Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

What I Hope to See and Do at Sapphire 2011

First I want to say that I will be at SAPPHIRE NOW 2011 and hope to see all of you there. I will be running around like a crazy man interviewing mobility experts, recording videos, leading sessions, moderating panel discussions and meeting with SAP executives. I would love to learn more about the mobility projects each of you are working on, so let’s grab a table and talk. You can contact me on Twitter @krbenedict.

Second, I really hope that SAP and Sybase will unveil ambitious, innovative, powerful and leading edge kinds of mobile solutions at Sapphire 2011, not just mobile apps from SAP partners. For $5.8 billion I think it would be nice to show a few compelling and interesting SAP developed mobile apps. I hope that the list of new mobile applications will include much more than just the light weight mobile apps I have seen to date. Come on! This is 2011! I was building more interesting mobile applications in 2004.

To me, interesting mobile solutions are ones like SAP customer Skanska mentioned in a February press release - dynamic scheduling, site schematic diagrams, safety procedures, project plans and customer and asset historical information. Some of the mobility solutions that my teams developed between 2004 and 2008 were:

Mobile oil rig safety solutions
Mobile coffee sales and service solutions that included field services, product sales, asset management and inventory management
Mobile supply chain management solutions for distributing medical supplies in Africa
Water conservation solutions for reducing water use in UK's council house
Mobile HVAC field services applications that included asset management and geo-tagging
Mobile hurricane disaster assessment solutions
Mobile cattle management and life cycle (hoof to shelf) management
Mobile furniture delivery, inspection and repair solutions
Mobile new car inspection, assessment and repair solutions
Mobile water delivery solutions for an African company

Third, I want to hear how SAP and Sybase will be restructuring their organizations to deliver world class mobile solutions. SAP has had enough time to recognize the good, bad and the ugly concerning the Sybase acquisition and should be making the organizational changes necessary to execute on a good plan. I have heard bits and pieces but look forward to a solid plan.

Fourth, I want to know how SAP is going to address mobility in the cloud. At some point soon, supporting a mobility platform (SUP) in-house is going to have a diminishing return. Much like SAP's recent move to get involved in EDI and B2B e-commerce with the SAP Information Interchange by Crossgate, an EDI service in the cloud, companies are going to want a simple API to access their back office data, not SUP that needs a C programmer to implement. The trend also seems to be for mobile devices to be secured and managed via a cloud service.

Fifth, I want to learn how SAP is going to integrate M2M (machine to machine) wireless communications into enterprise asset management (EAM) and field services. Most new automobiles, trucks, tractors, equipment, appliances and other high value assets now have sensors with embedded wireless chips that can report their status, location and thousands of other pieces of important data. This data is an important component to an activity based business intelligence solution.

Sixth, I want to see if SAP/Sybase have figured out how to simplify their enterprise mobility message and guidance for companies. The message and guidance needs to be a step by step set of instructions that lead customers to be able to make confident decisions around:

Mobile architectural frameworks
Mobile technology infrastructures
Mobile user experience frameworks
Mobile device management
Mobile application management
Mobile user management
Mobile security management
Mobility policies and governance

If a customer leaves a meeting with SAP/Sybase more confused after the meeting than before, that is not useful.

What other items do you want to learn about at SAPPHIRE Now 2011? Please share by adding comments below.

Recent Articles, Podcasts and Videos by Kevin Benedict

Mobile Expert Podcast: Kore Telematic's Alex Brisbourne
Tour of the Mobile Enterprise Strategies Site
Mobile Expert Podcast Series: Philippe Winthrop
The Mobile Perspective
Mobile Expert Podcast Series: K2 Partnering's Paul Andrew
The Table of Contents in Your Enterprise Mobility Book
Mobile End Points Not Just Mobile Device or Mobile App Management

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Webinars of Note

Redstone Arsenal’s (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile

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

Webinar: m-Business Trends and the Onslaught of Mobile Devices!

Kevin can't seem to stop talking...
the fish was this long I swear!

I am excited to be participating in an upcoming webinar called m-Business Trends and the Onslaught of Mobile Devices. We talk a lot about enterprise mobility solutions on this blog, but some of the most interesting developments are actually in the B2C (business to consumer) space. The challenges are that if you are going to play in this space you will need to support all of the major consumer operating system platforms and devices.

I will be opening up the webinar with a discussion on the trends in the mobile B2C space, and then Steve Levy will be joining me from Pyxis Mobile to discuss how enterprises can support the large numbers of mobile devices found in B2C environments.

REGISTER HERE!

Webinar Description:

45 - That’s the number of new mobile devices scheduled for release this month, and as they pour onto the market there are two ways they affect the enterprise:

1. Employees are bringing their devices to work, accessing corporate networks, and using them to conduct business – and IT departments are forced to accommodate.

