30 ROI Ideas for Mobilizing Field Services

I was reviewing my notes from past mobile strategies workshops I have conducted for field services organizations and thought some of my notes might be useful.

First, what are service companies trying to achieve with mobility?  Here is a summary:
  1. Increasing productivity – more average service calls per service technician in a day.
  2. Improving management visibility into work done in the field
  3. Efficiencies in communicating information between the office and the remote service technician or job site.
  4. Efficiencies in planning and scheduling work based upon qualifications, location, parts and experience.
  5. Reducing fuel costs.
  6. Reducing travel times.
  7. Reducing overtime
  8. Using least cost employees and contractors
  9. Increasing productivity – more average service calls per service technician in a day.
  10. Increasing onsite product and service sales.
  11. Increasing collections with mobile invoicing, mobile printing of invoices and onsite collections.
  12. Improving inventory control and management - visibility to parts needed, the location of inventory and parts used on each job or service ticket.
  13. Reduced risks by reminding service technicians of safety hazards and safety procedures on the job.
  14. Improved customer interactions 
The following list drills down into more specific areas:
  1. Eliminate time spent in the office re-typing data collected in the field
  2. Eliminate time spent on the phone dispatching service tickets or work orders - both the time of the dispatcher and the time of the service technician: Dispatch electronic service tickets direct from your work order management system in the office with the mobile device of your service technician.
  3. Save time finding each work location: Send driving directions, or links, in the electronic work order that work with the GPS and mapping software in the mobile device.
  4. Avoid the high fuel costs incurred delivering paperwork to the office and picking it up: Synchronize the data direct from the field to the central database application.
  5. Avoid the time cost transporting paperwork from the field to the office: Synchronize the data collected from the field with the push of a button.
  6. Save time and provide better customer service by providing real-time access to enterprise parts, orders, and inventory data while in the field: Enable mobile access to customer history, product documentation, warranty information, inventory information, time sheets, work schedules and much more.
  7. Save time with field data collection by using barcode scanners and barcode labels, or RFID readers and RFID tags on assets: A quick scan with a handheld computer can automatically display all stored information related to the asset for quick review, edits and additions.
  8. Save time and reduce admin costs by creating and scheduling new service tickets direct from the field:
  9. Provide immediate invoicing for faster collections and better cash management: Allow field tech to print the invoice on a mobile printer at the job site.
  10. Save time and postage costs: Print the invoice and leave it with the customer at the job site, rather than wait and bill later from the office.
  11. Document proof of work completed to reduce invoice disputes: Leave a GPS audit trail of where work was performed and include a time and date stamp. Digital photo evidence of before and after work is also useful.
  12. Reduce the introduction of errors: Paper based systems are inherently slow and error prone due to human interaction, copying and re-typing. The more human hands that touch a paper form and add or edit data, the more chances that errors can be introduced to the data which will cause invoice disputes, inaccurate records and confusion.
  13. Reduce administrative costs by ensuring complete data is sent from the field, as incomplete or inaccurate field data can take hours of work to track down and correct: Send data from the field and ensure it is complete with data integrity features on the mobile devices.
  14. Reduce administrative costs by avoiding errors and misinterpretations due to poor or misread handwriting: Create electronic forms with pre-made options, check boxes and lists, and by using onscreen digital keyboards.
  15. Reduce administrative costs by ensuring the accuracy of data: Validate answers in the mobile software application on the handheld PDA.
  16. Reduce time on the phone and dangerous note taking while driving: Push documents directly from the office to the handheld.
  17. Save time and fuel by providing electronic dispatch and least cost routing: Use vehicle and/or handheld GPS tracking to view your workforce locations. Smartphones with GPS functionality can display the location of the field worker to help managers better organize service responses.
  18. Save time by developing estimation and job analysis mobile apps that can help field users make quicker and more accurate decisions and job estimates.
  19. Save time in the field by automating business processes in the mobile apps: Mobile apps can be configured to perform all kinds of automated business functions, queries, computations and analytics.
  20. Enforce quality work habits: Automate “best practices” into your mobile apps and provide visibility to managers.
  21. Automate quality and best practices - Activate the appropriate business process based upon the data entered: A specific answer can trigger the required business process in mobile apps.
  22. Reduce inventory loss - Avoid undocumented inventory usage and unbilled time: Enforce real time data entry before clock out or work order completion.
  23. Improve job estimates: Require clock in and clock out on projects to document and analyze the accuracy of work estimates.
  24. Improve technician training: Train new service technicians and inspectors with audio memos or video clips in the handheld computer application.
  25. Reduce disputes by documenting deliveries and work with digital signatures, date and time stamps and barcode scanners on the handheld computer.
  26. Save travel time and fuel cost finding parts: Query available inventory in nearby company vehicles.
  27. Increase profit per customer: Use information in mobile apps connected to CRMs to up-sell more products and services while onsite with the customer.
  28. Provider quicker and more accurate estimates: Query latest shipping status, schedules or inventory levels via smartphones or tablets while onsite with customer.
  29. Increase warranty revenues: Include updated customer information on mobile devices so the service technician can sell warranty and maintenance plans, new products and upgrades.
  30. Dispatchers with real-time visibility into job progress and status can more efficiently dispatch least-cost service technicians (contractors vs. employees).
In order to achieve true situational awareness with a real-time 360 degree view of your operations, you will need a number of systems to be tied into your mobility platform.  Here are just a few ideas:
  • CRM
  • Work Order Dispatch system
  • Scheduling system
  • Workforce optimization (workforce and resource planning needs)
  • GPS Tracking
  • Enterprise Asset Management
  • HCM (Human Capital Management) System
  • Inventory systems
  • Real-time Business Analytics
  • Etc.
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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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.

