Tactical vs. Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Tsunamis of Change

In the recent survey I conducted titled "State of Enterprise Mobility 2013" I asked the question, "Does your company view mobile solutions as tactical (LOB or process specific) or strategic (critical to the success of the company)?"  Over 220 participants answered the question with 71.3% answering strategic, and 28.2% answering tactical.  However, when I filtered for just the answers from end-users (removing analysts, consultants, software and mobility vendors), then 48% answered tactical, and 52% answered strategic.  There are still a lot of enterprises that view enterprise mobility as merely a tactical solution.

What is the difference between strategic and tactical enterprise mobility?  I think it relates to the scale and transformational nature of your implementations.  For example, if your CPG (consumer packaged goods) company had 27 food processing inspectors that needed mobile apps to conduct in-house inspections, then I would consider that a tactical implementation of a mobile solution.  However, if your company implemented an enterprise-wide mobile app to facilitate better enterprise collaboration, then that might be strategic. Strategic mobile applications fundamentally change the way a company operates.

I see a lot of strategic mobility especially used in B2C (business-to-consumer) apps.  Many of these apps can completely change the way customers feel about your company, research products and services, buy things and recommend them to friends.

Social, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) and other IT mega-trends are causing massive changes today.  Here is what Gartner said this week at their symposium, "IT is no longer just about the IT function. Instead, IT has become the catalyst for the next phase of innovation in personal and competitive business ecosystems."  Did you catch that?  IT is becoming even more important, and is key to making their businesses competitive!

I get concerned when I meet with IT strategy teams in 2013 that tell me, "We are conducting POCs with a couple of simple mobile apps."  WHAT?  What are they trying to prove with a POC?  That is like saying, "I know a Tsunami is coming, but I am going to practice my breast stroke and back stroke to see which I like better."  You have got to be strategic enough to MATTER!

Here is another comment from the Gartner Symposium this week, "The savvy CIO will get his or her CEO to recognize the change being brought about by disruptive shifts, and that they are coming at an accelerated pace and that they will have a global level of impact."  These changes and economic shifts are seismic!

It is time we recognized these massive changes for what they are, and get serious about implementing a strategy shift that enables us to respond to changes at a much faster pace than ever before.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

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Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Personal and Enterprise Clouds, HTML5 and Mobile Devices

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In the recent survey "State of Enterprise Mobility 2013" I asked the question, "How many wireless devices do you use daily?"  An incredible 69 percent use three or more wireless devices daily.  I myself use three - my MacBook Pro, iPad mini and iPhone.

I use my iPad mostly for reading email, notes, news, ebooks and social media, plus I watch videos and listen to music on it.  I use my iPhone for the same purposes when I am on the go, plus texting, phone calls, the camera, fitness apps and maps.  I use my laptop to do many of the same things, but specifically to write, use Microsoft Office apps, participate in video conferences and conduct research and store photos.

There are a lot of overlaps in what I do on the devices, which is the reason the whole concept of the "personal cloud" is so valuable to me.  Rather than store all content on devices and worry about synchronizing updated versions of my content across other devices, much of my personal content is stored in personalized clouds.  My Blogger and Facebook accounts are personal clouds where I store and share my content.  LinkedIn, Twitter, iCloud, EverNote, Box.net, DropBox, Instagram, Pinterest, etc., are also personal cloud services where you can store and share content.  The value, of course, is that you can access all of your content from any of your wireless devices with minimal effort and maximin convenience.

Enterprises will find the same kinds of benefits that I do but on a much larger scale.  Companies that recognize a permanent requirement to support an increasing number of enterprise mobility apps on ever-changing devices, must seek a model of design, development, deployment, maintenance and support that maximizes efficiency, productivity and minimizes TCO (total cost of ownership).  In today's world - that model looks like HTML5 apps managed and deployed using enterprise cloud services.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

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Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile Expert Google+ Hangout with Chris Willis

In this Google+ Hangout interview with mobility expert Chris Willis, we discuss current enterprise mobility trends, Verivo's strategies, evolving mobile platforms and business models.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS6-y1oppNE&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict Selected to the 2013 Power Players in Technology Business Media List

AlwaysOn is proud to announce the Power Players in Technology Business Media list, honoring the technology journalists (and Bloggers) who are keeping the Global Silicon Valley connected and informed.   Cognizant’s Head SMAC Analyst, Kevin Benedict has been selected as a 2013 winner.