2. Your customers want to interact with you and conduct business with mobile apps. Learn about the latest m-business and mobile app trends.

45 devices. 4 operating systems. 44 different screen sizes. And that’s just in April…

This webinar will explain the major issues that every company faces in tackling the consumerization of the mobile enterprise and the massive proliferation of new device types, hardware and operating systems.

***************************************************
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 April 11, 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

VeriFone Systems Inc, the largest U.S. maker of payment terminals, expects to ship well over 1 million NFC enabled systems this year, underlining growing momentum for a technology that allows shoppers to buy with little more than a wave of a smartphone.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idCATRE73B4UK20110412

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Google’s newest NFC mobile payments program may face Apple, Amazon and PayPal as competition in this emerging market.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Google-NFC-Mobile-Payments-May-Face-Apple-Amazon-PayPal-as-Challengers-506392/

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Mobile banking is the wave of the future and leading the way are the newest generations. There are almost 80 million smartphone subscribers in the United States. Banking applications make up 37 percent of all applications purchased for the Apple iPhone, Google Android and RIM Blackberry.

http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20110407/FREE/110409927

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A company in Spain has released ATM machines that are equipped with contactless technology for all NFC enabled devices.

Yesterday it was announced that SAP has awarded one of their mobility partners, ClickSoftware, with the 2011 SAP Pinnacle Award in the category of "Software Solution Innovator of the Year." The award will be presented on May 16 at SAPPHIRE NOW.

It is interesting that SAP chose a mobility partner. I am speculating, but this award may have been boosted by ClickSoftware's recent success closing a large deal with SAP's customer Skanska UK’s Utilities Operating Unit, which is part of the massive construction group Skanska AB. Skanska will run ClickSoftware’s Mobile Enterprise Applications on iPhones and iPad tablets (read more...).

Skanska will be implementing a number of interesting mobile features, in addition to the usual stuff, like site schematic diagrams, safety procedures, project plans and customer and asset historical information, plus many other features that will be integrated into Skanska's SAP environment.

Boyd Neal, Business Systems Manager at Skanska had the following to say about their selected mobile solution, "It gives our clients the confidence that our engineers will arrive at the right time, with the right skills and the right information to get the job done first time. It also provides us with a workforce management platform from which we can drive significant organizational efficiencies.”

I wonder when we will see interesting mobile applications like this come directly out of the SAP/Sybase labs? I think this topic deserves another article.

Recent Articles by Kevin Benedict

Mobile Expert Podcast: Kore Telematic's Alex Brisbourne
Tour of the Mobile Enterprise Strategies Site
Mobile Expert Podcast Series: Philippe Winthrop
The Mobile Perspective
Mobile Expert Podcast Series: K2 Partnering's Paul Andrew
The Table of Contents in Your Enterprise Mobility Book
Mobile End Points Not Just Mobile Device or Mobile App Management

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Webinars of Note

Redstone Arsenal’s (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile

***************************************************
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 April 11, 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 M2M News Monthly

New research out from Gartner estimates total spend on mobile advertising will reach $3.3 billion in 2011, growing to over $20.6 billion by 2015.

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/mobile-advertising-spend-to-reach-3-3b-in-2011-growing-to-20-6b-in-2015-14497/

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Office supply retailer OfficeMax has launched a new mobile marketing initiative that will reward consumers with discounts and coupons for checking in at physical locations via Facebook Places.

http://www.ricg.com/marketing_articles/digital_marketing/officemax_taps_facebook_places_for_new_mobile_initiative_/

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Mobile advertising revenues in Canada are forecast to top $51 million in 2010, eclipsing online revenue growth at a time when traditional media continue to see fewer ad dollars.

http://www.torontosun.com/money/2011/04/11/17949056.html

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InMobi has stated that the mobile ad market has grown by 1.5 billion ad impressions between October 2010 and January 2011, a growth of 27 percent.

Mobile Expert Podcast Series: Kore Telematics' Alex Brisbourne, Part 2

This is Part 2 of my interview with Kore Telematics' CEO Alex Brisbourne. You can listen to Part 1 here. In this interview we discuss M2M (machine to machine) communications and how it relates and compliments enterprise mobility.

Companies are seeking to reduce costs and improve productivity and efficiencies. M2M wireless communications utilizes data from sensors in the field to improve decision making and improve business performance.

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Webinar of Note

Redstone Arsenal’s (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile

***************************************************
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: Kore Telematic's Alex Brisbourne, Part 1

I am very interested in how the enterprise mobility markets and the M2M (machine to machine) communications markets will converge. From a BI (business intelligence) perspective, data coming in from the field all looks the same whether it comes from a person carrying a smartphone, or a remote M2M sensor reporting the status and location of a high value asset. At the enterprise BI level it is all valuable data that needs to be analyzed and converted into action based intelligence.