MDM is Not Dead - Ask the Right Questions

In my former career as the CEO of a mobile application company, I remember my professional services team coming into my office one day and asking me to buy licenses of an MDM (mobile device management) solution from a vendor called Soti. My team wanted to be able to troubleshoot new mobile applications on a large variety of different mobile devices.  They wanted remote access to both the device and the apps so they could understand bugs and issues that were reported from the field.  This is still a very useful feature.

Today, however, few of the MDM/MAM vendors adequately support this feature.  In my experience, the ability to have remote access and remote control of a mobile device is very useful.  I recently interviewed a CEO who shared how it had taken several years and many rounds of change management classes to get his field services technicians comfortable and using mobile technology.  In these kinds of work environments, the team deploying the mobile technology is often struggling to understand if reported software bugs are real, a lack of user knowledge, or a mobile device issue.  In these cases it is far easier for the help desk or professional services team to simply take remote control of the device and investigate the issue themselves.

My professional services team found remote access and remote control to be the fastest way to understand and resolve mobile solution issues.  I would strongly recommend that you ensure your MDM/MAM vendor provides this capability, especially if you are working on customized mobile applications.

Another interesting MDM requirement I have seen in many secure and classified work environments involving research, government and military organizations, is the need to control different mobile applications based on the geographic (GPS) location.  For example, when you enter a particular campus your mobile device camera, Bluetooth and audio recording apps are automatically disabled.  When you leave that geo-fenced area, they are again enabled.  This solution combines GPS tracking, geo-fencing and remote device control.

One of my friends, who is an SAP Mentor, shared that her university work site for years would not allow mobile devices to be brought to work because they contained cameras that were not allowed on the secure research site.  That policy evolved to mobile devices needing to have tape over their camera lenses.  Of course, we can all guess how effective that was.

Many of the MDM/MAM vendors today seem only to target today's consumer type smartphones and mobile applications.  However, in many industries with mission critical mobile applications running on ruggedized industrial grade mobile smartphones and handheld computers, there is a need for a much stronger mobile device management solution.

It is interesting to me that many MDM/MAM vendors champion the cause of BYOD (bring your own device) at work but then don't support that environment.  Many of the MDM/MAM vendors still have a very difficult time supporting all Android OS versions and manufacturer's devices.  When you are selecting an MDM vendor, dig deep with your questions in this area.  Find out, in truth, what exact Android devices and OS versions they can support.  It is almost always a limited subset.  Ask if they have the ability to remote access and remote control mobile devices.  If not, that is OK as long as you understand that up front and it fits your needs.  You just don't want to be surprised and disappointed later.


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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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 August 5, 2012

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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly

According to IDC, Android and iOS powered 85 percent of all smartphones shipped in the second quarter of 2012, establishing a new combined high for the mobile operating systems from Google and Apple. Read Original Content

Ninety-three percent of airlines today have "mobile services for passengers" as a top investment priority over the next three years. Fifty-eight percent are investing in major programs, and 89 percent of airlines plan to sell tickets via mobile devices by 2015, a recent SITA report revealed.  Read Original Content

More than $1 billion was wiped out of HTC's market capitalization on Monday and Tuesday combined, after the Taiwanese smartphone maker warned of weaker third-quarter earnings and reported a 45 percent plunge in July revenue.  Read Original Content

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

Collectively, Apple and Samsung companies watched their U.S. sales increase by 43 percent from the second quarter of 2011 to the same quarter of 2012, says NPD Group. Over the same time, combined sales for other companies, such as HTC, Motorola, and LG, fell by 16 percent.  Read Original Content

The global smartphone applications processor market showed a solid 55 percent year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2012, reaching $2.47 billion, according to Strategy Analytics.  Read Original Content


