FierceMobileIT: Crowd Sourcing to Become More Relevant in Enterprise Mobility

I want to highlight an article that I recently wrote that was published in FierceMobileIT today called, "Crowd Sourcing to Become More Relevant in Enterprise Mobility."  I am intrigued by the idea of connecting geographically disperse minds together to help accomplish the greater good.  Mobile technologies and crowd sourcing concepts can help in all kinds of interesting ways.

In this article I write about SAP's Streamwork, Salesforce.com's Chatter, online forums and using tweets to understand traffic conditions.

Whitepapers of Note

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

Webinars of Note

Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility - 10 Lessons Learned
Barcode Scanning in Mobile Apps
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution

***************************************************
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.

Sybase Afaria Mobile Device Management Finally Needed

I read an article by Todd Morrison, News and Features Editor at SearchSAP this morning on mobile device management and specifically Sybase's Afaria.  I knew it was coming as he had interviewed me for it.  In this article I share my perspective on Afaria and the MDM market.  In summary, MDM (mobile device management) was a nice to have in the past, but is now required by large enterprises.  Read the complete article here to find out why.

***************************************************
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.

Aberdeen Group and Friends Webinar on Enterprise Mobility

Andrew Borg

I have the unique opportunity of joining Andrew Borg, Senior Research Analyst, Wireless and Mobility with the Aberdeen Group to present a webinar next week.  I invite you all to attend as Andrew will be giving a full report on the current state of enterprise mobility.

Register Here

Webinar Description:

The competitive pressures of the increasingly global market reward the Real-Time Enterprise (RTE), defined as the organization focused on market and customer responsiveness, swift and agile decision-making, and transparency and immediacy of information shared among internal groups. Enterprise mobile applications have evolved as an essential enabler of the RTE, delivering business-critical information when and where it’s needed.
The basic framework is now in place for a virtual renaissance in enterprise mobile applications. New application development frameworks optimized for enterprise data integration have emerged that offer rapid and cost-effective prototyping, development, and deployment of custom or purpose-built mobile applications.

This webinar will cover topics that include:

•The new generation of lightweight task-driven applications that leverage the mobile device UI
•The power of mobility to redesign communications, collaboration, and workflow to deliver actionable information on-demand
•The business value of increased operational efficiency
•The time-to-productivity advantages of a new application approach
•Meeting IT's demands for mobile security, management, and compliance
•Driving unnecessary cost out of the operation

Register Here!


***************************************************
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 Podcast Series: Webalo's Peter Price, Part 2

This is Part 2 of my podcast interview with Webalo's Founder/CEO Peter Price.  We talk about the different mobility models and architectures for implementing enterprise mobility solutions.  Part 1 is here.



If you have an interesting mobile implementation story, mobile solution or would simply like to contact me to discuss your mobility project please email me here.

***************************************************
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 March 28, 2011

The 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

Google Inc. is teaming up with MasterCard Inc. and Citigroup Inc. to embed technology in Android mobile devices that would allow consumers to make purchases by waving their smartphones in front of a small reader at the checkout counter.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703576204576226722412152678.html

********

Mobile commerce, in all its forms, is growing exponentially.  U.S. consumers of all ages are using their mobile devices for shopping on the go, making more frequent mobile payments, and using their mobile devices as a connector of other sales channels.

http://www.retailsolutionsonline.com/article.mvc/Mobile-Trends-Consumer-Views-Of-Mobile-0002

********

The New York Times has confirmed that Apple has indeed been working on including Near Field Communication on future iPhones, though how soon it may debut is still up for speculation.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20045549-233.html

********

Google is working with MasterCard and Citigroup to add Near Field Communication to Android.  Google reportedly wants NFC to boost advertising on Android devices and may even give away NFC readers from VeriFone Systems.

Smartsoft Mobile Delivers Mobility Apps for SAP on Microsoft Devices

I read some interesting news today that Smartsoft Mobile has released a mobile application on the Windows Phone operating system that provides access to real-time Inventory Inquiry and Purchase Order Approvals in both Oracle and SAP. In addition, the user receives alerts about pending Purchase Orders to be approved.  The mobile application is now available for download on the Microsoft Marketplace.

