The Military, Mobile Strategies and Mobile Apps

My son, a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, was reviewing the list of speakers at an upcoming Enterprise Mobility for Defense conference where I will be speaking and said, "You are the only non-General on the agenda.  Why would they ask you to speak?"  Our kids humble us don't they?  The bottom line though is the military desperately wants to use commercially available mobile apps and mobile technologies whenever they can.  They are very keen to learn all they can about mobility and how it can be used to the advantage of our military forces.

In advance of the conference, I participated in an interview with the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement.  Here is the interview transcript.

Welcome Kevin.

Thank you for having me, Chris.

Let’s talk mobility—highlight for us the main benefits of being mobile for the military.

There are a many, but they really have to do with situational awareness in the field. The ability for both commanders and their soldiers in the field to be able to know where they are located, where their opponents are located, where their supplies and assets are located and their numbers and availabilities, and what areas are safe or unsafe.  They need to know where there are imminent threats.  They need to be able to collect data and access data from any kind of sensors, whether they are drones in the sky or data collected through other sources, and then overlay that information on a map on a mobile device.  These capabilities enable them to have an awareness of what’s going on around them.

Historically in the military, 95% of the challenge a commander faced was finding the opponent, and then finding their own resources so they could develop a successful plan or mission.

Mobility and wireless sensors are what allow data to be collected in real time, fed back to intelligence analysts, and then on to the soldiers in the field.   Again, it is all about situational awareness made possible through a connected or network-centric environment.

What is your advice for the consultants working with defense on mobile enterprise solutions? What are the keys to remember?

Well, the key is always going to be security and understanding the connectivity issues that the real world presents to soldiers.  In many cases the landscape is not conducive to certain kinds of communication. So any time you have consultants working in the defense industry, they need to always be thinking of those two points, because no matter how clever or innovative a mobile app or solution works in an optimal environment, it must continue to work in bad environments as well.  That means a lot of testing in rough and deadly environments.

Explain for us how consultants can bridge the gap between commerical solutions aand defense with enterprise mobility.

The military today is ahead of the commercial sector on mobile strategy.  However, the commercial sector is ahead on mobile devices and mobile apps.  So consultants that have a foot in both the commercial sector and the defense side have an advantage.  They need to understand the latest mobile technologies available in the commercial space, and the communication, connectivity and security requirements of defense, the military strategies in use, and then offer an appropriate solution.

I’ve been reading recently that the U.S. Marines are actually testing the concept of having Android developers assigned to particular units in the field, so they can quickly develop mission specific apps in just a few hours.  That’s a concept that’s way ahead of what most companies are doing in the commercial sector.  What makes it possible is having a library of widgets and pre-developed apps that are small and simple but can be quickly aggregated together for a mission.  I think these strategies are really demonstrating the power of combining the military's strategies with commercial app store concepts.

Talk to us a little bit more about how mobility can truly be transformative.


There are concepts like activity based intelligence and patterns of life in the military that are being evolved right now. These concepts are really focused on the use of persistent surveillance and analytics that are looking for patterns.  Patterns of activities and behaviors in a particular region can tell analysts a lot about the risk involved in a region.  That information can make all the difference in how a mission is planned and executed. To be able to overlay patterns of activity and behavior from a particular region on a map and then view it on your mobile device is powerful.  These kinds of capabilities require good security and connectivity in the field.  You need the ability to query for information and to be able to see real time data on what’s over the hill and around the corner.  These kinds of technologies and strategies are saving American and allied forces' lives every day and completely changing how missions are executed.

Real time data helps our soldiers avoid walking into areas blind.  Real time visibility on a mobile device, connected to a network-centric environment, can help soldiers by providing information on neighborhoods, buildings, roads, cultural environments and event history in their area.   We can then add things like live video feeds and social sentiment analysis where data on attitudes and opinions of people living in the region can be analyzed to better understand an area. All of these capabilities combined can completely change the way a mission is planned and executed – that is transformative innovation that can save the lives of our soldiers.

Lastly, I want to ask if you’re witnessing any trends with regard to mobile apps and mobile adoption - it’s something you write about quite a bit on your blog www.mobileenterprisestrategies.com

I noticed the other day that the NSA has approved a unique variation of Android for use by soldiers.  They wrote a document that says how you can secure an Android device to the security levels required for military use.  This is likely just a hypothetical scenario now but an interesting development. 

I also read where a military commander was saying he uses an iPhone, he knows his soldiers use iPhones, and his goal is to make sure that those iPhones in the pockets of his soldiers are more useful.  There is a lot of information the military needs to share with their forces and their families, and these devices can be useful for that purpose.  In order to save money, rather than buying purpose built military grade devices and apps where there is likely a premium on the cost, the military wants to use commercially available technology whenever possible. 

It is my observation that the military is ahead of the commercial side on mobile strategy, but not on the latest mobile technologies and apps.  There is a lot these two sectors can learn from each other.

Thank you for your time today Kevin, we look forward to meeting you when you present at the Enterprise Mobility for Defense Summit.


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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant
Read The Future of Work
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group
Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Commerce News Weekly – Week of October 21, 2012

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile commerce and marketing, mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking, mobile ads 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 News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

ABI Research believes more than $100 billion in NFC payments will be processed by 2016. The forecast for the following year is even greater as sales could reach as high as $200 billion. Read Original Content

CEO of Google, Larry Page, said the company’s mobile business, which includes advertising and app sales, is now generating revenue at an annual run rate of $8 billion, as compared to $2.5 billion one year earlier. Read Original Content

Research In Motion has struck an agreement to help manage security technology that will make it possible for many Canadians to pay with their smartphones through “mobile wallets.” Read Original Content

Kony is the industry’s leading mobile and multichannel application platform provider. Kony develops a suite of customizable pre-built apps, the KonyOne™ Platform and a comprehensive mobile application management solution, which give companies the confidence and control to quickly build apps once and deploy everywhere -- across all mobile devices and operating systems. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Kony.