Sales of smartphones in the U.S. were up 9 percent last quarter due in large part to pre-paid phones. The NPD Group shared data showing that compared to the same quarter last year, pre-paid smartphone sales nearly doubled with growth of 91 percent.  Read Original Content

According to an IDC report, 5.4 million Windows Phone devices were sold in Q2 2012, which is 3.5 percent of the total smartphone market. Comparing this to Q2 2011, Windows Phone had a 115.3 percent growth.  Read Original Content

Kevin Benedict's What's New in HTML5 - Week of August 5, 2012

It is interesting reviewing the news around HTML5 each week and analyzing everyone's opinions.  I can say that over the past few weeks the majority of articles, quotes and comments describe HTML5 as needing to be used in a hybrid approach.  HTML5 seems to have too many limitations for many complex enterprise mobility applications on its own, but with a good HTML5 container you can overcome these.

Now for the news...

Edith Yeung, head of marketing at Dolphin Browser, states there is no shortage of great apps out there based on HTML5; however, some hurdles do remain.  She provides five reasons HTML5 apps are hard to monetize in this article in Mashable Tech.  The comments following the article provide differing opinions.  Read OriginalContent

According to a recent report from Strategy Analytics, HTML5-based Web apps do not pose a threat to the massive ecosystems that revolve around native apps.  Analyst Josh Martin states “HTML5 is not the future of apps. While developers dream of ‘write once run everywhere’ the fragmented support for and limited APIs within HTML5 make this impossible.”  Read Original Content

One of the major benefits of HTML5 web apps is that HTML5 enables developers to build an application once and then run it on multiple platforms.  One of the limitations is that HTML5 web apps don't utilize the features that make smartphones and tablets so popular, such as multi-touch capabilities, cameras and push notifications.  Read Original Content

People magazine has developed a new mobile site, utilizing HTML5 “to ease design and delivery across devices”.  The new mobile site offers the complete desktop content.  Read Original Content

While not endorsing HTML5 mobile as being the best approach in every situation, SAP’s Gabriel Alvarez provides a demonstration of how easy it is to develop an alternative to native apps using jQuery Mobile and BSP in his article “HTML5 Mobile with SAP - A Lot Easier Than You Think, Part II” posted on SAP’s Community Network.  Read Original Content

The W3C has named four new editors for the HTML5 specification following the split with the WHATWG group.  The new editors will be in charge of maintaining the W3C’s formal HTML5 specification.  Read Original Content

Mavenlink has launched a new HTML5-based mobile application to enable users to access their workforce collaboration platform on any mobile device.  Read Original Content

Paul Krill discusses nine development tools for obtaining the best that HTML5 has to offer in this article in InfoWorld “9 programming tools for maximizing HTML5”.  Read Original Content

ABI Research recently released a report analyzing trends in mobile app downloads. In the short term, native app downloads are expected to increase; however, the report finds the long term trend is negative, indicating HTML5-based web apps are playing a role in the slow-down in demand for native apps.  Read Original Content

Many speakers at the recent Black Hat security conference held in Las Vegas expressed concerns that as developers are turning their attention to HTML5, not enough attention has been paid to the possible risks.  Shreeraj Shah of Indian security company Blueinfy stated “There's a lot of opportunity for hijacking the browsers with HTML5.  You can compare HTML5 with a small operating system running in your browser."  Read Original Content

MoSync and InMobi have formed a partnership to enable HTML5 and JavaScript developers to use in-app ads in cross-platform native mobile apps.  Read Original Content

appMobi has launched openBuild, a free cloud service that allows any developer to compile HTML5 code into a distributable "hybrid" app.  The new service supports all HTML5 and JavaScript frameworks, giving developers who use jQuery, jqMobi, Enyo, Meteor, Sencha Touch or any other mobile-ready framework a free tool for compiling and packaging their HTML5 code into store-ready hybrid apps.  Read Original Content

GIS developer Atlas Cartographic Technologies has developed a new product, Evernav, an HTML5 navigation tool that will allow advertisers to place their ads on the map, thus “monetizing the app traffic and meeting one of the most pressing needs of the developer community”.  Read Original Content

SAP and Sencha have teamed up to make it easier for developers to create HTML5 apps using Sencha Touch 2 and the new OData Connector for SAP.  Read Original Content
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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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 August 5, 2012

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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

eMarketer has reported mobile online advertising spending is expected to jump 62 percent worldwide in 2012, with the United States overtaking Japan as the top market. Read Original Content

According to Informa, mobile commerce in AsiaPac is expected to reach $139 billion by 2012, with online advertising spend across the region reaching $22.2 billion by 2014. Read Original Content

According to the Portal Business Resource, in 2015 the global market for mobile advertising will exceed $20.6 billion dollars. Read Original Content