Not many enterprise mobility vendors have released mobile solutions for the Windows Phone operating system to date, but I know from past interviews with Ed Krufka at Smartsoft Mobile that he is a fan of the Windows Phone operating system.

You can read more about this application on the Smartsoft Mobile blog.


***************************************************
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.

ClickSoftware Closes Historic Deal with DIRECTV

ClickSoftware, the developer of the SAP Workforce Scheduling and Optimization solution, announced today that they have closed one of their largest contracts ever.  It is with DIRECTV, the world's most popular video service. 

DIRECTV selected ClickSoftware's workforce management and optimization solutions to help it improve the management and efficiency of its field service technicians and customer service.  Here is a quote from DIRECTV's senior vice president, IT Strategy and Innovation, "We are trying to match the business value proposition of providing exceptional service to our customers for installation and service calls with a technology solution.  We feel ClickSoftware is the technology choice to deliver this value to our customers."

ClickSoftware has nearly 25 years of experience developing sophisticated workforce scheduling solutions that were first deployed in the military.  Today all of these solutions are supported by ClickSoftware's ClickMobile solution for enterprise mobility.

I have recorded a number of interviews with the executives from ClickSoftware over the past year and you can watch these interviews here:

Dr. Moshe BenBassat, Founder ClickSoftware
ClickSoftware's SVP of Alliances Nigel Clark
ClickSoftware's Simon Morris, VP Marketing


Whitepapers of Note

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

Webinars of Note

Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility - 10 Lessons Learned
Barcode Scanning in Mobile Apps
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution


***************************************************
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 Podcast Series: Webalo's Peter Price, Part 1

In Part 1 of this audio podcast I interview Webalo's Founder and CEO Peter Price about different business models for delivering enterprise mobility solutions and the pros and cons of each.  Webalo has a unique, cloud based approach to enterprise mobility that you may find interesting.  You can listen to Part 2 here.

***************************************************
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 Retailing News Weekly - Week of March 28, 2011

The 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 Mobile NFC News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

While Apple's iPhone has traditionally been the target for brands running mobile marketing campaigns, more and more research is suggesting that Android's share of the market is set to increase substantially.

http://www.dma.org.uk/news/nws-dmitem.asp?id=6512&t=Mobile+marketing%3A+Android+to+boost+smartphone+market

********

Professional sporting events and concert promoters are pushing mobile marketing to new levels with iVisionMobile.com’s real time text to screen at live events.  Sports teams are now embracing mobile advertising when reaching out to fans through this new technology.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mobile-marketing-drives-participation-and-revenues-with-text-to-screen-118494609.html

********

Research shows 2010 was a year of phenomenal growth for mobile advertising with the U.K. market growing 116 percent to £83 million in 2010.

http://www.utalkmarketing.com/pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=20726&Title=Why_mobile_advertising_is_finally_coming_of_age

********

The U.S. and India-based Vdopia Inc, which runs online and mobile video advertising network iVdopia, claims to be delivering $500,000 in profits every quarter. The Asian mobile video advertising market is expected to reach $1.5 billion this year compared to $1.2 billion in the U.S. and $200 million in Europe.

Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of March 28, 2011

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

As companies continue to make businesses more fuel-efficient, European and North American markets for fleet telematics could jump to $700 million in 2015 from $80 million in 2008.

http://sdbj.com/news/2011/mar/21/rising-fuel-prices-pump-fleet-management-businesse/

********

A Norwegian organization that manages nationwide pallet leasing for retailers and manufacturers, is trying out RFID technology in a pilot project to see how effective the tags are for tracking plastic pallets.

http://www.rfidworld.ca/pilot-project-rfid-pallet-tracking-for-food-industry/301

********

Stockholm is becoming an m-health hotspot as smartphones and mobile applications are poised to play a greater role in healthcare as doctors and patients embrace the mobile Internet to treat chronic illnesses and improve quality of life.

http://www.swedishwire.com/business/9098-stockholm-a-frontrunner-in-m-health

********

The RFID market is expected to grow around 17 percent during 2011-2013.  The reason for this phenomenal growth is that various applications across different verticals have emerged around this technology.