The AlwaysOn Power Players in Technology Business Media list honors the editors, writers, and bloggers in the technology world who are keeping technology entrepreneurs informed and connected. Reporting on the massive technology breakthroughs hitting the market almost every day, these individuals are the voices behind the ideas that make the Global Silicon Valley an incubator for success, helping inspire entrepreneurs who are building strong companies and forward-thinking, indispensable products. - See more at: http://aonetwork.com/Announcing-the-2013-Power-Players-Technology-Business-Media/#sthash.fzgwu8C4.dpuf

I am honored.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobility, Metamemory and the Connected Second or Third Brain

Does having a library close to your home erode your brain's ability to remember?  Unlikely right?  But many people continue to believe that having information available nearby, such as in your pocket or purse does.  I have heard people speculate that access to Wikipedia and other personal cloud or internet content via smartphones must negatively impact memory?  That claim just does not make sense to me.

Today, I read an article by Clive Thompson titled, "Is Google Wrecking Our Memory."  In this article Thompson says the short answer to the question in his article title is no.  Seems about 30 years ago Harvard psychologists Daniel Wegner, Ralph Erber and Paula Raymond noticed humans use a memory process called "transactive memory" whereby we remember where to find answers in other people.  For example Wegner's team noticed spouses often divide up who remembers what.  The wife might remember everyone's birthdays, but the husband remembers what kind of work all the various family members do and where they live.  Combined, the couple has a great memory. Uncoupled, their memory is incomplete.

It turns out we are all pretty bad at memorizing details (unless we are passionate about something), but really good at memorizing where to find information.  As a result humans quickly come to recognize who knows what and where to find answers.  The end result is a group of friends or family members quickly recognize who in the group knows about certain things - Ralph knows about cars, Mary knows about geography, Claus knows the Bible, Susan knows computers, etc.  This recognition of where to find information is called "metamemory." You know where information is stored and can retrieve it quickly from your friend's brain.  This metamemory expands your memory to a group memory, or a network of memories.

Before computers, the cave men knew which cave contained the painted story of a great hunt.  As languages developed, people soon recognized who amongst them maintained specialized knowledge.  A village leader may have been the person who used their networking skills and metamemory to get things done.  They knew which member in the village knew how to solve a particular problem.

Today, we use our smartphones' access to Wikipedia as the painting on the cave wall.  In businesses we know our customer and sales information is kept in our CRM system.  We recognize where the information is stored.  Our metamemory has expanded from cave walls, to people, to books, to Wikipedia and our business solutions.  We continue to develop our metamemory, it is just not limited by geography or people today, or is it?  Where are Mary and Susan when you need them?

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

State of Enterprise Mobility 2013 Survey Results, Part 1

I am working on the "State of Enterprise Mobility 2013" survey report this week and wanted to share some of the interesting results.  Here is the first question, "How important is B2E (business-to-employee) mobility to your company's success?"  Here are the answers:

• End users - 30% stated it has a large to critical impact
• Analysts -  69% stated it has a large to critical impact
• Consultants - 40% stated is has a large to critical impact
• Mobility Vendors - 51% stated it has a large to critical impact
• Software/ERP Vendors - 46% stated is has a large to critical impact

Here is the second question, "How important is B2C (business-to-consumer) mobile apps to your company's success?"  Here are the answers:

• End users - 40% stated it has a large to critical impact
• Analysts - 23% stated it has a large to critical impact
• Consultants - 33% stated it has a large to critical impact
• Mobility Vendors - 35% stated it has a large to critical impact
• Software/ERP Vendors - 29% stated it has a large to critical impact

It is very interesting that "end-users" value B2E less than the rest of the market, but value B2C more than the rest of the market participants.

It is also interesting that "analysts" place a much higher value on B2E mobility than the rest of the market participants, but value B2C less than the rest.

What are your interpretations of this data?

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Video Series: Bob Egan, Part 2

Bob Egan is a friend, the founder/CEO of the Sepharim Group, veteran enterprise mobility expert and analyst.  In this interview Bob shares his thoughts on the current state of mobile devices, enterprise mobility and trends.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_vTZ44rRWA&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

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

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Extinction Events and Democracy - The Death of Blackberry

There is a saying in America, "Every dog has its day."  That idiom means everyone will at some time in their life have a moment of success.  That moment may be a second, a minute, perhaps a day, a week, several months or even years.  BlackBerry had its day.