According to Yankee Group, tablets will account for 53 percent of mobile ad dollars in 2014 compared to 47 percent for mobile handsets. By 2016, tablets’ share of mobile ad sales should rise to 60 percent. Read Original Content


eMarketer has released its first projections for ad spending on mobile marketing and found the total market for advertising globally will reach $6.43 billion this year. Read Original Content

Nokia is integrating Groupon daily deals into its Windows Phone-based Lumia device series, a move to expand the scope of its Nokia Maps platform beyond navigation assistance. Read Original Content

Mobilizing Your Enterprise with SAP by SAP Press

SAP Press has just published a new book titled Mobilizing Your Enterprise with SAP that I recommend reading.  It is the best I have read.  I had the honor of being asked to write the Forward for this book along with Sanjay Poonen, SAP President and Corporate Offier, Technology and Innovation Products.

Here is an excerpt:
 
Enterprise mobility is transformational.  It is not just about a particular mobile device, screen size, operating system or online application store.  It is a new way of conducting business that demands our attention.  Companies will succeed or fail based in large part on their ability to respond to this reality.

Within the pages of this book are detailed many of the most important enterprise mobility trends and technical requirements that are shaping our IT landscapes today.  Nearly all of us easily recognize and appreciate the value and utility of the smartphone and tablet in the consumer space.  Today, the great minds of business and enterprise IT have turned their attentions to contemplating the full range of benefits that mobile technologies can bring to their individual regions, markets, industries and operations. 

This book opens by describing two specific waves of enterprise mobility, extending and creating.  Extending our ERP and other IT investments out to mobile devices is one wave, and creating completely new business processes is another.  Extending our internal IT investments to mobile devices offers important incremental improvements that deliver efficiencies, productivity gains and improved customer interactions to name just a few, however, creating completely new processes that are only possible with mobile technology and real-time communication is the giant leap forward.

What can be done differently in your business if you have real-time visibility to the status and location of your workforce and all of your resources, assets, inventories, supplies, and customer needs?  How can you improve your business performance by using real-time data in the field to drive better and faster decision-making?  How can you beat your competition and improve your business performance by developing real-time unified views of your operation?  What is possible if you have complete situational awareness because you have implemented a network centric operational strategy that provides full visibility and maximizes your ability to make good and fast decisions from anywhere?  The answers to these questions will dictate your company’s future.

This book is the first of its kind.  It is the first book I have ever read that attempts and succeeds in covering the full breadth of the enterprise mobility landscape from mobile business trends to specific technical development strategies within the SAP ecosystem.  I would even go further and endorse this book as required reading for anyone, SAP user or not, that wants to understand the full scope of enterprise quality mobile solutions and how it is possible to transform your business with this knowledge.

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @krbenedict.

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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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 Commerce News Weekly – Week of August 5, 2012

The Mobile Commerce 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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

According to a June 2012 survey including 5,000 Android and iPhone users in the U.S., Nielsen found that 47 percent of those surveyed have used a native shopping app on their phones. The report finds that approximately 45 million U.S. consumers have used shopping apps. Read Original Content

Visa is using the Olympics as an international showcase for mobile payments. The company has installed 140,000 payment terminals in London with NFC chips that enable the tap-and-pay process. The terminal locations include 5,000 London taxis and 3,000 point-of-sale venues. Read Original Content

Forrester Research expects close to 100 million NFC devices, which enable mobile contactless payment, to ship worldwide by the end of the year. Read Original Content


Verivo is a leading provider of enterprise mobility software. Verivo helps companies accelerate their business results. Its unique technology empowers teams to build, deploy, manage and update their mobile apps -- rapidly and securely. Verivo’s mobility platform is used by hundreds of companies in numerous industries, worldwide. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Verivo.  To learn more, visit www.verivo.com

According to Berg Insight 30 million NFC-enabled smartphones were sold in 2011, of those sold 5 million occurred in North America. Read Original Content

Google has announced substantial improvements to its Android-based wallet app, allowing users to add credit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Financial Services to its e-wallet. Read Original Content

Is Enterprise Mobility Funny?


The answer, according to my wife, is no.  However, I am reading a book on how to write comedy.  I apologize in advance for any offense.

Isn’t it sad to read about Research In Motion’s demise over the past couple of years? Morale is so bad in Waterloo, that psychologist are calling it Blackberry whine.

Mobile security is a very big concern for most executives surveyed.  No CEO wants another Tiger-Woods-text-message-discovery incident happening on their watch.

Foxxcon is a big player in the mobile device industry; in fact they are the world’s largest maker of electronic components and they manufacture Apple’s iPhones and iPads.  If Apple grows any more, China is going to have to drop their one child policy.

Microsoft is preparing to release Windows 8 and they hope this will make them a player in the mobile industry again.  If they don’t come up with a winning solution this time, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will need to step in.

