Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

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.

Small Mobile Apps Prove Big on ROI - Guest Blogger

Today we have an article contributed by my friend and guest blogger Andre Guillemin. Andre has over ten years of experience working in health care, financial services and mobility. He has spent the past three years focused on cross-industry solutions for mobile enterprise application development including line of business users in manufacturing, life sciences and wealth management. Andre frequently contributes to industry publications, panels and other events. He is available for consultation on both strategic and tactical use of mobile technologies in the enterprise.

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We all know that mobile apps don’t need to do everything your desktop systems do – in fact, mobilizing everything on the desktop usually results in bulky, confusing apps that are difficult to use. Less is always more, and I bet you’ll be surprised at how much value you can get out of an app that’s simple, focused, and highly targeted to the needs of the user.

While working on a project last year, one of our target end users said to me “I don’t care about all the other stuff - I just want to be able to log my expenses.” So I asked a few of his colleagues and they all said the same thing, “just help us with expenses.” Those simple conversations revealed an acute pain that they dealt with day in and day out, which was the result of a clunky expense management system. If we could solve that problem for them, we’d be heroes. It was humbling to see my best ideas for that app summarily rejected – but hey, tossing the stuff that I thought they wanted in lieu of the functionality that they actually wanted cut the scope of the project by about 75%, saved a ton of work, and gave the team exactly what they needed. Nothing more, nothing less.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to work with a team that built an app for safety inspectors. Sticking to the concept of simple, user-centric design, the app contained very focused, high impact functionality. It was built and deployed in less than a month and immediately made the lives of plant inspectors a lot easier by eliminating the process of manually entering inspection reports into the computer when they returned to the office.

The best part about building small is that your development cycle is a lot more manageable. And when it comes time to upgrade or modify an app, there are less components to deal with, so your release cycles are shorter and updates have more impact. So when you’re designing your next app, don’t forget what’s important to your end user and remember that most of the time, less app is more ROI.

Thanks for sharing your insights Andre!!!

Upcoming Events

Eggs with Benedict - European Tour - Mobility Strategies and More, June 27 – July 1, 2011
ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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.

Mobility News Weekly - Week of June 27, 2011

The 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 Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

The International Data Corporation recently came out with a smartphone market forecast report, which indicates that Apple's share in the global smartphone market could decline from 18.2 percent in 2011 to 16.9 percent in 2015. Read Original Content

Apple holds 40 percent of the smartphone market in Australia with Android in the second place with 30 percent of the market and Symbian coming in a distant third with only 22 percent of the market. Read Original Content

Have you been waiting for Google to come up with a social network that takes advantage of the opportunities a smartphone provides? Google has now unveiled Google+ beta, a social networking backend that can be reached through most web-connected devices and computers. It's in invite-only beta testing, so expect to wait a few months until it becomes available to the public. Read Original Content

According to a report from Strategy Analytics, Qualcomm took first place in fourth quarter 2010 in the smartphone CPU market, and has retained its lead over Texas Instruments through first quarter 2011. As of 2007, Qualcomm had only 3 percent of the smartphone CPU market; but, in first quarter 2011, Qualcomm held 30 percent of the market. Read Original Content

IDC predicts that the number of mobile application downloads worldwide will grow from 10.9 billion in 2010 to 76.9 billion in 2014 and mobile app revenues will surpass $35 billion in the same year. Read Original Content

Frankfurt Eggs with Benedict Mobility Breakfast Series, June 29th

Today, the folks from K2 Partnering and I had another very interesting breakfast meeting, this time in Frankfurt, Germany. The audience included representatives from SAP and SAP CPG customers.

The folks from the CPG company had over 10 years worth of production mobility experience. They shared information about their custom built mobility app that had retail, SFA and merchandizing features. It ran on the Windows Mobile OS, and has been in production for many years. This mobile application was developed in the rich/thick client model and includes a mobile database, and is customized for every region based upon the products sold there. Administrators custom configure each region's mobility applications using a purpose built configuration tool.

The big problem with the CPG customer’s existing mobile application is that it requires Windows Mobile 6.5 and devices that use it OS. Today, smartphones running Windows Mobile 6.5 are nearly impossible to find and the company must scour the internet for replacement devices. Their replacement needs are substantial as they have many thousands of users.

They are now developing a replacement custom mobile application that will run on the Android OS. Why Android? One reason is because Microsoft would not help them figure out a way to support a database on Windows Phone 7. Another reason seemed to be that the CPG company had already gone down a dead end street with a Microsoft mobile OS. They did not want to be in the same situation again.

Another interesting note, Sybase had talked to them earlier this year and had not helped them understand how SUP would be useful for this project. This is unfortunate as it seems to me to be a good fit. I think they may not have had the right mobility expert involved in these discussions. They did recognize big value in Afaria, but that also seemed to lose focus over time.

During my presentations I emphasized that enterprise mobility is NOT about just supporting today’s available mobile devices, but about supporting mobile capabilities for today and tomorrow. In other words enterprises must take a long term platform view of mobility and prepare to support all the major mobile OS platforms today and tomorrow, rather than specific brands and device models. The IT audience in attendance agreed, but said their executives were focused on specific devices such as supporting iPads and iPhones. It is indeed a challenge.

