Mobile Strategies, Cloud Computing and the Role of Speed and Agility

If I can develop and pursue my plan to defeat you faster than you can execute your plan to defeat me, then your plan is unimportant. ~ The Art of Maneuver by Robert Leonhard

In our world of near ubiquitous connectivity, the competitive arena in many industries has moved from the physical to the digital, and from the tempo-of-old to the tempo-of-the-new.  The word tempo means the rate or pace of activity (aka, business operations).  Any IT decision made today should consider how different options and choices will impact today's and the future's tempo of operations.  Can and will the solution you choose support tomorrow's required tempo of business?

In many countries in Latin America new and emerging e-invoicing requirements have been passed by national tax authorities.  In some countries today, the seller of a product needs to electronically record a sale/invoice (in real-time) with the tax authority before a product can be delivered.  The tax authority issues a real-time unique transaction code to be attached to the invoice number.  Once the product is delivered, the buyer electronically acknowledges receipt (in real-time) with the national tax authority, and the process is closed and documented with the tax authority.  If a product is found to be sold and delivered outside of this real-time electronic reporting system, stiff penalties will be applied.

These e-invoicing systems are designed to document and make visible transactions in real-time for tax collection purposes.  This process requires an entirely new and faster tempo than most companies are currently prepared to support.  This is but one example of how the tempo of business is being impacted by digital transformations.

Today, companies are looking seriously at cloud computing solutions and SaaS (software-as-a-service) options in increasing numbers for the purpose of improving the operational tempo of their IT environment.    If you instigate a global five-year ERP implementation plan today, your business will likely be unrecognizable by the time the implementation is completed.  This means your ERP implementation will likely be misaligned with the new and different demands of your market and industry.

Every aspect of your IT environment must be evaluated today in the context of tempo.  What tempo will each solution and integration methodology support?  Will my enterprise mobile strategy support the tempo of change and evolution of the devices, networks and apps my target customers want?  Can I keep pace with the demands of my market?

It is critical that enterprises today evaluate themselves in a brutally honest manner and identify weaknesses that drag down operational tempo.  These limitations will have an increasingly negative impact on bottom lines as the operation tempo of your market and competition increases.

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

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.

Where the Physical Meets the Digital in Field Services and Asset Management

I am fascinated by the notion of the physical world converging with the digital world and the benefits that become possible as a result.  Not in the context of a humanoid weeding my garden, although that would be nice, but in the context of making better business management decisions based on more efficient data collection and reporting.  The term digital transformation is often used to describe this convergence.

Think of growing the best possible garden full of award winning fruits and vegetables.  The garden may consist of some physical things like dirt, seeds, containers, plants and tools, but the key to success is the information about the garden.  The information about the soil, types of plants or seeds, appropriate time to plant and harvest, weeding and watering schedules, the best fertilizers to use based upon the soil conditions etc.  This information can be collected and input into a software application as digital information.  Once digital, software applications can analyze this information and create schedules and plans on how to optimize the production of the garden.  Business operations are much the same.  The more data that can be collected and analyzed on location, physical assets and facilities, environmental conditions, tasks, status, etc, the better planning and optimization can be done by software applications utilizing artificial intelligence.

Integrating Geospatial with ERPs

Let's consider utilities and other geographically dispersed operations.  Effective data collection, management, analysis, and reporting of data is critical.  They own and management data-driven systems of pipes and wires, poles, valves, substations and switches all associated with data such as location, service history, asset details, maintenance records, applicable product warranties and history.

Utilities must know a massive amount of geospatial information about their assets and the environment around them.  Think about an underground gas line.  The utility needs to know the exact location of it, creeks, rivers, roads, property owners and property lines, access routes, location relative to other construction sites, environmental impact studies and issues, minor and major transportation lines crossed, just to mention a few data points.  In addition, a lot of information is dynamic like new construction sites, road building, digging, erosion, etc.  Not only must the utility collect and store static information like asset details, but dynamic data about activities and tasks around it.  Wow!  You can quickly see that efficient information  collection is critical.

Efficiently operating a utility grid is mostly about implementing an efficient logistics of information system connecting field data collection and management and planning solutions in the office.  If you are a sub-contractor for services, it is also the way you get paid.