Why were the iPhones so disappointed with their swimming performance at the Olympics?  They were out of sync.

Texting while driving is dangerous.  Your club could injure a spectator.

Providing real-time business analytics on mobile devices is a big trend.  If you are going to confuse a manager, let him be confused away from the office.

Again, my sincerest apologies.


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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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.

Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly – Week of August 5, 2012

The Field Mobility and M2M 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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

The seven standards bodies for telecoms that joined together to create a common M2M platform have now published a roadmap and have named the group “oneM2M”.  Read Original Content

MicroPower Technologies has formed a partnership with Sprint’s M2M network to enable MicroPower to add Sprint’s network as an additional channel to transmit wireless video.  Read Original Content

Automaker Honda is collaborating with M2M cellular carrier Aeris Communications to support its new electric-vehicle smartphone app, HondaLink EV.  Read Original Content

Since 1995, Syclo has enabled hundreds of companies in 37 countries and industries supercharge their businesses with mobility.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Syclo.

Aegis Technologies is building London 2012, a 3D database for the 2012 Summer Olympics utilizing multiple 3D modelers, texture artists and GIS analysts.  Read Original Content

Cloud-based, mobile and social field service applications provider ServiceMax is hosting a customer summit that will focus on ServiceMax, its customers and the journey toward field service transformation.  The summit will be held September 18, 2012 in San Francisco.  Read Original Content


The Siemens Foundation has partnered with Discovery Education to introduce an education program for teachers, which focuses on integrating technology with learning in new and innovative ways, in particular with the use of QR codes.  Read Original Content

Verizon Communications has finalized its $612 million acquisition of Hughes Telematics Inc.  Verizon states the acquisition prepares the company to speed up growth through the delivery of advanced automotive and fleet telematics and M2M services. Read Original Content

Ultimate Mobile Technologies, UAVs and Artificial Intelligence

X-47B
I read an interesting article this week titled I AM War Plane that was published in the August 2012 edition of the magazine Popular Science.  It was written by Clay Dillow and explored the new mobile technology that permits unmanned fighter planes to fly from specialized aircraft carriers.

The prototype plane, X-47B, is the world's first autonomous warplane, and first unmanned plane ever to land on a carrier.  By autonomous, the author means the ability to, in real-time, "assess fluid situations and form dynamic responses."

It is a stealth plane designed to deliver strikes or perform reconnaissance.  This plane is now part of the U.S. military's approximately 10,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in its inventory.  Here is the connection to enterprise mobility - these planes are loaded with remote sensors, video, radar, infrared and all kinds of mobile technology that is securely synchronizing with a back-office server in real time.  This is an incredible glimpse into the future of enterprise mobility.
Download report: http://info.antennasoftware.com/GartnerMQ_MADP_KB.html
In addition to all of the cool technology already mentioned, this plane's robotic brain makes all the moment-to-moment decisions on its own.  Yes, its mission is still controlled by people, but its tactical flight tasks are left to the UAV's on-board brain.  This brain enables it to operate in complex settings.  It can process vast amounts of flight data, make near-instantaneous decisions and guide itself to a flawless landing on the deck of a heaving aircraft carrier.

The X-47B uses many sensors that you can find in an iPhone.  It uses GPS equipment, accelerometers, altimeters and gyroscopes, plus a trunk load of classified equipment and sensors.

The author notes that one of the biggest advances in this UAV is the software that enables it to translate the on-board sensor data into decisions and commands that are sent to the flight computer.  This data must be translated and processed fast enough to enable successful and tricky landings on the deck of a moving ship that is buffeted by wind, rain and waves.

The X-47B is flying today.  The military's technology of today, will be in the commercial sector tomorrow.

The X-47B is not just a demonstration of mobile communications, remote sensors and artificial intelligence, but also a demonstration of M2M (machine-to-machine) communication.  SAP has recently sponsored a new M2M initiative (http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2012/05/sap-announces-new-m2m-initiative.html) and I am seeing more mention of M2M in the SAP ecosystem.  Some SAP partners like ILS Technology also have dedicated M2M solutions that are integrated with SAP.
Learn more at http://www.devicewise.com

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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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.

Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly – Week of August 5, 2012

Welcome to the Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility in Asia.  Asia is predicted to be the fastest area of growth for enterprise mobility between now and 2016.

Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

The Western Australia Police are utilizing a mobile communications service, which allows officers to access information in real-time while supporting field operations.  Mobile communications enable over 26,000 inquiries to be recorded each day with over 360 devices.  Read Original Content

India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies has developed the NASSCOM Enterprise Mobility initiative to create awareness and understanding of emerging technologies, facilitate knowledge sharing, create a community of technocrats and highlight local products.  Read Original Content

Touted as Asia’s Leading Mobile Event, Enterprise Mobility World Asia 2013 will be held April 24-25, 2013 in Singapore.  Read Original Content

Antenna Software provides a complete cloud-based enterprise mobility suite that enables both IT pros and business executives alike to create and manage mobile apps, websites and content across the entire business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Antenna Software.

