobile engineering.

Registration link:
http://bit.ly/hhMiUq



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

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

Mobile Retailing News Weekly - Week of February 21, 2011

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

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

A number of blogs have pointed us to news that mobile payment company Square is dropping the .15 cents per transaction charge for any business using its mobile payments device and service.  Square previously charged 2.75 percent of each transaction amount plus a flat .15 cents per transaction fee.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-20035055-62.html

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Google searches conducted on mobile phones centering on shopping-related keywords grew more than 300 percent from January 2010 to January 2011, reports a new Google study on holiday shopping.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/02/17/holiday-shoppers-smartphones-search-and-researchand-buy

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A forecast from Yankee Group predicts the worldwide transaction value of mobile payments will total $984 billion by 2014, up from $162 billion last year.

http://finchannel.com/Main_News/Tech/81424_eMarketer%3A_Mobile_Payments_Take_Hold_Around_the_World/

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At the end of 2010 there were over 5.2 billion mobile connections globally – more than three times as many connections as there are PCs in the world. Mobile phone subscriptions continue to rise, making mobile phones the most rapidly adopted technology in history.

Meet Me in Brussels at The Enterprise Mobility Exchange!



Meet Me in Brussels!

I have had the good fortune to be invited to attend and speak at The Enterprise Mobility Exchange in Brussels this year.  It runs May 9th-11th.

Here is the official description:

Equipping your field workforce with mobile technology to deliver maximum profit, productivity and customer service excellence.

The 2011 Enterprise Mobility Exchange is the leading invitation only networking event for businesses actively purchasing and implementing mobile technology for their workforce.  This unique Director's forum will bring together the real decision makers from field service organisations from across Europe.

Attend the 2011 Enterprise Mobility Exchange and:

• Hear from market leaders about cutting edge developments in mobile technology and discover how to apply this to your own business objectives.
• Catch up with peers and make new business connections through a series of networking opportunities.
• Learn from the experiences and challenges other key decision makers face in implementing mobile technology and use this to improve your own enterprise mobility strategy.
• Hear from innovative organisations who have successfully implemented mobility solutions and find out where they plan to invest in the year ahead.

To request your invitation or to find out more visit www.enterprisemobilityexchange.com/kblog

I know SAP ecosystem members Sybase, ClickSoftware and Syclo will all be there.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group 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.

Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of February 21, 2011

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

Also read M2M News Monthly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

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Las Vegas Police have apprehended the suspect in the December 2010 robbery at the Bellagio Resort & Casino resulting in stolen chips whose face value totaled nearly $1.5 million, according to Singularity Hub.  RFID technology may have helped police find the thief.

http://www.rfidnews.org/2011/02/14/rfid-may-have-lead-to-arrest-in-casino-heist

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The highly competitive handset based mobile resource management market is expected to grow to $2.33 billion by 2016 in North America.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110216006370/en/Research-Markets-Highly-Competitive-Handset-based-Mobile-Resource

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In East Africa, the mobile phone is quickly replacing laptops and modems in terms of enabling workforce mobility.

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=798F8AEB-1A64-67EA-E473B076924D3486

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iPads are being used in construction for quality and field operations.

Enterprise Mobility Challenges from the Experts

Interview, Interview, Interview

In the past several months I have interviewed 15 mobility experts from Australia, Finland, Germany, Sweden, USA, Canada and the UK. I asked each of these experts what were the biggest challenges they were seeing in the enterprise mobility market. These are their answers:

Kimmo Jarvinsivu, Newelo: Usability and integration. If your end-users are not happy about the mobilization possibility, they are not going to use it. And if you can't integrate (and change integration) easily, your information systems will not be up-to-date and information in those is useless. From the corporate point of view, it is important to take into account the fragmented situation in the mobile device market. Corporates need to use existing mobile devices (both personal and corporate owned), but also be prepared for the future (new devices).

Jack Chawla, SAP: In enterprise mobility, we need to make it easier for developers to write mobile apps without having to worry about enterprise security, scalability, data sync, device support, etc. Enterprise developers should be able to write apps as easily as consumer app developers.

Malachy Martin, AMT-Sybex: We all have a 9:00 am to 5:00 pm day job, but what about our 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm personal life? For example, one of the most popular mobile apps in the UK last year was called, Tube Exits. It is a simple but brilliant mobile application that lists all London Underground stations and lines, and tells you which carriage you need to sit in to be able to get off right at the exit. This application offers value to people wanting to get home quickly after work. Consumer driven mobile application like Tube Exits will influence user expectations for enterprise mobility applications. Also, companies must figure out how to accommodate personal liable devices.

Puneet Suppal, SAP: Lack of governance. All the technology is there, but companies need to manage it. I define governance as a comprehensive approach that makes sure the appropriate level of security is implemented, device management, data management, etc. Many companies still must understand the importance of mobile device management. It cannot be over emphasized. The same mobile device (smartphone) often holds both important corporate data and personal data. That means confidential enterprise data is on personal devices. How is that going to be managed? Much of the work people do every day is now on their mobile devices.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's James Naftel, Part 2

This is Part 2 in this interview with Sybase's James Naftel, Staff Product Manager for Afaria.  Read Part 1 here.

Kevin: What are some of the biggest challenges you see in mobility today?
James: The number one goal is not to give us all toys (fun mobile devices), but rather to make us more productive. Companies must look at their business and understand how they can really get productivity gains from implementing enterprise mobility solutions. Does it make sense? How will they scale from tens of users to thousands? It is easy to deploy a handful of devices, but what about thousands. How do you secure all of these devices? There are legal obligations to protect personal and corporate data on devices. If social security numbers are on devices, companies must protect this data. All the data in the company is probably accessible by different mobile devices and applications in the company.

Kevin: How are enterprise mobility implementations different from other typical IT projects?
James: Mobile devices are in unsecured locations (homes, cars, restaurants, hotels, beaches, park benches, bars, etc.). Security is a big concern. These devices are mobile and remote. All of this infrastructure outside the firewall is accessing data inside the firewall. You need to think of all the different risk scenarios. You want your developers to be able to develop mobile apps without worrying about security. It should already be solved by the company.

Kevin: What do companies fail to plan for when implementing mobility?
James: 1) How do I scale from ten to thousands of devices? 2) How do I move data back and forth through corporate security? Security folks were often difficult to work with in the past and caused many long delays in mobility projects. They were uncomfortable with mobile data access. It is better now. More IT security teams understand the mobile security issues and how to solve them.

Kevin: What advice do you have for companies just starting down an enterprise mobility path?
James: Plan and have a good idea of your goals. Pick carefully the first apps to mobilize. Have a reason to mobilize. Is it CRM? Understand your goals so you can plan. Think about how you provision devices? Think about device roll-outs. Think about the impact on the help desk.

Kevin: How important is mobile device management and security? [What a set-up!]
James: Critical. People need to protect private and enterprise data. Device management and security is key to succeeding with a project. If you leak information, you are in big trouble and it jeopardizes your entire mobility initiative. You need MDM to run any enterprise project. You cannot scale unless you have MDM.


Kevin: What should people know about Sybase’s Afaria?
James: We try to support all the new devices. We look to support all the devices and platforms that our enterprise customers request. Five years ago, there was a long sales cycle involved in educating companies on the value of mobile security and MDM. However, today companies recognize the need. We are now a core component, rather than an afterthought. App developers should not have to be concerned with security, Afaria will handle that.

Kevin: Where do you see mobility going in 2011?
James: There are a lot of discussions and strategizing going on around tablets. We see a lot of enterprise customers buying tablets now. Companies want to lock down tablets more than smartphones. If fact, companies might have different security requirements for tablets than smartphones. Tablets may be viewed more as a corporate asset than smartphones and have stricter security requirements.

I want to thank James for sharing his thoughts, views and observations with all of us.

Click here to read more in the Mobile Expert Interview Series.

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

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

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase’s James Naftel, Part 1

I had the privilege, last week, to interview Sybase’s Staff Product Manager for Afaria, James Naftel.  We are also working together on a mobile device management (MDM) webinar that will be announced later this week.

Note:  As usual, these are not James’ exact words, rather they are my notes from our interview.  The reason I use my notes is that I cannot type fast enough to keep up with most conversations, plus our conversations often digress or become more expansive than readers would like to read.  As a result, I note key phrases, opinions, advice, thoughts and write them up concisely.

Kevin: What are your current roles and responsibilities?
James: Staff Product Manager.  I drive product strategy and partnerships around Afaria.  I am also involved in working with all the different mobile device manufacturers.

Kevin: How long have you been working with Afaria?
James: Twelve years. The first five years were as a developer.

Kevin:  How many times has the company been sold or had a name change during those 12 years?
James: Let’s see, Xcellenet, Sterling Commerce, Afaria, then back to Xcellenet, then iAnywhere/Sybase and finally SAP.

Kevin:  Was Afaria always about MDM (mobile device management)?
James:  We first started out working on a retail product called Remote Ware which was designed to help stores download or upload sales numbers.  It evolved from there.

Kevin: Where is your office located?
James: Alpharetta, Georgia.


Kevin: What mobile device(s) do you carry?
James: An Android smartphone, an iPad, in the past a laptop,  but most days now the iPad is what I take home with me. Some days the Samsung 7 inch Galaxy Tab.

Kevin: What are some of your favorite mobile applications that you have on your mobile device(s)?
James:  Weather, the ESPN app, EverNote, iProcrastinate (task lists).

Kevin: Do you ever use your mobile device to buy things?
James: I use my smartphones mostly for research, not purchasing things. I use my tablets to purchase items.

Kevin: How many computing devices do you have in your home?
James: Six.

Kevin: How long have you been involved in enterprise mobility?
James: Twelve years.  I started working on Afaria right out of college. First, we focused on supporting mobile laptops for companies that had mobile sales force, like pharmaceutical companies.

Kevin: What is different today, than when you started working with enterprise mobility?
James: The devices. Laptops were the primary platforms when I started, now smartphones and tablets.

Kevin: What industries do you see adopting enterprise mobility today?
James: Everybody. Two years ago it was industries like utilities, energy and cable companies with large field service organizations. Now everybody is implementing enterprise mobility.

Kevin: What were some the most surprising trends you saw in mobility during 2010?
James:  This year (2011) it is Nokia partnering with Microsoft. I really thought Nokia would back Android. However, during last year (2010), it was Android’s success. I have 30-40 devices on my desk today, and many of them are Android devices.  Another surprise, companies allowing the use of personal devices at work. Sybase lets employees use personal devices, but now many others do as well.  We had to refocus more attention to issues related to securing personal devices with corporate data.

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

Kevin Benedict,Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer

Phone +1 208-991-4410

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group 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.