Today many are considering the use of tablets for collecting and querying required field data.  The problem is tablets still have painful limitations. First, while tablets have the computing power of laptops, their memory remains limited, which impacts their capabilities when working with large geospatial databases unless you purchase specialized geospatial software purpose-built for tablets.  Secondly, connectivity in the field is often intermittent, while geospatial data access needs are constant.  This necessitates a robust offline mobile app and data storage capability often missing from tablets.  And finally, there are multiple tablet operating systems available, which often dictate the type of applications, databases and geospatial applications that can be used by your workforce.

If your organization is considering the use of tablets in the field look for applications that can support multiple tablet operating systems, offline data editing and data collection and integration with all of your required ERPs and geospatial enterprise applications and databases.

Now let's get back to the notion of the physical meeting the digital.  In a utility, the digital information (code halos) related to a physical asset and the tasks around it are the keys to planning, scheduling and maintaining it for optimized productivity.  That means efficient data collection is critical to digitizing your physical environment and gaining the benefits of artificial intelligence built into your planning, scheduling and asset management solutions.

Today efficient data collection can be facilitated through M2M (machine-to-machine) embedded wireless chips integrated with sensors that automatically report on conditions and statuses of equipment, assets and facilities, and by field workers using smartphones, rugged laptops or tablets.

How efficient is your data collection system?  Are there gaps that are preventing you from fully digitizing your physical operational area and leaving you with geographical and operational blind spots?

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

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.

Enterprise Mobility, Business Executives and Mobility Vendors

Recent surveys point to the fact that companies are viewing enterprise mobility in an increasingly strategic manner.  They see compelling mobile apps as the front line of marketing, sales and customer service.  They are providing executives and managers with business intelligence apps on their tablets to improve visibility, situational awareness and decision-making.

Integrating Map Data with SAP!

When strategic enterprise mobility expands to include integration with the Internet of Things, entirely new business models and competitive arenas will open up.  Can you image a maintenance person entering a plant building and wirelessly surveying all of the equipment located there for repair and maintenance needs?  The machines can wirelessly communicate their own needs using wireless embedded chips connected to sensors.  All of the equipment could be connected to a command and control center on the other side of the globe!

Companies are recognizing the productivity gains enabled by mobilizing their sales, services, logistics, transportation, warehouses and manufacturing environments.  In a word, enterprise mobility has become strategic.  More selection and acquisition decisions on mobile platforms, mobile security and mobile applications are being made by CIOs and CEOs today.  Why?  These enterprise mobility solutions are needed to support mobile apps across numerous departments and processes.  No one department or project is able to anticipate the needs and requirements of all others.  As a result, management must look across departments and take a more enterprise wide view of their organization's mobility needs.

Today, business leaders are recognizing that the very future of their companies may depend on their ability to effectively make the digital transformation that rests on the foundation of enterprise mobility.  If customers are utilizing mobile apps for purchases, then the sales department must be very focused on mobile apps.  If mobile marketing is becoming more effective, then the marketing department should quickly become mobility marketing experts.  You get my point!

I am very interested in how mobility vendors are addressing CIOs and CEOs in their marketing campaigns in 2013.  I haven't see much content focused on business leaders yet.  I guess the assumption is that the LOB (line of business) or developers are the ones creating a short list of vendors for the CIO/CEO to review.  As a result, webinars and marketing campaigns are still focused on development platforms, development tool kits, implementation challenges, mobile security and speed of implementation solutions.  I wonder when this is going to change.

I wonder how a marketing campaign would look if it were targeting business executives.  Would it emphasize the ability to increase productivity with B2E apps?  Would it suggest more effective marketing campaigns and increased customer loyalty by using compelling B2C apps?  Would it focus on maximizing the number of solutions that could all be supported on one platform?  Would it emphasize scalability, security and a low total cost of ownership?  What do you think?

What about mobile solutions focused on business leaders?  Perhaps executive level solutions would show all mobile data flows, mobile security levels, mobile apps, and any solutions yet to be mobilized.  Perhaps all ERPs and business solutions should be wrapped by a mobile management solution that shows all data that is accessible by mobile devices, and which is not.  Perhaps any performance limitations residing in your logistics of information systems would be automatically exposed so management could determine how to remove bottlenecks and mobilize the system.

If we buy into the the notion that mobility is strategic, and if our legacy systems and enterprise application integration platforms are not supporting real-time mobile device access to mission critical data, then things must change fast.

Consumers' buying habits are changing.  They use mobile devices for researching products.  They compare prices on mobile devices.  They ask their friends for suggestions and recommendations using social networking sites via mobile devices.  They schedule their lives on their mobile calendars.  They track product shipments on mobile devices.  Are businesses understanding this?  Are they changing their processes and technology platforms to support these industry trends?  If they are not evolving at the same rate their customers are adopting the use of technology, then they are opening up an increasing opportunity for competitors to capture market share by delivering new or improved mobile apps and enhanced mobile experiences.