Name-dialing mobile technology service CallMyName is expanding into countries in the Asia Pacific region.  Read Original Content


Indonesia has launched the Ina-GeoPortal interactive map, part of the country’s National Spatial Data Infrastructure.  The Ina-GeoPortal will provide government agencies and the general public real time access to spatial information on areas that are prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods.  Read Original Content

Mobile online shop creator zubibu is expanding into global markets by adding support for 25 languages, including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.  Read Original Content

The Latest Developments in Mobile Marketing Apps

 
Mobile marketing is a big growth area and advertisers are very excited.  For the first time advertisers have the opportunity to show you amazingly enticing products and services on small screens while you are driving very fast down the freeway in traffic!  

In the past, this driving time was wasted with drivers simply staring at the road and glancing periodically at their mirrors.  In the trade, advertisers called this driving time, “the dead zone” since drivers were distracted and not paying attention to advertisers' promotions. 

The ROI for mobile advertisers can be incredible, even after you account for customer churn due to traffic accidents.  Mobile advertising can be made both time sensitive and location aware so drivers feel an intense urgency to respond immediately if they have any hope of taking advantage of it.    

All of the sales, promotional and product details can be included right on the mobile device screen for drivers to read.   Be sure to include the details in order to avoid any confusion or misunderstandings with drivers.  

Hurry!  However, before you pass that slow truck ahead of you, change lanes or exit, please read the fine print.  The sale only lasts 15 minutes and requires pre-approved financing at 27% interest!"

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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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 Health News Weekly – Week of July 29, 2012

The Mobile Health News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to mobile health that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

According to recent research, 80 percent of physicians currently own tablet devices and 59 percent use mobile devices to run line-of-business applications. So how can BYOD be embraced without compromising health data security? Read Original Content

A new survey by industry analyst Parks Associates has found that a full quarter of all people who use a smartphone would like to see an application that allows them to communicate better with their doctor. Read Original Content

Research from Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that while 88 percent of Americans have a cellphone and about half of those are smartphones, only 10 percent of have downloaded health-related apps on those devices, a figure that's remained stable since 2010. Read Original Content

Antenna Software provides a complete cloud-based enterprise mobility suite that enables both IT pros and business executives alike to create and manage mobile apps, websites and content across the entire business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Antenna Software.

The Medipattern Corporation, has announced that its MyTrak Mobile unit has received an order from Target Corporation for delivery of SMARTCOACH, its mobile coaching and engagement device. Read Original Content


A recent poll from Mitchell Research found that of the 78 million Baby Boomers in the U.S., 24 percent own smartphones and are turning to apps recommended by their doctors to further preventative care. Read Original Content

The burgeoning mHealth field offers healthcare a wealth of opportunities to engage with patients and provide a satisfactory return on investment. But if mobile medical apps are going to stand any chance of survival – with physicians as well as consumers – they'll have to be able to integrate. Read Original Content

Kevin Benedict's What's New in HTML5 - Week of July 29, 2012

HTML5 is really picking up steam this week with SAP, Adobe, Google and Microsoft all announcing additional support, programs and products this week that relate to HTML5.

SAP announced a free mobile developer license, a new SAP Mobile Apps Partner program and additional support for integrating the HTML5-centric software development frameworks from  Adobe, Appcelerator Titanium and Sencha with the SAP mobile platform.  SAP invites the vast mobile developer community to co-innovate with the company and create diverse mobile apps for all business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) environments.  Read Original Content

Adobe, Google and Microsoft have committed to sponsor the World Wide Web Consortium, enabling the W3C to add staff to support the HTML working group’s activities.  Read Original Content

Microsoft’s new Office Web Apps, online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, are HTML5-based and now available for testing.  Read Original Content

Google and the Tate Modern art gallery in London have partnered to create This Exquisite Forest, a collaborative art project powered by Chrome’s HTML5 and JavaScript.  ReadOriginal Content

Espial is hosting a technology seminar titled "HTML5 Apps: The Smart TV Evolution" in Tokyo on July 25, 2012.  The seminar “will explore how HTML5 applications have the power to deliver a more compelling and immersive experience using the next generation of Smart TVs”.  Read Original Content

Adobe has launched the e-Learning Suite 6, a set of tools for creating professional grade e-learning and HTML5 based m-learning content.  Read Original Content

Mobile marketing agency Megascanz has launched its new HTML5-based mobile website building software.  Read Original Content

With the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3G), focusing on different parts of the HTML5 standards, the groups have decided to separate.  The WHATWG group will take charge of an evolving, “living standard” and W3C will work on a more static “snapshot.”  Read Original Content