In an article titled, "The Fatal Mistake That Doomed BlackBerry," writer Sam Gustin identifies a number of critical points in BlackBerry's history that my colleagues at the Center for The Future of Work would describe as crossroads.  Good decisions at the crossroads lead to success, bad decisions at the crossroads lead to "extinction events."  Here are a few identified by Gustin:

1. BlackBerry failed to see the power shift from enterprises to consumers.  They focused on the enterprise until it was too late.  They thought decisions in the enterprise drove demand.
2. BlackBerry failed to understand and embrace the "apps economy" that started and fueled an uncontrolled frenzy of innovation from developers and demand from consumers.  BlackBerry thought they dictated and controlled progress and innovation.
3. BlackBerry failed to understand mobile phones could become more than voice and text communicators.  They missed the whole notion that mobile devices could be entertainment hubs for the masses.
4. BlackBerry failed to realize that bigger screens trumped physical keyboards.  Consumers embracing their devices as entertainment hubs wanted to watch videos, play games and view maps on bigger screens.  
5. BlackBerry considered providing secure email on a mobile phones the pinnacle of innovation, rather than just the start.  Apple and Android saw mobile phones as mobile computers that could support an unlimited number of software apps and functions.

I am struck by the amount of power and influence BlackBerry believed it controlled.  It seemed a kind of institutional arrogance.  The advent of the world wide web, wireless broadband and social media ensured a kind of democracy in technology.  The mobile world could and would no longer be controlled by a single company in Waterloo, but rather by the consumer.

Today, I still come across vendors who seem to believe they control the direction of enterprise mobility.  As soon as I observe this attitude, a vision of an extinction event fills my mind.  Vendors must innovate both in front of and in parallel with the the direction customers are heading.  They can no longer dictate and control the direction of the consumer.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

SMAC Expert Series: Cloud Services and Enterprise Mobility Risks and Vulnerabilities

I had the privilege of recording a Google+ Hangout On Air with cloud services and mobile security expert Rajiv Gupta, CEO/Founder of SkyHigh Networks this week.  In this interview we discuss the risks and vulnerabilities of letting your mobile and enterprise users access cloud services.  This is a very interesting area that I had not spent much time considering.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay_RlYNYJ_s&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

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

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Power Projection on a Global Scale and Enterprise Mobility

Power Projection

Hillsong United, is a global musical powerhouse headquartered in Sydney, Australia.  While I was in Sydney recently I was able to attend a musical program led by Hillsong's Taya Smith.  Taya Smith is the singer of the popular christian worship song Oceans.  Last week, our daughter sang this song at Whitworth Univeristy in Spokane, Washington, and we heard this same song again in Austin, Texas over the weekend.  That is "talent and influence projection."  A musical group from thousands of miles away can project their talent into musical programs worldwide within days thanks to digital technology.

The term "Power or Capabilities Projection" is the ability to influence events and act from afar.  This is what enterprise mobility is all about.  It's the ability to provide better customer service over vast distances because you know where your 5,000 service technicians are located and the status of the jobs they are working on.  You can provide more accurate estimates of their arrival, more efficiently assign jobs and route them to the next location all from hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Companies that recognize the importance of "power or capabilities projection" and the role enterprise mobility plays in it, can develop economies of scale previously unimagined.  Today a company's SMEs (subject matter experts) can be brought to a job site "virtually" using mobile technologies.  The SME can view a job site via live video, ask questions, analyze data collected on mobile devices and assist in solving solutions remotely.  Rather than hire an SME for every location, one SME can now project their expertise globally, thus enabling better service and reducing costs.

In addition, mobile enterprise collaboration apps connected to cloud platforms can enable leaders and SMEs globally to work together to quickly and efficiently solve problems in distant lands.  This is a big deal.  Many countries may have a strong military able to defend their own borders, but few have the ability to "project" their power outside of their region which limits their influence and power.  Companies able to project their capabilities have nearly unlimited potential for growth.

Cloud-based solutions can also offer incredibly powerful capabilities to project your company, brand, products and services.  Today, a competitor's team can land in your market, connect to the Internet and have access to complete ERPs, CRMs, logistic systems and social/mobile marketing platforms in seconds.  That is a different level of competition and speed to market than many of us are accustomed to dealing with.  It takes a different game plan.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.