Business leaders cannot simply play around with mobility and POCs (proof of concepts) today.  They must get strategic, and fast.

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

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 Interview Series: SAP's Ole Einar Fosse

I had the privilege this week to interview SAP's mobility expert in Norway, Ole Einar Fosse.  We discussed industry trends, ROIs and use cases he sees most often in Norway.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/ZxrH4n3XcSE

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

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.

Enterprise Mobility, Network Centric Operations and Decision Making

Mobile apps for the enterprise can offer significant value on their own, but when integrated together into a network (network centric operations) with many other applications, the IoT (internet of things) and other data collection technologies, this network of applications can offer exponentially greater visibility and value to an organization.   The challenge is to understand how to use this plethora of data for the purpose of good operational decision-making.  Modern military strategies offer some useful insights for us.

USAF Colonel John Boyd is credited with the concept of the OODA loop.  The OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) is a concept originally applied to combat operation processes. Today it is also applied to commercial operations and learning processes where significant value has been realized.

According to Boyd, decision making occurs in a recurring cycle of observe=>orient=>decide=>act.  An entity (whether an individual or an organization) that can process this decision making cycle quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an opponent, can thereby "get inside" a competitor's decision cycle and gain the advantage.

In the business world, OODA loop is an emerging concept for making decisions and managing fast changing field services, projects and mobile operations.  Today the ability to observe events from afar benefits from mobile technologies and connected devices such as:

• Wireless networks
• IoT
• Mobile data collection solutions (mobile inspection forms, barcode scanners, RFID, GPS, etc.)
• Mobile field services applications
• Mobile business intelligence applications
• Enterprise asset management solutions
• Plant maintenance systems
• Mobile CRM
• GPS location tracking technologies
• etc.

Mobile data collection and the IoT supply the data that enables a field services or plant manager to observe from afar.  

The next step in the OODA loop is orientation.  The manager needs to be oriented as to what the data means, and how it impacts the mission.  

Decide - now that you have the necessary data and you understand what it means, you must make a good data-driven-decision.  

Act - take action without delay based upon all the data you have received, its business meaning and the decision you have made. 

The “loop” refers to the fact that this is a continuous process.  The loop or cycle never stops.  Each time you complete a cycle in the OODA loop you observe, orient, decide and act again based upon the results you see from the prior cycle.  If the results are positive, you can continue down that path and improve it.  If the results are negative, you quickly adjust and review the results again.  It is a fast moving process of trial, error and adjustment until you get the results you want.  Not dissimilar to the agile programming methodology.

The OODA loop is particularly useful in environments that are chaotic and unpredictable.  In these working environments, decision making is often very difficult and without appropriate training paralysis in decision-making results and nothing gets done.  The OODA loop is a decision making process that is well suited for helping people make decisions and acting in situations where there is no existing road map to follow.

   

The military has effectively utilized the OODA loop decision making processes in the chaos of battle found in air combat, tank warfare and daily in Special Forces operations.  There is a lot to be learned from these experiences in decision-making.

In a world where nearly 40 percent of the workforce is mobile, companies must learn and implement these concepts in order to successfully manage mobile operations and services from afar.  To be successful implementing and integrating the OODA loop and Network Centric Operational concepts into your field services operations requires the following:

1. Data collection systems and processes.
2. Real time knowledge of the location of your mobile workforce, assets and inventories.
3. Real time knowledge of the capabilities and expertise of your mobile workforce.
4. Real time status and progress updates of the tasks, work assignments and schedules of the mobile workforce.
5. Real time knowledge of the location of all inventory, equipment, tools and other assets required to complete specific tasks.
6. Work order management system that assigns, schedules and dispatches specific assignments to specific members of your mobile workforce.
7. Business intelligence software applications for analyzing data collected in the field.

All of the items listed above help provide the real time visibility into your field operations that is required in a Networked Field Services organization practicing OODA loop management decision making.

One of the remaining challenges, however, with the systems listed above is that humans quickly become overwhelmed by large volumes of data.  Complexity can become an inhibitor to the practice of OODA.  It is not enough to have real time visibility into massive volumes of data, as one must be able to orient and understand what the data means and how it will impact the mission.  Business intelligence software, context aware and artificial intelligence capabilities all fit in here. 

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

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.