Ludei, the creator of HTML5 game development platform CocoonJS, has launched a new HTML5 game engine.  The Canvas Advanced Automation Toolkit utilizes pre-designed code snippets to enable developers to bring their games to market quicker.  Read Original Content

appMobi has unveiled a new, free, cloud-based reporting service for PhoneGap and hybrid HTML5 app developers.  According to the announcement, StoreView aggregates and displays detailed app analytics across all the most popular app stores in a single dashboard.  ReadOriginal Content

According to a report from Strategy Analytics titled, “HTML5: No Threat to Native App Dominance”,  HTML5 alone is not the future of apps, but the HTML5 hybrid app will see strong growth.  Read Original Content

Microsoft and shopping site TheFind.com have collaborated to create an HTML5-based website, Glimpse Catalogs.  “The goal was to create something that would leverage the immense reach of the Web without compromising the beauty, richness and performance of an app.”  Read OriginalContent

Online work and project management solution Mavenlink has launched a new mobile app built using HTML5.  The app is designed to provide users with easy access to their workforce collaboration platform on any mobile device.  Read Original Content

According to Appcelerator's developer interest survey, enthusiasm for HTML5 has climbed from 67 percent in the first quarter of 2012 to 73 percent in the second quarter.  Read Original Content

Web graphic designer Nousheen Aquil discusses and provides a new collection of free HTML5 and CSS3 templates (http://www.noupe.com/design/html5-and-css3-collection-fresh-free-web-templates.html) and a collection of HTML5 tutorials and resources for developers (http://www.noupe.com/design/html5-tutorials.html). 

To help developers meet the needs of the growing smartphone market, Intertech is offering a new HTML5 Mobile Development training course.  Read Original Content

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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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 July 29, 2012

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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly

Since 2010, the percentage of smartphone users in the U.S. making purchases on their mobile devices has risen to nearly 40 percent. ABI Research predicts that by 2015, $119 billion in goods and services will be purchased via mobile phones worldwide.  Read Original Content

A Strategy Analytics report indicates a decrease on smartphone shipment growth year-over-year with a 70.1 percent increase in 2011 and a 5.4 percent decrease for 2012.  The differences between global results and those in the U.S. only suggest the U.S. market might have reached its peak, while worldwide smartphones are enjoying better sales.  Read Original Content

With the market for smartphones forecast to reach $150 billion by 2014, emerging robotics company Quantum International Corp. is positioning itself to capitalize on the rise of the next big trend in mobile technology: smartphone-compatible robotics.  Read Original Content

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

The U.S. smartphone market took a dip in the second quarter, with Android's market share dropping 4 points to 56 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.  Apple, however, saw a 10 percent increase from 23 percent in 2Q 2011 to 33 percent in the most recent quarter.  Read Original Content

Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. will square off in court Monday in a closely watched trial over control of the U.S. smartphone and computer tablet markets. Apple is demanding $2.5 billion in damages from the South Korean company.  Read Original Content


Fighting sluggish sales numbers and competing in a locally-dominated smartphone market, HTC has closed its South Korean offices.  Read Original Content

An IDC survey shows Samsung shipped 50.2 million smartphones globally in the April-June period, a sizzling 172.8 percent gain from a year earlier, while Apple sold 26 million iPhones, up 27.5 percent.  Read Original Content

Mobile Marketing News Weekly – Week of July 29, 2012

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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

A new study from IBM found that the share of smartphone shopping rose from 13.3 percent in Q1 to 15.1 percent in Q2. In the same period, social commerce dropped from an already low 2.4 percent to just 1.9 percent. Read Original Content

Mobile commerce is a huge growth area, PWC says, noting that Internet connected mobile devices combined with social networking “is creating a compelling case for businesses to embrace m-commerce”. Read Original Content

A recent Hipcricket survey found that 46 percent of smartphone owners have viewed a mobile ad, and 64 percent have completed at least one purchase as a result of mobile advertising. Read Original Content

The Associated Press and its iCircular division launched a mobile circular program last fall to help publishers monetize their growing digital audiences.  “The average retailer had a click-through rate 1000 percent higher than a traditional mobile ad unit at 6 percent, with mass merchandising retailers having click-through rates as high as 18 percent,” said Jeff Litvack of iCircular. Read Original Content


The shopping spree for InMobi continues apace. The mobile advertising network has announced the acquisition of UK-based Metaflow Solutions, a mobile app management and distribution company. Read Original Content

A new Millennial Media study indicates travel was the third-largest ad category on Millennial's network through the first quarter in terms of spending, after telecom and finance. It was also the third-fastest-growing segment in the last year -- behind sports and news, with 200 percent growth. Read Original Content

Traveling and Mobile Technologies in the Military

This week our little family is celebrating the graduation of our son from OCS (Officer Candidate School) at Fort Benning in Georgia.  We are as proud as parents can be!  So this week we are attending his graduation and experiencing the Georgia heat in August.  Not our typical August holiday destination, but we are thrilled to be here. Now what is the connection between our family's celebrations and mobile technologies?