In this two part podcast I am interviewing Alex Brisbourne, CEO of Kore Telematics on these subjects. Alex has over 20 years of experience in the networking and telecommunications industry, in Europe, North America and Asia. KORE Telematics is the world's largest specialized provider of Business Class all digital wireless services for the M2M (machine-to-machine), telematics and telemetry markets.

Read Part 2.

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Webinar of Note

Redstone Arsenal’s (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile

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

Tour of the Mobile Enterprise Strategies Site

Tour Our Site!

Many of you may be accessing my articles, newsletters and other content through RSS feeds, Twitter, Readers or other websites so have not spent much time on my blog site. Because of this, I wanted to share a list of available tools on my site that you can use when engaged in research on issues related to enterprise mobility.

On the left sidebar is a menu of the different pages associated with this site. These pages contain the archives of my newsletters, interviews and video recordings. You can click on each of these areas and quickly scan the titles for something of interest.

When I am preparing a research paper, analyst report or presentation, I quickly review the last few weeks of newsletters to see all of the latest industry numbers. These newsletters are focused on market numbers and industry trends so this is a good collection.

On the right sidebar of the blog site is a "Search this Blog" field. This feature will search over 1,000 blog articles on this sight for the key word that you enter.

In the Mobile Expert Interviews section, http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/mobile-expert-interview-series.html, you can see recorded interviews with executives and mobility experts from many of the leading enterprise mobility vendors.

Again, on the right sidebar you can see the archive of articles listed by date. You can review articles all the way back to 2006, although I would not recommend it.

Back on the left sidebar is a list of the most popular articles over the past few weeks.

You can also sign-up to receive my articles, newsletters, podcasts, vodcasts (video podcasts) and other content via email by signing up here http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=EnterpriseMobilityStrategiesForSapAndOthers&loc=en_US.

You can also join the community discussion on issues related to enterprise mobility by joining the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin here, http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro.

If you are conducting research on enterprise mobility, I would suggest this site is one of the best places to start as I have already aggregated all of the industry numbers and trends here.

Enjoy!

***************************************************
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: Philippe Winthrop, Part 2

This is Part 2 of a video podcast (listen to Part 1 here) that I conducted with my friend and fellow mobility industry enthusiast, Philippe Winthrop with The Enterprise Mobility Foundation. In Part 2 we are talking about enterprise mobility management policies, mobility governance issues and different mobility strategies.

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Webinar of Note

Redstone Arsenal’s (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile

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

The Mobile Perspective

Interesting Perspective

Have you ever thought that a mobile worker might see enterprise mobility from a different perspective than the company he or she works for? The company might be thinking only about how to extend their existing SAP ERP out to mobile devices. However, in order to maximize productivity, the mobile user could benefit from other mobile solutions and by having integrations into many other back office applications. Here is a scenario to consider:

Charlie needs work orders to be dispatched to his smartphone from his non-SAP scheduling and work order management application.
Charlie needs to fill out his timesheet using SAP's mobile timesheet application.
Charlie needs step-by-step navigation from his existing location to the next job site.
Charlie would benefit from having an automated telephone calling service to alert customers of his imminent arrival onsite.
Charlie would like to have mobile access to his SAP based HR benefits, vacation and sick days information.
Charlie would like to have mobile access to the account information of his customers in SAP CRM.
Charlie would like to have mobile access to the service history of his customers.
Charlie would like to have mobile access to shipping status, so he knows when he can schedule a return visit.
Charlie would like to see how his KPIs compare with his peers so that he can improve his performance.
Charlie provides asset maintenance services for his clients and needs to review EAM (enterprise asset management) data in IBM's Maximo solution. He would benefit from a mobile integration with IBM Maximo as will as SAP.
Charlie would like to have the ability to take orders, while on location, via his smartphone.
Charlie would like to collect payments while onsite with the customer. He would benefit from being able to process a credit card payment via his mobile device.
Charlie would like to know the location of parts that he needs for his repairs. Is the part in inventory in the warehouse, in a nearby company vehicle or down the street at a preferred vendor's location?
Charlie would like to geo-tag (capture GPS location and apply a barcode label) to the equipment he maintains, so that next time he knows the exact location of all the equipment on the maintenance plan and can uniquely identify it.

The point of this list is to suggest that the mobile user, in order to maximize his/her productivity, may have different needs and different priorities than others in different roles and departments. It is important to review the mobility needs of all of your mobile workforce first, before developing your company's IT priorities and mobility strategy.

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Webinar of Note

Redstone Arsenal’s (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile

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