A new report from Berg Insight says the number of active mobile money users in emerging markets will grow from last year’s 61 million to 381 million by 2017. That's a compound annual growth rate of 36 percent. Read Original Content

According to a report by research firm, ABI, the overall revenue spent using NFC mobile payments will increase from $4 billion this year to $191 billion in 2017. Read Original Content


According to eMarketer, consumer use of smartphones as a POS payment device, whether through NFC or other contactless technology, will total just $640 million this year. However, this figure represents a 283 percent increase over an even smaller base in 2011, and could increase another 234 percent by the end of 2013. Read Original Content

Interest in mobile shopping is highest in the age groups 30-39 years and 40-49 years in Sweden, according to a new customer survey conducted by Payair, a mobile commerce company. Read Original Content

Total spend via mobile devices using NFC is to rise more than twenty-fold, from $4 billion this year to $100 billion in 2016 according to forecasts from ABI Research. Read Original Content

Mobile Expert Video Series: Tony Kueh

Last week I led three sessions on mobile strategies at SAP TechEd in Las Vegas.  While I was there, I had the good fortune of meeting up with and interviewing Tony Kueh, Head of Mobile Platform Solutions and Strategies at SAP. In this interview we discuss SAP's new "open" strategy toward mobile partners.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTsbOzyLz2A




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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant
Read The Future of Work
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group
Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud - SMAC

I am speaking at a Cognizant user conference this week in Scottsdale, AZ where social, mobile, analytics and cloud are the central themes.  Cognizant uses the acronym SMAC to refer to these four technologies integrated into one grouping. This event follows the Oracle Open World and SAP TechEd events this month where these same four technology trends were also highlighted.

This SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) grouping makes sense to me.  The SMAC acronym is also a far better marketing acronym than SCAM would be.  Can you imagine saying, "I would like to talk to you about a SCAM."  Not so good!  MACs would also not be a good acronym as it is too closely aligned with our iFriends.  MASC would just make it seem like we were hiding something, so SMAC works for me.

SMAC also makes it past my "pocket test."  I reach into my pocket, pull out my iPhone 5 and examine what I do with it.  I use SOCIAL apps (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Blogger, etc.) on my iPhone.  I use it while MOBILE as my mobile communication and mobile data device.  I use Google Search, and its ANALYTICS everyday, as well as Weather and flight status apps.  I use all kinds of CLOUD based mobile apps including news apps, banking apps, and all the social apps everyday.  So my pocket test says SMAC is relevant.

The words I keep hearing around this SMAC stack are "multiplication effect" and "force multiplier."  Here are a couple of definitions around "force multiplier":
  • A factor that dramatically increases (hence "multiplies") the effectiveness of an item or group.
  • A capability that, when added to and employed by a work force, significantly increases the productivity potential of that force.
I personally think of Twitter and Blogger as force multipliers in my work.  I can communicate and share information with thousands from my home office in Boise, Idaho by effectively using social networking solutions in the cloud.

I invite you to watch what SAP's CIO Oliver Bussman said to me the other day on the subject of SMAC in this video interview.  I also interviewed Ingo Piroth, SAP's VP of Mobile Services, North America, on the concept of SMAC (see video interview at minute 3:03), where he states that SMAC is probably the biggest conversation topic at SAP right now.

It appears that you will be hearing more SMAC talk from me in the future.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant
Read The Future of Work
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group
Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

M2M News Weekly – Week of October 21, 2012

Welcome to M2M News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices.  I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article.  I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

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

The smart metering market in Southeast Asia will reach $6.9 billion by 2022, according to a new study by Northeast Group, LLC. Read Original Content

The worldwide market for smart grid data analytics will grow steadily through 2020, with cumulative worldwide spending from 2012 through 2020 totaling just over $34 billion, according to a report from Pike Research. Read Original Content

A new Strategy Analytics M2M Strategies report "M2M Devices Annual Sales by Air Interface, Region by Industry Vertical" predicts cellular M2M module shipments will grow from 76 million in 2012 to 104 million in 2013. Read Original Content

ILS Technology provides ready-to-use cloud based platforms to implement and manage M2M (machine to machine) and embedded wireless devices that connect to SAP.  ILS Technology simplifies deployments and offers unparalleled security to protect company and customer data and to ensure regulatory compliance. This newsletter is sponsored in part by ILS Technology.

The global satellite SCADA/M2M market is expected to reach $2.7 billion in 2021, growing more than two-fold from today’s $1.2 billion annual revenue base. Read Original Content

The wireless industry could see a $1.2 trillion revenue opportunity out of the connected devices market by 2020. Within this market, M2M is instrumental in enabling communications across wider "horizontal" platforms in several key sectors. Read Original Content


Total mobile connections will stand at 6.8 billion including M2M communications, or 5.9 billion excluding M2M and inactive SIM cards by fourth quarter, according to a study by GSMA. Read Original Content

Two types of software platforms that underpin the development of the M2M market are forecast to generate $3.85 billion in revenues by 2017, according to a new report from ABI Research. Read Original Content

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