Let me try to tie this all together.  First, while our son was attending Boise State University, he helped us work on many mobile newsletters and mobile industry research projects that you may have read.  Second, we flew into Atlanta, Georgia this week and while on a layover in Minneapolis, we checked our gate and next flight details on our Delta Airlines mobile iPhone app.  Then when we landed in Atlanta, I used my iPhone TripIt! mobile app to reference the phone number of our hotel, and to call and ask if they had a shuttle service.  We then rented a car from Hertz where they checked our reservation with some type of rugged tablet computer.  And finally, at the entrances to many of the military bases the guards now use ruggedized handheld computers to scan drivers licenses.  All the while we reported our progress across the country with our soldier via SMS and other friends via email.

Travel and mobile technologies are now completely integrated and essential.  Any of you that travel know how completely dependent we all are on mobile technologies.  All you have to do is run out of battery, lose connectivity or travel internationally to experience the frustration of being disconnected.  You feel isolated and out of touch.  Sometimes this feels good, but not when you are trying to be productive or pretending to work.


This week, all of my newsletters and articles will be published from our hotel room using wireless connectivity and mobile devices (I am counting my laptop as a mobile device).  Another example of the benefits of mobile technologies.

Additional connections between mobile technologies and our family's adventures - our son is going to be an officer in a Combat Engineering unit.  The Combat Engineering school just opened up a Robotics University at Fort Leonard Wood that utilizes some very cool real-time mobile technologies to maneuver the robots and communicate with its sensors.  In addition, many of our military patrols in combat zones now carry handheld sensors and GPS tracking systems that can identify and locate the source of gun fire.  Even more advanced versions of these sensors can be integrated into drones that can detect gunfire sources from over 25,000 feet (read more here).

One of the common tasks of combat engineers is road clearance.  IEDs have become one of the major sources of casualties in modern combat and mobile technologies are an integral part of defending against this.  UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) or drones are used to patrol roads from the sky and these drones are often maneuvered from locations over 7,500 miles away.  Can you image the kind of mobile communications and data link speeds that must be involved for a pilot to fly a drone from that distance?

Even more - The U.S. Marines are currently experimenting with assigning Android developers to different Marine units to help them quickly develop mission specific mobile apps that can be used on missions. This requires secure military app stores that have many pre-existing apps, web services, templates and widgets that can quickly be configured into unique missions specific apps.

At a higher level situational awareness, a requirement for modern network centric warfare, is dependent on mobile technologies to complete the picture of where the good and bad forces are, their status, and where your resources and assets are located.  All aspects of this are dependent on secure mobile communications and real-time connectivity.

Understanding how dependent we are all on mobile communications and apps, makes me very concerned and interested in how we are going to secure all of these apps, networks and devices.  Although not technical enough to understand all the details about mobile application and device security and management, I am certainly paying a lot more attention to this category of solutions these days.
SAP and Machine to Machine Communications and Integrations

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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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.

Changing Times for Enterprise Mobility

As I was running this morning in the Boise foothills, OK walking at a brisk pace, I was pondering how fast enterprise mobility is evolving.  Today, HTML5 and Android security are critical check box items for any company considering standardizing on a mobile application development platform and a mobile application management platforms.

The MAM (mobile application management) and MDM (mobile device management) vendors have all been working hard to bring order out of chaos in the Android space as demonstrated by this recent announcement, "SOTI Inc., an Enterprise Mobility Device Management (MDM) vendor, has unveiled new technology that enables corporations to consistently manage security policies across Android devices from all manufacturers."  It has been a challenge for most vendors to provide enterprise quality security for Android devices due to the many different versions of the Android OS that manufactures use.  Most vendors would only support or secure a limited subset early on.  It seems vendors are becoming more confident in their abilities these days, as measured by the number of recent announcements around securing Android devices that I read about.

On the topic of HTML5, most vendors now have an HTML5 hybrid solution and strategies that enables them to add proprietary features to a container that supports HTML5.  This container enables them to solve problems and address challenges that may not yet have been addressed in the HTML5 standard.

I would advise that you regularly get briefing from your mobile vendors of choice about developments in these two areas as they are fast moving.  I would also recommend against purchasing from a mobile vendor that does not have HTML5 or HTML5 hybrid solution or strategy, and have answers to how you can secure Android devices.

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Kevin Benedict, Mobile Industry Analyst, Mobile Strategy Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus
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.

Interviews with Kevin Benedict