Today’s mobile devices create enthusiasm and passion amongst senior management which open up budgets and encourage projects, but the IT team must temper this enthusiasm long enough to implement a solid infrastructure and platform to support future mobility solutions as well.

Even in Germany, there were no eggs served for breakfast. Tomorrow I am speaking in Brussels and will see if there are eggs there.

Upcoming Events

Eggs with Benedict - European Tour - Mobility Strategies and More, June 27 – July 1, 2011
ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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 Marketing News Weekly - Week of June 27, 2011

The Mobile Marketing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile marketing 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 Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

A new report from research firm Gartner predicts that driven by expanding consumer adoption of smartphones and tablet computers, global mobile ad revenue will reach $3.3 billion this year, up from $1.6 billion in 2010. Read Original Content

Digital coupon usage is on the rise and 88.2 million U.S. adults are expected to participate in coupon discounts this year. By 2013 eMarketer expects 96.8 million Americans to participate. Read Original Content

The money spent on mobile advertising is expected to nearly quadruple to $7 billion in 2012 from less than $2 billion in 2010, according to ABI Research. Read Original Content

According to data from BIA/Kelsey, local mobile advertising revenues in the United States will increase from $404 million in 2010 to more than $2 billion by 2015. Read Original Content

The U.K. is one of the world’s largest mobile advertising markets. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau it grew 116 percent between 2009 and 2010 to £83 million and the market is expected to double between 2010 and 2011. Read Original Content

According to research firm Canaccord Genuity, Google could make $14 billion in mobile ad sales by 2015. Read Original Content

Geneva Eggs With Benedict Mobility Breakfast Meeting, June 27th

Eggs With Benedict Geneva

Today the folks from K2 Partnering and I were in Geneva, Switzerland for a mobility breakfast meeting. It was a beautiful venue on the lake. We met mobility experts from many different companies and had numerous discussions about interesting projects.

Did you know that in some places in Africa medicine bottles have phone numbers on them so you can text to validate the medicine's authenticity? Seems counterfeit medicine is a huge problem in Africa.

Did you know some companies are wanting to capture and utilize the knowledge of their remote workers around the world by implementing social networking and knowledge management solutions? Seems many remote workers do not even have computers. Companies are considering supplying them with mobile phones with SMS capabilities to integrate with these solutions. Very interesting!

Another issue - It is often very difficult for a remote worker to find in-house experts in the same company in different parts of the world? Seems many in-house experts are only known through personal relationships. Large companies want to optimize the value of their institutional knowledge and expertise through mobility.

I am always interested to learn how different systems integrators around the world view the Sybase Unwired Platform and SAP's mobility strategy. I spoke to an SI today that believes Afaria is top notch, but is less convinced about the rest of SUP. He wondered why SAP did not just expand DOE to cover the mobility feature gap. I shared my opinion that there are many motivations for acquiring a company beyond just a particular product feature set. There is market position, image, perception, momentum, brand evolution and a need to start strong and command attention. Everyone must start and build. Sybase was a good place to start and build.

The SIs I spoke with today are seeing a lot of mobility interest from their clients in central Europe. They have numerous opportunities and a strong mobility sales pipelines.

Tomorrow I will be in Frankfurt for another Eggs With Benedict mobility breakfast meeting. Again I was disappointed that there were no real eggs for breakfast in Geneva. How many croissants can one person eat? There is still time to join me for breakfast in Brussels and London later this week to learn if I will ever see a real egg at these meetings.

Upcoming Events

Eggs with Benedict - European Tour - Mobility Strategies and More, June 27 – July 1, 2011
ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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.

Paris Eggs with Benedict Breakfast Meeting, June 26th

We kicked off the Eggs with Benedict mobility series of breakfast meetings yesterday in sweltering Paris, France. Strangely there were no eggs at my breakfast, only croissants, esspresso and fruit. We had an intimate group of attendees that were passionate about mobility and we explored some very interesting subjects related to the global challenges and demands on IT organizations for mobile solutions.

One CTO from a global cement manufacturer shared that he had just returned from Zambia where he met with his African IT organization and mobility was a central discussion point. The challenges they have are often basic infrastructure issues, like how to connect to the internet.

It was also interesting to learn that a global company was trying to figure out a way to connect with over half of their 78,000 employees who had no access to computers. They were looking at how mobility could solve this issue.

I also heard about how valuable SMS (texting) is to companies in many less developed countries. Basic mobile phones can support SMS, and many SMS solutions can provide incredible value. Banking, payments, notification of departure times for deliveries, etc., can all be done using SMS. One production text-based mobility solution discussed automatically notifying customers when their shipment left the depot. These were just a few of the many SMS based mobile solutions discussed over breakfast.

The discussion around SMS solutions helped me to better understand the value of Sybase’s 365 offerings to the overall mobility picture. Many of us who focus the majority of our time in the Western economies often forget there is much value outside of just expensive smartphones and tablets. We have yet to fully tap the power of SMS, but need motivates ingenuity.

The common thread with the meeting attendees was that enterprise mobility is a priority. Now on to Geneva for the next Eggs with Benedict mobility breakfast meeting, perhaps there will be eggs.

Upcoming Events

Eggs with Benedict - European Tour - Mobility Strategies and More, June 27 – July 1, 2011
ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict